Awestruck!

I attended Dr Jeffrey Lang’s(a math professor at University of San Francisco) lecture at HDB Hub on Saturday and I told myself I’ve gotta blog about it immediately when I come back, lest I miss out some points. Well, as an intro, the topic was Journey to islam - his personal journey to islam

And so he began by giving us some background of himself – he was raised a catholic, had a very amiable, caring, magnanimous mother who expressed her religiosity through kindness to all those around her as she was a nurse, had a father who was an alcoholic and as with most other heavy alcoholics, his father too was abusive.

In his early teenage years, he started asking questions such as these “why would a Just Creator allow my good mother to suffer?” His family problems apparently didn’t improve and so this led him to weaken his faith and belief in God, and he became an atheist at the age of 16.

During the years to come, he became friends with some muslims who were not religious, ie they never prayed etc. He began asking them questions about Islam but those muslim friends of his were kind of uncomfortable conversing about religion as they themselves were not religious. So those friends gave him a copy of the Quran.

Dr then opened the first chapter and read surah al fatiha. He said the first few verses were like a hymn of praise, something like the Song of Solomon. And then he read the next few verses that asks for guidance and said, how opportunistic! First you praise Him and then ask favours from Him! At this juncture, Dr already can start to feel the ingenuity behind the literature. So what favours were asked for? The guidance to the straight path(sirat al mustaqeem). Ok.

Then he read the next surah, al-baqarah. ‘dzalikal kitaab…’
“That is the book...” At this stage, Dr was like, “wow! I was just asking for guidance and You told me That is the book?!” sort of like “You have immediately answered me” kind of feeling. But again, why the word THAT? It is like I am holding the Book in my hands and you tell me THAT is the book? And Dr gets the idea that the Author intends to converse.

Dr read on, until verse 30 where Allah says :
2:30 And when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am about to place a viceroy in the earth, they said: wilt Thou place therein one who will do harm therein and will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee? He said: Surely I know that which ye know not.

From this, Dr understands that Allah wants Man to be His representatives, or viceroys. And somehow Dr agrees with the question that the angels were asking “why create Man who will cause bloodshed?” Bear in mind Dr has a personal touch to this question because of the childhood years when his father was abusive. Why not just create angels who praise You?

2:31 And He taught Adam all the names, then showed them to the angels, saying: Inform me of the names of these, if ye are truthful
From verse 21, Dr understands that Man is better than angels in that Man have intellect, capacity to reason.

2:35 And We said: O Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden, and eat ye freely (of the fruits) thereof where ye will; but come not nigh this tree lest ye become wrongdoers.
2:36 But Satan caused them to deflect therefrom and expelled them from the (happy) state in which they were; and We said: Fall down, one of you a foe unto the other! There shall be for you on earth a habitation and provision for a time.

What was so special about that tree? Apparently nothing much, it is just God’s instructions. When Adam erred and ate from that tree, he was sent to earth, not so much as a punishment, for God was not angry! God even gave habitation and provision! How could this be a punishment?! And then Dr referred to 2:30 where God says I want to establish Viceroy on Earth.

So again, why the incident about eating from the tree? It is God’s way of teaching Man about making reasoned choices, exercising the free will, so that we be ready to be viceroy on earth.

Now here starts the fun part;
2:33 He said: O Adam! Inform them of their names, and when he had informed them of their names, He said: Did I not tell you that I know the secret of the heavens and the earth? And I know that which ye disclose and which ye hide.
Dr admits that reading the Quran is like reading maths, you’ve got to take it word by word and pay careful attention. One thing that I personally find very intriguing about the Quran is that it is full of meaning, both outwardly and inwardly, when the quran appears to be telling something directly, there is always an indirect meaning and when the Quran tells indirectly, there is always an exoteric, direct meaning. The Quran is simply miraculous, no tafseer about the Quran can ever be complete, plus it is also common for sufis to come up with different content everytime they do tafsir on one same verse. EVERY letter has its own secrets.

Anyways, Dr was focusing on “And I know that which ye disclose and which ye hide.” What was it that the angels disclose and what did they hide? They disclosed Man’s tendency to create disaster and concealed Man’s potential to do good.

So Dr said something like “I’ve always dwelled on my father’s bad actions but not on my mother’s kindness, there is that flipside.”

And as Dr continued reading the Quran, he realized that the Quran wants Man to have qualities such as these, in order to be good: merciful, just, kind, compassionate, wise, rational etc. of course this mini list is not exhaustive.
Again the Dr was asking why should Man, as the viceroy, have these qualities? Dr also made a mini compilation of God’s Attributes mentioned in the Quran and found them to be as follows: The Merciful, The Compassionate, The Just, The Wise etc

Get the picture? Man is the REPRESENTATIVE of God, and was created in His Image.God breathed the soul, part of Him, to Man. And when Man attains those qualities above, Man will draw close to God, and come to know Him! Subhanallah! This is exactly the central message of tasawwuf! I was immediately reminded of the book “The Name and The Named” by Shaykh Toysun Bayrak. God says in hadith qudsi ‘I was a hidden treasure, and I desire to be known, so I created creation’ and in another hadith, “man ‘arifa nafsah, faqad ‘arifa rabbah” he who knows himself knows his Lord. This is maarifatullah, exactly the same thing al-ghazali elucidates in his kimiya as-saadah. It all links up and make sense now! The Purpose of Creation and everything!

I must admit, I was amazed, awestruck. I guess most of the time I was unconsciously gaping at this reality. Dr Lang, a professor of mathematics, figured out or perhaps received, such a profound understanding while reading the Quran for the first time.
I couldn’t help but to ask “what is this? Is this how You work? So subtle, so soft, so gentle, so beautiful…”

Praise be to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.

Awrad

Awrad of the Most Distinguished Ahmadiyyah Idrisiyyah Order of
Al-Qutb Ar-Rais, Sidi Ahmad Ibn Idris al-Fasi

Fatihatul Awrad

O God, I seek to approach Thee before each and every breath, look and glance which the people of the heavens and the people of the earth cast – everything which is in Thy knowledge, that which is and that which was, I approach Thee before all these.

Tahlil Khusus

There is no god but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God; in every glance and every breath, to the number that only God’s knowledge can comprehend.

Salawat Azhimiyyah

O God, I ask Thee by the Light of the Face of God, the Great,
Which fills the pillars of the Throne of God, the Great,
And because of which exist the worlds of God, the Great,
To call down blessings upon our Mawlana Muhammad, whose majesty is Great,
And upon the kin of the Prophet of God, the Great,
In proportion to the sublimity of the Essence of God, the Great,
In every glance and in every breath, inasmuch as they exist in the knowledge of God, the Great,

Being an everlasting prayer as God Himself is Everlasting and Great,
Being an exaltation of the truth of your message, Mawlana Muhammad, whose virtue is Great,
Likewise, grant peace to him and his kin.

Unite him with me, just as Thou unite the spirit with the soul, externally and internally, awake and asleep,
And make him, O God, a solace for my soul in all of life’s moments in this world and before the End,
O God the Great.

Istighfar Al Kabir

I seek pardon of God, the Great; of whom there is no god save He, the Living, the Subsisting, the Forgiver of sins, the Sublime and the Revered.

I seek repentance from all acts of disobedience – all of them, from sins and guilt and from every sin I have committed willfully, by omission, openly and secretly, by word and by deed, in my every movement, my tarrying, my thoughts, my every breath, always and forever eternally; from the sin of which I know and from the sin of which I know not, inasmuch as His knowledge encompasses them and which the Book records and the pen indites; inasmuch as the omnipotence (of God) searches them out and the will of the ink of the words of God disclose them.

Just as it behooves the sublimity, the beauty, the perfection of the Face of our Lord, just as our Lord enjoins and approves.

Seminar: Our Beloved Mustafa

MasyaAllah, truy an enlightening one indeed. the event kicked off with beautiful Qasidah recited by Ustaz Umar Mawlana's group, Qaafilah Zikrullah. I can tell you that from the very beginning, the qasidah was captivating! Accompanied by rhythmic gendang beats, it was so full of energy and very alive. Excellent performance!

Then somewhere in the niddle of the qasidah, the entire room stood up for the arrival of Mawlana Shaykh Afeefuddin Jailani. This is good adab for a qualified guide, we ought to be seeing more of these.

Anyways, an array of speakers touched on issues close to heart about the Holy Prophet, upon whom be peace and salutations of God aplenty. All of us were exhorted to emulate the noble, exalted and transcendant character of Sayyidina Muhammad, alaihi afdhala salatu wassalam, for he was sent for the purpose of perfection of character, for makarimal akhlaq. And to love him, with all our heart...and to show the whole world what a figure of mercy and compassion is the Prophet!

There was this blind old man who sat at the end of an alley, every morning when the Prophet saw passed by the alley, he saw would make a point to feed the blind old man, in the most gentle of ways, he would soften or crush the bread first. The old, blind man then also took pleasure in confiding, complaining to the Holy Prophet about how evil was this man whom he got to know as Muhamamad. He would say things like 'Muhammad is a magician!A troublemaker!'. All these while not realising that the one feeding him, showing compassion to him was Muhamamad saw.

After The Prophet's death, his friend, Abu Bakar, continued with this practice of feeding the same old blind man. But the old blind man refused to be fed this time, for he knew that the previous feeder was kind and gentle with his ways and he told Abu Bakar " You are not the one who used to feed me,"

Abu Bakar could only afford to say as such "Of course I am not, and I can never be like him in his exalted character, for the one who had been feeding you all these while was MUHAMMAD, the Messenger of God!"

Asyhadu allaailahaillah, wa asyhaduanna muhammadar rasulullah!

and then there was the recitation of the burdah. The burdah is truly is a masterpiece in its poetry and literature. Consisting of 10 chapters and 160 verses, all of which end with mim, it is a truly moving piece. Though, to be honest, i am not a person of literature, the immense love for the Prophet in the burdah is simpy overwhelming. All these years most of us recite the burdah almost artificially, without thorough consideration of its meanings. But yesterday was different, the brief commentary on the burdah was enough to make one appreciate Imam Busairi's immense love for the Beloved saw. Almost like a romance novel...marvellous...

to end the day, we had diba'i led by Shaykh Zakaria Bagharib who was, as usual, super passionate about the maulid haha. and then the last 2 speeches. a blessed and worthwhile gathering indeed!

Sallallahu alaika wa sallam, Yaa RasulAllah, fii kulli lamhatin wa nafasin 'adada maa wa si'ahu 'ilmullah...

Scientists of Faith who lived in the past

Honesty speaking, it does not take much for any individual to see the Glory of God whilst studying His Works,ie His Creation. And such an idea had been conveyed to us a long time ago in the Quran when God says 'We WILL show them Our Signs in the horizons and within themselves."

God Almighty is Az-Zahir, the Manifest, The Overt, and so too are His Signs scattered all over His Creation.

Continuing on with the flow of logic and the assertion above, there can not be any other conclusion but this:
True science, ie Truth, must point to God.

One immediate lesson here: believers ought to study science to fully appreciate His Wonders and Majesty

Ever since the separation of the church from the state and the crisis during the Dark Ages which had shed negative light on religion as a whole as being anti-progressive, backward, ritualistic, dogmatic,demagogic and superstitious, science has been the subject of heated debate, with believers on one side and atheists on the other.

Atheists have become convinced that anything to do with God is not the truth and that only science should illuminate our lives, hence the names Illuminatus, Illuminati etc.

However, God has His own Ways.

At the dawn of the 21st century, latest discoveries in science in practically every field are continuously pointing to the existence of an Omnipotent Creator.

To quote a few of those fields(i will not go in depth, just briefly)

Biominimetics
The field that makes us realise how architecturally advanced the design in animals are, many of which are far more superior than our inventions

Molecular Biology
How the cell, once deemed basic and simplest, is a huge complex organisation thriving with mechanisms and activities. It is also accepted as a law that all cells come from preexisting cells.
They have also realised that information encoded in the DNA is never a tangible, materia one. Information in DNA exists in the form of the RELATIVE positions of the bases A,T,C and G to each other.

Paleontology (fossils,study of)
The Cambrian Explosion, a prehistoric period of time when many of today's existing life forms appear all of a sudden, Fully-Formed.And after millions of years, bees (and also others) today are still bees just as they were millions of years ago.

Astronomy
The Big Bang and the inevitable conclusion that the Universe came into existence from a point of singularity of no dimensions.

Quantum Physics
The new realization that the constituents of atoms, such as protons and electrons, are all composed of packets of energies,and are thus surprisingly 'empty', quarks and the likes of it. Light as being the intermediary between energy and matter, the nature of Light as something immaterial, neither a particle nor a wave as we know it.

Mathematics
The special properties of the non-prime number 1, its apllication and significance in the binary system that runs all computers, in logarithms, arithmetics, calculus etc

The perception that occurs in the Brain
How it is very perceptionistic and illusionary, how the sights that we see, the sounds that we hear are actually just copies of the original and not the original itself. The original that stimulates, ie light, triggers a stimulus which then sends nervous impulses via neurones to be perceived in the brain. Note that the light itself is not the one being perceived. Light has never penetrated your skull to shine on your brain. Colours are accepted to be something that only our brains perceive, they are not real.

Chemistry
How particles, when combined in specific combinations, can produce everything material! The number of electrons, proton numbers, bondings etc. Optical isomerism which employs the principle of relfection in a plane or on a point, the dualtity of MIRROR images. How our bodies can react very differently to two compounds of the same chemical formula but with different structural isomerism, different orientation in 3D space etc.

These and many more, can only baffle the mind and leave us with no choice but to Glorify the One behind the Transcendent Ingenuity.

Albert Einstein, who is one of the most important scientists of the last century, was also known for his faith in God. He did not hesitate to defend that science could not exist without religion. As he put it:
I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith. The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame

Responsible for many groundbreaking discoveries, Max Planck believed in an "all-powerful intelligence which governs the universe."126 Max Planck said that the Creator of the order in the universe is God and elaborated on his belief in God with these words:
Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: Ye must have faith. It is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with.

Albert Einstein called Maxwell's achievement "the most profound and most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton." He was strongly opposed to evolution, and was able to develop a thorough mathematical refutation of the famous "nebular hypothesis" of the French atheist LaPlace. He also wrote an incisive refutation of the evolutionary philosophies of Herbert Spencer, the great advocate of Darwinism. In a letter he mused that the scientist of faith has an obligation to conduct such work as will benefit religion.

Louis Pasteur is one of the greatest figures in the history of science and medicine, chiefly because of his establishment of the germ theory of disease, and his strong opposition to the theory of evolution. He was the first to explain the organic basis and control of fermentation, and as his research led him further and further into bacteriology, he isolated a number of disease-producing organisms, and developed vaccines to combat them - notably the dreaded diseases of rabies, diphtheria, anthrax, and others - as well as the processes of pasteurization and sterilization.
Pasteur, who was a firm believer in God, was the object of fierce opposition because of his resistance to Darwin's theory of evolution. He was a defender of the compatibility of science and religion, which he would often emphasize in his writings. As he put it:
The more I know, the more does my faith approach that of the Breton peasant (i.e., the faith which is serene, complete, unquestioning) Little science takes you away from God but more of it takes you to Him.

Having refuted the theory of evolution with his discovery of the principles of inheritance, Gregory Mendel further believed that God had created the world, and that blind chance could not be responsible for the outcome.

Michael Faraday was a scientist who believed in the existence of a Creator, and that science and religion are in harmony. Because one God created the world, he believed, all of nature must be interconnected as a single whole. Based on this idea, he concluded that electricity and magnetism must be interlinked.

Isaac Newton communicated the reason underlying his zeal for scientific endeavor with the following words, in his famous work Principia Mathematica:
...He (God) is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient; that is, his duration reaches from eternity to eternity; his presence from infinity to infinity; he governs all things, and knows all things that are or can be done. He is …eternal and infinite; …he endures and is present. He endures forever, and is everywhere present; and, by existing always and everywhere, he constitutes duration and space... We know him only by his most wise and excellent contrivances of things... [W]e reverence and adore him as his servants…

Robert Boyle, father of modern chemistry, founder of Boyle's Law of Gases, PV=nRT, said: "Remember to give glory to the one who authored nature… Use knowledge to bring good to mankind."

An eminent figure in the history of science, Blaise Pascal was also a deeply spiritual man. He referred to the eternal power of God when he said that God is the Creator of everything from mathematics to the order of the elements.

As a scientist, Johannes Kepler also believed that the universe was created by a Creator. When he was asked why he practiced science, he said "I had the intention of becoming a theologian... but now I see how God is, by my endeavors, also glorified in astronomy, for 'heavens declare the glory of God'".
The life of Kepler, who believed that God's glory was manifested in everything He created, is an example to how successful and broad-thinking a scientist who admits that there is a divine purpose in nature can be. "Who gave white bears and white wolves to the snowy regions of the North, and a food for the bears the whale, and for the wolves, birds' eggs?" asked Kepler and then replied: "Great is our Lord and great His virtue and of his wisdom there is no number: praise Him, ye heavens, praise Him, ye sun, moon, and planets, use every sense for perceiving, every tongue for declaring your Creator. Praise Him, ye celestial Harmonies, praise Him, ye judges of the Harmonies uncovered: and thou my soul, praise the Lord thy Creator, as long as I shall be: for out of Him and through Him and in Him are all things, both the sensible and the intelligible; for both whose whereof we are utterly ignorant and those which we know are the least part of them; because there is still more beyond. To him be praise, honor, and glory, world without end."

Muhd Izharul Haqq is now 8 mnths old!

he's even fatter now, and i've made a new resolution;

I wil bite his cheeks everytime i see him khekhe.
here are some of his pics i love!

Finally, a web for TAI !

More info about Tariqah Ahmadiah Idrisiah ar-Rasyidiah ad-Dandarawiah can now be obtained online! features include information on the Shuyukh of the Order,God be pleased with them all, the history, articles, videos, updates on classes and activities such as halaqah zkr, haul etc. do check it out yeah ;p
The web is, i must say, very informative, with many viewable materials. a milion thanks goes out to Dr Ahmad Hassan, Bro Lukman and the other ikhwans for setting up such a great webbie! May Allah reward all of you incessantly for the superb effort put into this amal jariah! Amin!

Visit: www.ahmadiah-idrisiah.com

Old vs New

Spent my sat afternoon having lunch with ishak at salamath, then off to Tampines for a while and then to Ust’s place. As usual, we sat there, built our rapport better and had a good chat. Ishak was there from like 4 to 6, then off he went to airport for thailand. Ust asked me to stay so yeah. We ordered kfc and ate till I’m super full, at night he told me to makan nasi. Haha

Stayed there till very late, had a fruitful discussion and somehow this topic came to highlight. We were comparing the systems of learning of old and new.

The old one was undoubtedly very different from the new. The old system requires the murid or the salik(seeker) to SIT by his Guide, and to always to always keep the physical presence of his Guide. This is the way of the traditional scholars, be they from yaman, morocco, uzbek and what have you.
In contrast, today’s system is markedly different, it adopts the lecture-tutorial system, during which, attendance is marked by paper or the scanning of cards. There is no camaraderie, or as ustaz said, barakah. The lecturer may very well not even notice who attended his lesson. Graduation or authorisation in this system comes in the form of certificates

But in the old system, authorisation comes in the form of an ijazah, usualy verbal, after thorough scrutiny by the guide. Suffice to say such an approach has its own spiritual significance.

The thing is, even in our age, we ought to search for such a guide, not just teachers who lecture in classes. For such a knowledge is likened unto how the Prophet POURED knowledge into THE HEART of ABU BAKAR. It makes all the difference. Period
Learn from as many schlolars as possible, but take your allegiance to one, the shaykh of tarbiyyah who is learned in BOTH the exoteric and esoteric sciences. One such shaykh is enough, more will only be extra burden we can’t bear.

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُبَايِعُونَكَ إِنَّمَا يُبَايِعُونَ اللَّهَ يَدُ اللَّهِ فَوْقَ أَيْدِيهِمْ فَمَن نَّكَثَ فَإِنَّمَا يَنكُثُ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ وَمَنْ أَوْفَى بِمَا عَاهَدَ عَلَيْهُ اللَّهَ فَسَيُؤْتِيهِ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

48:10 Verily those who plight their fealty to thee do no less than plight their fealty to Allah. the Hand of Allah is over their hands: then any one who violates his oath, does so to the harm of his own soul, and any one who fulfils what he has covenanted with Allah,- Allah will soon grant him a great Reward.

im sure u all know, it is easier said than done ;)

Our Beloved Prophet, seminar 3 may 2008 sat 2pm-7pm

do attend yeah, the keynote speaker is a great alim, sufi shaykh, the grandson of Qutb ar-Rabbani, Sultanul Awliya', Shaykh Abdul Qadir al Jailani, qaddasallah sirrahul' azeez.

Maulid @ Masjid Kassim 1st May 2008, Tariqah Ahmadiah Idrisiah

Assalamu'alaikum Wr Wb
Segala puji bagi Alah yang Maha Pengasih lagi Maha Penyanyang
Selawat dan Salam keatas junjungan kami Sayyidina wa Maulana wa Habibuna Muhammad salallahu 'alaihi wassalam serta ahli keluarganya, sahabatnya, isteri-isterinya, ahli zuriatnya dan segenap kaum Muslimin.

Dengan Segala hormatnya, pihak kami daripada Jemaah IT Ahmadiah Idrisiah Singapura yang berpusat di Masjid Kassim menjemput kehadiran tuan-tuan menghadiri acara sambutan Maulidur Rasul salallahu 'alaihi wassalam di Masjid Kassim

pada 1 May 2008 (Labour Day) bersempenaan 24hb Rabiul Akhir 1429
Majlis ini diadakan sempena majlis memperingati Hol seorang ulama tempatan kami, Tuan Shaykh Abdul Rashid bin Muhammad Sa'id yang telah wafat pada 23hb Rabiul Akhir 1413H sekitar 1992M.

Majlis akan bermula pada jam 830am di dewan Masjid Kassim dengan ketibaan para tetamu dan hadirin. Akan dibacakan Maulid Berzanji karangan Sayyid Ja'far al-Barzanji (seorang Mufti bagi mazhab Syafi'i di Haram pada zamannya).

Kemudiannya, akan dilanjutkan dengan Forum agama yang akan dibentangkan oleh
- Ust Ali Mohamed (Imam Masjid Khadijah) dan
- Ust Mohamad Hasbi (presiden Persatuan Ulama dan Guru-guru Agama Singapura).

Topik forum adalah
Rasulullah (s.a.w.) Cahaya Kerohanian - Adakah amalan kerohanian releven pada zaman sekarang?

InsyaAllah setelah forum... akan diadakan acara pelancaran website Tariqah Ahmadiah Idrisiah Singapura pimpinan Ust Mohd Hasbi.

Setelah Sholat Zuhur akan dijamukan makanan Nasi Briyani DAM

Kehadiran Tuan-tuan sangat dialu-alukan. Kami mendahului dengan ucapan terima kasih Jazakallahu khairan katsiran.


___________________________________________

Assalamu'alaikum Wr Wb
Peace and blessings upon our beloved Sayyidina Muhammad salalllahu'alaihi wassalam, and his family, Companions, Mothers of the Faithful (wives), descendants and all Muslims.



It is my great pleasure to invite you to the blessed occasion of celebration of the Maulidur Rasulullah salallahu 'alaihi wassalam organised by the Singaporean Ikhwan of Ahmadiah Idrisiah Order.

The maulid celebration will be held at the remises of Masjid Kassim (450 Changi Road) on 1 May 2008 which falls on 24 Rabiul Akhir 1429H. This celebration of Maulid is special because it is done in conjunction with the remembrance of the Hol - death anniversary - of our dear local scholar, Shaykh Abdul Rashid bin Muhammad Sa'id al-Linggi who departed on the 23 Rabiul Akhir 1413H... in 1992.

The pragram will start at 830am with the recital of Maulid Barzanji (authored by Imam Ja'afar al-Barzanji - Mufti of the Shafii Mazhab in the Haram during his time - who was coincidentally one of the teachers of Shaykh Muhammad Sa'id al-Linggi)

Thereafter, there will be a forum discussion with 2 notable local scholars
- Ust Ali Mohamed (Imam Masjid Khadijah)
- Ust Mohammad Hasbi (presiden PERGAS)

The topic for the forum is :
"Rasulullah (s.a.w.) the Light of Spirituality -- Are spiritual practices still relevant in today's context ?"

However, please note that the forum will be in Malay.
Thereafter, there will be launching of the Tariqah Ahmadiah Idrisiah (Singapore) Website before Zuhur prayers.

Food (Briyani Dam) will be served after the congregational prayers. InsyaAllah, your presence will be much appreciated and we look forward in meeting you.

Jazakallahu khayran katsiran

Love for the Beloved Prophet

I would like to talk about 2 distinguished imams who, in my opinion, have succeeded to manifest their tremendous love for the Holy Prophet in their own writings, 2 of which remain a classic masterpiece in Islamic Literature.

Imam Sulayman al-Jazuli completed the highly regarded Dalail Khayrat, a book of prayers upon the Holy Prophet. And just by simply reading excerpts from the book, you can easily tell that the author has such a profound love for the Prophet. i mean,Imam jazuli started the book by making Salawat upon each and every of the Prophet's 201 names, peace be upon them all.
and then he begins a long liturgy of salawat upon the Prophet by first saying this:

Allahumma inni, nawaitu bissolaati alan nabiyikal mustafa
O Allah, i INTEND TO MAKE SALAWAT upon Your Chosen Prophet.

the thing is, how often do we say "i intend to make salawat upon the Prophet"? most of the time we just jump to the salawat.the fact that Imam Jazuli wrote it in such a way, shows his immense love for the Prophet. Splendid!

Going on further, you just can't help but to feel the love for the Prophet emanating from the words Imam Jazuli wrote in his Dalail Khayrat, a prayer liturgy for the Prophet saw.

Qadi Iyad and his book on the Prophet, asy-syifa, is yet another classic. it is divided into parts, each part dealing about characteristics or attributes of the Prophet,his exalted station,his miracles, about why and how much we NEED to love him. it's just excellent. it also narrates some less well-known hadith, explaining the high status of our Beloved Prophet.

Truly, faith is only complete when the Prophet is dearer to us than anything else.

lastly, just wanna share a vid on a very 'touching' mahallul qiyam for the prophet, it was very moving. shaykh afeefudeen jailani even made a surprise pop up, though the naqshbandi-qadiri mursyid, Kiyai Ahmad Asrory, was not present due to ill health, let us pray for yai's good health amin.

Knowledge; increases when shared

There's one feature about knowledge itself that makes it such a beautiful thing. Unlike money, knowledge does not diminish when you share it, rather it spreads and increases.

When is knowledge attained? it is attained when there is understanding. and so we come to speak about the process of understanding. what exactly makes us understand, or rather allows us to understand? is it our own effort? the amount of time we spend mugging? well, to a certain extent perhaps it is true, God rewards those who have put in effort, ikhtiar. Even so, understanding itself comes as a Divine Grace. some people take a lot more time to understand, others much shorter. How to explain this? some people are just born smarter? if so, is there any part of it that we can take credit for? of course not. for verily understanding comes from Him. The One who taught Man what he knew not

would you agree that there is nothing to be proud of in using a key to open a lock for an unlimited number of times? because the key is expected to be able to open the lock. so opening the lock 1000 times does not make it a more impressive act than to just open it, say, a few times.

The same can be said about knowledge. Once it is attained, it is more or less going to be with you for a long time, unless you do forget it. as such, you are now able to use that knowledge again and again and again, with relative ease-almost effortless on your part. so then why do people arrogate themselves with knowledge, when they know that each time they apply that knowledge, it is easy or even effortless for them? On the contrary, one should say something like " O Allah, YOU have GIVEN me this understanding, after which things become easy for me, Glory be to You, i have not put in any effort, i deserve no credit"

One can perhaps commend a locksmith for creating a key that can open the lock, but one would not praise the locksmith for being able to use the key to open the lock many many times, that is expected and effortless.

as with issues of the heart, saying is always much easier than real action,
May Allah forgive us all and guide us.

Why so violent?

Fitna; the offensive video by a dutch minister about our beloved religion, islam.

to be honest, most of his points have been rebutted by traditional and mainstream classical scholars of islam, for verily islam is not a religion of violence. this post is also not intended to present the sort of cliched arguments against the video. i suppose many of us already know that the dutch fella quoted the quran out of context, never fully quote an entire verse etc.

My concern here is this: why are some muslims preaching hate and violence? what's even more repugnant is that they do so in the name of islam, this can very well constitute a fitna.

The fact that those militants advocate indiscriminate killngs of humans, be they Jews or Christians or Americans, have already indicated that such an action is unislamic. Islam teaches you to fight for the sake of God, and God has set out His set of ethics, not for the sake of your anger. this clearly needs to be distinguished.

here in this vid, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Haqqani lashes out at those violence-preachers:



When are you coming again to Singapore???

i feel trapped!!!!

i feel so saaaded, tonite got majlis haul for Sidi Muhammad Dandarawi, Sidi Ahmad ibn Idris's second successor and guess what? i've got to book in at 10. suck thumb lah ah.

Sidi Faiz is in town, leading the majlis. i really miss him, it's been more than half a yr since i last saw him.May Allah grant Sidi Faiz long life and good health! amin!

They say zikr must be kept consistent, and always maintain good adab with ur mursyid and be in his physical presence, ni dah lebih dari 6 bulan, tak polish hati pun, jialat, sure karat one. Sidi faiz, when he leads a zikr, it's really powerful and effective, ucan literally feel the closeness.

i still remember. it was 2003, sec 2 that time. Ust hafazah ahmad was having a class at istiqamah, reading imam ghazali's kimiya assaadah, alchemy of eternal bliss. a great book i must say. he thought the principles of tariqah, ie how much we need to have a mursyid etc. he himself was a student of kiyai fadhlullah suhaimi and ustaz taha suhaimi, founders of al maarif, he must have wanted marifatullah for u maarifians. btw, i heard abt ustaz taha suhaimi's book on christianity, any idea where are they avaiable? it would be a rare collectible...

after those lessons with ust hafazah, i was invited by my fren ishak and his dad to attend a majlis zkr at-tariqah ahmadiah idrisiah at mqm habib nuh. that was it. the first time i met Sidi Faiz, it left a very strong, indelible impression on me and i felt attracted to that Order. the thing is, this path, was set out so timely, macam so chun chun gitu. i then consulted a close ustaz and related everything to him, he told me go ahead carry on.

Btw, this 1st may, do come down to masjid kassim in the morning, got maulid, ust hasbi pimpin, plus an official launching of a new website! tak sabar guer!

Aslim Taslam

Submit and you will be safe.

The Prophet saw wrote this to the various rulers, inviting them to Islam. However, some critics take offence at such invitations, claiming that this does not endorse freedom of choice. The reality is this, regardless whether or not we like it, salvation is with God alone and hence if you submit to Him, you are safe. Then they say, " Why is God so not democratic? why am i not allowed to do what i want?" Democracy is about freedom to serve, the question now is who do you serve? Satan? Your Ego? or God? serving the first two shackles you, traps you and shuts you off in a pithole, whereas serving God earns you His Divine Grace and Favour.
People often say that the liberated person is he who is free to do as he wills, even if it is a sin. In reality, they are ENSLAVED by their own nafs.

Oriana Fallaci gave such a reply to the Prophet's invitation:
لن استسلم
Lan astaslim, I will not surrender.

Ah, LANtak kau lah, there is no compulsion in religion, no one is coercing, if you refuse upon invitation then so be it. Furthermore, it wouldn't serve any good to force a non-muslim to be a reluctant muslim.

Surrender, reminds me of a song by Celine Dion with the same title;

I'll swallow my pride and I'll be alive
DID you hear my call
I surrender all

'Cause I'd surrender everything
To feel the chance to live again
I reach to you
I know you can feel it too...
We'd make it through
A thousand dreams I still believe
I'd make you give them all to me
I'd hold you in my arms and never let go
I surrender...

Puritans and Sincerity in Amal

People have been asking; Is there something intrinsic in Islam that either directly or indirectly condones extremism and militant actions? If not then why are they so prominent and seemingly able to fill the vacuum of authority in defining Islam in this modern age?

Chim, super chim question, but, Professor Abou Khaled El-Fadl says in his "The Great Theft, Wrestling Islam from Extremists" says as such;

There is this Jewish sect, the Karaites, founded in the 8th century and is a minority today. It rejects the Talmud and rabbanical teachings and claims to base their actions on literal and strict Torah reading. They also aspire to achive no human intervention in implementing God's Law. History has shown their implementation of that law to be severe and harsh.

Now supposed that this sact is currently being generouslysponsored by an affluent Jewish nation which controls the two holiest sites in judaism. Surely then it would not be difficult to fathom as to why the Karaites could have such great extent of influence and attention, on top of being a serious contender with other Jewish sects in defining what true Jewish Orthodoxy really is.

Balance and Moderation are among the Core values in God's creation. Ibn Arabi in his Misykatul Anwar quotes a hadith which reads "Life is about Balance, whosoever finds the right balanceinlife will enter paradise"

Two of God's Attributes, Jalal(Majesty) and Jamal(Beauty), seem to be opposing one another but God's Prefection integrates them.
Similary, at times, as His servant, we can feel an intense mix of emotions, thus leading to a feeling of total dependence on Him. For example, when we err, we fear His not being pleased at us and His Punishments, but at the same time we feel a little rejoiced upon knowing that He is Loving and Forgiving, despite our shortcomings.we ought to feel fearful and hopeful. It's really a complex relationship which makes it all the more "interesting" and somehow make us feel complete dependence on Him, whichever way you are talking about. Such mushy issues ae hard to explain in words, it has to be experienced, it's just, beautiful...

Puritans have this mindset when it comes to Amal, that our actions are perfectly quantifiable and that on the Judgment Day our good and bad actions will be weighed on a scale such that even if our bad actions are a tiny morsel heavier than our good actions, then hell we go. The thing is, we can't quantify our actions, plus there are a lot of other factors involved as well, such as, how could you measure sincerity in such a quantifiable manner? So don't expect to use a calculator to count all the pahala and dosa even though for certain actions, there are hadiths that proclaims a certain NUMBER of pahala or dosa. It is precisely for this reacon that we are not allowed to judge anyone. i recall a story of one sahaba who drank after the alcohol prohibition has come. The other companions were beating him but Prophet said "Stop, Verily he loves Allah and His Messenger"

Some extremists take a gun and shoot a couple having intimacy in their cars, in public, and say "i have executed the Hudud, God's Will" Hello, since when the Prophet mentioned a gun? similarly, honor killings are equally disgusting. Male family members will want to kill their female relatives upon knowing that she has fornicated and claim that this is God's Justice when in reality it is more like wanting to save the family from shame, ie selfish reasons under the guise of religion. by the way, just for information, finding the circumstances to allow for hudud is not easy at all, and there are a lot of mitigating factors. we are urged to look for reasons to throw the case out instead of zealously looking forward to punish, even simple reasons such as lack of thinking clarity can be a mitigating factor.

speaking about selfish reasons, my mind comes to this;
Sometimes people do good just because they want paradise and they avoid evil to avoid the torments of hell. where exactly is the sincerity in all these? It's just an empty, self-benefitting way of doing things that just revolves around the notion of human self-interest, "I wanna survive and live free" kinda attitude you know. I guess that is why Rabia once said " O my Lord, if i do something for your Paradise, then keep me out of it, if i do something for fear of hell, then throw me in it, but if i do something to get to You, then don't disappoint me."
Even so, we can't exactly say " Oh then, if i have done this for the Love of God, then i have done something great, a magnificent contribution on my part" Get my point? see how much we need to balance our feelings? it's a real topsy-turvy rollercoaster ride lah!

May Allah guide us all