The Vision of Reality…

Bismillah,
Alhamdulillah,
Assalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah

I learnt that the Worldview of Islam cannot just be restricted to a definition given:
Nazrat al-islam li al kawn. The Observation of Islam regarding the Universe.

Rather, the correct definition, as Prof Syed Naquib puts it is:
Ru’yatul Islam li al Wujud: The Vision of Islam regarding Existence.

Why the difference? These two definitions may sound similar, but there are several important differences. In all likelihood, I will not do justice to this; this is purely my personal reflection.

Number 1: al kawn is the first definition is mostly restricted to the physical universe, whereas Al-Wujud is about everything that exists; most importantly including the al-ghaib(the Unseen)

The secular materialist will in all likelihood not acknowledge the existence of anything ghaib, so here is a fundamental difference in worldview.

Number 2: nazrah versus ru’yah.
Nazrah is more towards observation, whereas ru’yah is about Vision.
Observation is limited in the sense that it is confined to the inherent limits that comes with being an observer, and also any prior objectivities on the part of the observer. Whereas ru’yah or vision, is about reality as it really is.

Implication: while many Manmade worldviews are the result/formulations of the thinking of Man, Islam’s Worldview is prescribed by Allah; meaning to say, it is Allah, the One who Created all things, telling you what existence really is, as such, nothing can be more truthful than this.

One important note: to subscribe to nazrat al Islam li al Kawn is to be consciously or subconsciously taken in by western Secular ideas already, for they have been obsessed with material existence while at the same time denying the Unseen.

I was amazed to come to a realization that modern physics is now putting their hands up in the air, sincerely acknowledging the limitations of observations as a means to finding Truth in the Universe.

German Physicist Werner Heisenberg’s famous uncertainty principle effectively killed the dreams of Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace, who had been a champion of promoting the idea of determinism in the Universe. Laplace thought that if science is sufficiently developed, then it can account for everything in the Universe.

Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle primarily revolves around this; that if we were to observe and study the position and speed of a particle, the intuitive and natural thing to do is to shine light on it. Light exists as packets of energy called photons. And shining Light on particles would mean that some of the photons would be absorbed.

In order to accurately determine the position of a very tiny particle, one would need to use light of a very small wavelength, so as to be more accurate in determining the position. A light of smaller wavelength is also a light of higher frequency, and hence of higher energy.

Some small-wavelength and high-energy light, when absorbed by the particle, will increase the particle’s speed. So when we observe a particle by means of shining a light and intending to get an accurate description of its position, we would have unavoidably altered its speed in the process. This is a compromise.

The same for the other way round, if we want to measure the speed of the particle accurately, we would employ a light with longer wavelengths and lower energy, so as to minimise the disturbance to the speed of the particle. Doing so would mean that there is increased inaccuracy or uncertainty about the particle’s position. Hence, also an unavoidable compromise.

Heisenberg showed that there is a minimum value to the product of these two uncertainties. And that limit is Plank’s constant, h, a very small constant.

When we talk about a particle as huge as a Ping Pong ball, the uncertainty that comes with observation of its position and speed would be too small and insignificant for us to know accurately the position and speed of the Ping pong ball. We would have come to a very very high degree of accuracy of its position and speed than we would ever have to need to know.

But when we talk about an electron in the confines of an atom, that uncertainty can result in inaccuracies in the thousands of kilometres per second with regards to the speed of the electron; by no means an accurate standard at all!

So what does this all mean?

This is a huge blow to the people who believe in scientific determinism of the fate of the Universe. In order to know the state of the Universe and its ultimate fate, the scientists needed to know the initial state of the Universe, and they have come to conclude that even if we could observe the state of the Universe within the first few billionths of a second of existence, we would be doing a terrible job in determining the positions and speeds of particles accurately, and that alone would shatter any beliefs at a deterministic pathway for the Universe; at least that is the case for observers like us.

So observation, or nazrah, has its limits.

People of faith have long resisted Laplace’s strongly deterministic view of the Universe, claiming that that would infringe on God’s Will to manage the Universe actively as how He sees fit. Wallahu ‘alam.

Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle (1926) was also hated by Einstein, who did not like the either of uncertainty or chance in physics. In physics today, scientists do not talk about the precise location of an electron at any instant, he talks about the probability or the percentage of time that an electron would be in a certain region.

Einstein did not like that, and he summed up his feelings in his saying “God does not play dice.” That quote was in the context of the uncertainty principle, and not about chance in Darwinian Evolutionism.

But what we know is that every matter is decreed in a clear book.

What amazed me was the idea that the Worldview of Islam cannot be simply an observation, it has to be a Vision, one that is Divinely Revealed, Rabbani, that describes existence as it really is! Without being subjected to any inaccuracies that come along with being an observer.

This outlook, or worldview, would seriously affect the way we conduct ourselves in this world. For example, we would take more seriously, the notion of the punishment in the grave, a matter Unseen, but sahih in all the narrations. We would never entertain the idea that such unseen matters do not exist.

Hopefully, our actions would conform to the Worldview of Islam, and this would mean serious effects in our attitudes towards the Dunia and Akhirah.

And this is yet another reason why I am utterly convinced why Islamic worldview is important to the Muslim, especially in this age!

The above is just an example, from the perspective of physics that I happen to chance upon, proving why the worldview of Islam is not limited to just observations; it is the Vision of Reality as it really is.

I owe my gratitude to Allah and His Messenger s.a.w., and the teachers who taught me.

Jazallahu anna Nabiyyana Muhamamdan, SallaAllahu alaihi wasallam

May Allah guide us all, always. Amin

Transcendental Unity of Religions?

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim,
Alhamdulillah,
Assalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah,

Have you heard of this (Transcendental Unity of Religions)?
Perhaps we all have heard of this, maybe not as the term itself, but at the very least; its core idea/message is the content being conveyed and use by those who support Religious Pluralism.

Religious Pluralism is the idea that all religions are equal, they have equal validity in their respective claims to Truth, so much so that it does not really matter what religion you abide to in this world.

Okay, just let me try my very best in explaining Transcendental Unity of Religion based on what information of it that I have.

All religions, have an inner core and an outer shell. (Sounds like atomic chemistry huh?? Hehe)

The inner core is the Esoteric. The outer shell is the Exoteric.

And that there are two levels of Realities, namely the higher Transcendental Level, and the lower, physical Material Level.

The existence of the many different religions (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Shinto, Hinduism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, etc) is only at the Physical Material Level.

Proponents of Transcendental Unity of Religions claims that all religions at the Transcendental Level are one. They say, though the External, the Exoteric of any religion may differ, their Inner Cores, the Esoteric, all unite at the Transcendental Level.

Examples of Esotericism in several religions: Sufism in Islam, Kabbalah In Judaism, Mystical Traditions in Christianity among others.

In a nutshell, I guess, at least to me, that is what Transcendental Unity of Religions is all about. In all likelihood, I may have done a very pathetic job at describing Transcendental Unity of Religions; I seek your pardon.

SO HOW? Can we accept this?

I have never, prior to just very recently, come across a specific academic work that handles this issue from the perspective of Islam.

Even so, I have come across emphasis by scholars who highlight the point that Islam is the only Religion that has validity in claiming the Truth.

Quotes are many: innad deena ‘indallahil Islam(the religion with Allah is Islam, al islam ya’lu walaa yu’la alaih (Islam is High and nothing is higher that Islam),

Those who share experiences with me will know that at least Shaykh Faiz is very firm in emphasizing on strict following of Islam, he even brings ayat about Islam in his Zikir!

So I can’t conceive how the traditional scholars of Islam from whom I have heard them speak, can support the idea of Transcendental Unity of Religions. Honestly, I don’t know how. What I know is they will say “innad deena ‘indallahil Islam”

My point is, even when I have not come across a proper academic refutation of Transcendental Unity of Religions, what I have learnt thus far really does not seem to ever support Transcendental Unity of Religions.

Religious Pluralists, will almost always subscribe to the idea of Transcendental Unity of Religions when they promote religious pluralism. And I guess it is rather well-known that they will end up quoting cryptic messages written by sages, Sufi Shaykhs and other religious figures to validate their claims. Perhaps what they do not notice is how these religious figures really firmly stick to their respective religions. In Islam, two figures commonly abused by Religious Pluralists are Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi and Maulana Jalaludin Rumi, may Allah sanctify their secrets! “MAY ALLAH SANCTIFY THEIR SECRETS” suddenly seems very apt when mentioned after Awliyaullah, so that their secrets are not abused by people.

Transcendental Unity of Religions was also used to account for ‘genuine’ religious experiences by members of other religions. Such ‘genuine’ experiences, they say, cannot just come to be if it is not true at least at the Transcendental Level. So visions by people of other religions, the Glossolalia (speaking in tongues) by the Christians, they say, must surely have some validity, if not how can we account for them? This is also compounded by the brain experiments/scans showing high brain activity in certain regions especially during these high moments of spirituality.

I say, what is so difficult, I may be simplistic in my thinking, but are we not to attribute these deceptions to the works of Iblis and his gang?
Once this is accepted, do we even have to find a source of truth to account such experiences by other religions? No lah!

Satan has vowed before God to delude Mankind, and God even allowed! (There is a reason for this in His Greater Wisdom). Even God said that Satan will be able to fool Man from all directions except the top and the bottom. (there is a Quranic verse narrating something like that, though I am not too sure exactly which verse)

My concern was this, while we respect differences of opinion in academia, how is it that there can be a vast separation of ideas with regards to this issue about validity of religions? I mean, this issue, is as central to the religion as it can get. From what I see, this really is a Masalah Usul in our religion, and not Masalah Furu’ like whether or not we need to recite Qunut in Solat Fardhu Fajar.

So, to me, the existence of Muslim scholars who support Transcendental Unity of Religions is really hard to digest.

With all due respect, I realize my own standing, I am just like a pitiful fly compared to them when it comes to their learning in Islam, so what I say may not carry any weight at all.

But such a central issue? Especially when many other Traditional Orthodox Scholars of Islam has made it so clear that we are not to subscribe to Transcendental Unity of Religions???

Really perplexes me, honestly I say.

Prof Syed Naquib presented an academic rebuttal as to Transcendental Unity of Religions is not true, and from what I see, the points used by Prof al Attas are really the points always emphasized by Traditional Orthodox Scholars. I even asked for clarification which position is more accurate of reflecting the stand of these orthodox scholars of Islam in this issue regarding Transcendental Unity of Religions; the answer I got was the position of Prof Syed Naquib.

Prof Syed Naquib presented a beautiful case, that if Realities unite only at the Transcendental level, and that at the Material Physical Level they are parts and pieces, then no religion in this world is complete in and of itself! How can this be when religion is meant to be Man’s ultimate guide to living in this world!

Again, I am a nobody in the academia of Islam; and in the world of Islamic Scholarship, there are big names that support the idea of Transcendental Unity of Religions…

Wallahu ‘Alam.

We really seek the guidance of Allah, in all affairs
May Allah forgive us all, and guide us all, amin amin amin

Subjects learnt in school ;)

Bismillahir rahmanir raheem,
Alhamdulillah,
Assalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah

Lately, 2 things set me back reflecting on some of the things I have learnt in school. I am now currently engrossed in reading and understanding and appreciating Stephen Hawkings’ a Briefer History of Time, a book I highly recommend reading as it presents difficult theories in a manner easily appreciated by laymen.

Firstly, as part of the outset, he highlights the point that any theory postulated by scientists is just a model that seeks to explain natural phenomena. A theory, a model, is considered good when it can explain and it can predict, to a high degree of accuracy. I particularly like the emphasis that a theory can never be 100% proven to be absolutely correct or true, regardless how many times experiments ascribe to that theory, or even law for that matter. Because it only takes a single instance of an event not ascribing to a particular theory to have it disproved, even abandoned.

So a theory is a model that ought to fit with what happens in nature and not the other way round.

Moreover, it should be noted that the fundamentals of laws of science are are always taken for granted, worked with henceforth, without so much as anything that even seeks to explain why the law is as such.

So if you ask why do like charges repel, who can answer you? Or why does mass have inertia?

This set us realizing, big time, that whatever Man postulated about science, while it is commendable, admirable and highly encouraged even in Islam, it can never supersede or overwrite what Allah wills 

So while Allah has His Sunnah (Sunnatullah) that govern the world via causes and effects, He, Transcendent and Almighty, as an active agent governing the world always has the power to intervene, even if it means going against Sunnatullah that we are more familiar with. Events that testify to this are many: some classics include the fire being cold and peaceful for Ibrahim a.s.

So it should be surprising when a particular theory is taken as the gold standard of measure for all things in the universe, say for example when the Darwinian Theory is imposed on fields outside the Evolutionary Biology. This would then more and more become like an obstinate-insisting on something, which can also be called a demagogic dogma or dogmatic demagogy. It is rather amusing how people like Christopher Hitchens can accuse people who ascribe to the religious texts as being arrogant in their insisting of the Truth in the revelations, and that Doubt is seen as humble since the one who doubts is making a statement that he does not know and is willing to “learn”, to find other explanations, which is to me just as excuse to escape Belief.

But what about this: Doubt comes from pride, you doubt only when you are not humble enough to believe…

Keraguan sebagai Penjana Pengetahuan dan Pemacu Utama Kemajuan: Satu Kritikan Pendahuluan by Dr Mohd Zaidi explained all this very clearly. What Stephen Hawkings said about the limitations of a theory seems to agree with what was said in this paper.

So we all will agree that the acceptance of reality cannot be a free-for-all thing, like a person trying to be a goody-two-shoes when he wants to accept all ideas regardless of their truthfulness, in an attempt to so called appease people. Truth has to be absolute and stand out from Falsehood, mutually exclusive.
I am not sure, but it seems to me that there is a ‘danger’ when Truth is coupled with arrogance, because then people can accuse you of being arrogant, narcissist, self-flattering etc, and then people will use that as an excuse to run away, regardless the Validity of the Truth.

It struck a chord with what the Prophet s.a.w said: I am the Master of the Children of Adam and it is no boast. What can be more Truthful than such a statement!

Subhanallah.

Lately, Ust Hasbi was emphasizing that the khasyieen, those who are humble, who fear their Lord, are on Truth’s side ;)

I am grateful to Him who made my beginning learning journey full of pieces that fall together nicely.


Yes, while I do admire what physicists are finding out about the universe, I have always in me felt a sense of regret, regret that I did not do physics in JC, thanks to a revamp in the curriculum that made it compulsory to have a contrasting subject. I had to sacrifice in choosing between Biology or Physics, what made me chose Biology was the recent popularity of life sciences, whether or not the reason, or the idea of the reason behind my choice was wise, I do not know. Not that I hate Biology, it is just that I kind of felt a pain in having to leave physics in JC lah.

But recently also, I learnt a module in pergas on muamalah, and I am also beginning to be more exposed to the idea of International Monetary system in Shaykh Imran Hossein’s works.

Suddenly H1 Economics came in handy;) I was recently waken up to the fact that Islam is opposed to some of the fundamental assumptions in Economics. I could appreciate what was presented when it criticized western Economics, and say things like “this was what I learnt in jc!”

As always, there is a lot out there to learn. An entire lifetime is never enough, isn’t it??

Jazallahu anna nabiyanaa muhammadan, sallallahu alaihi wasallam.

May Allah guide us all, amin.

The Friend and the Beloved.

Concerning the Friend, it was said: And thus We gave Abraham [his first] insight into [God's] mighty dominion over the heavens and the earth - and [this] to the end that he might become one of those who are inwardly sure - 6:75
Concerning the Beloved, it was said: “until he was but two bow-lengths away, or even nearer.” 53:9

The Friend prays for: “and who, (hope), will forgive me my faults on Judgment Day!”
The Beloved was told: “so that God might show His forgiveness of all thy faults, past as well as future, and [thus] bestow upon thee the full measure of His blessings, and guide thee on a straight way,” 48:2

The Friend asked for: “and do not put me to shame on the Day when all shall be raised from the dead” 26:87
The Beloved was bestowed as such: “on a Day on which God will not shame the Prophet and those who share his faith: their light will spread rapidly before them, and on their right” 66:8

The Friend said: “Allah is enough for me”
The Beloved was told: “O Prophet! God is enough for thee and those of the believers who follow thee!” 8:64

The Friend asked for: “and grant me the power to convey the truth unto those who will come after me” 26:84
The Beloved was given: “And [have We not] raised your mention?” 94:4

The Friend prayed for: “O my Sustainer! Make this land secure, and preserve me and my children from ever worshipping idols” 14:35
The Beloved was granted: “And God only wishes to remove all abomination from you’re your members of the Family, and to make you pure and spotless” 33:33

Peace and blessings be upon the Beloved Prophet s.a.w, and all the Prophets and Messengers of Allah.

Sidi Faiz in Singapore this sat and sun 19 and 20 dec!

masyaAllah, long awaited!

Sunday 20 Dec 2009 after isyak at masjid mohd salleh maqam habib nuh!

The Dire Need

Bismillah,
Assalatu wassalam ala rasulillah

It’s been long since I last updated, yeah I know

Probably not many will read this also, but nonetheless, I really feel that I want to share something.

The 9th of Dec was a full-day for me, in the daytime I went to Ubin to cycle with the Apex mentors. Yeah we had fun and all, went to the mountain bike trail which was quite scary. All in all, we had fun enjoying together.

In the evening, I actually rushed home earlier that most of the guys because I had to attend a course on Islamic Worldview at 8 pm. I must say that the course really was an eye-opener, even though it was only the first session.

I am not qualified in anyway to be talking about Tasawwur, if you want to know more, you must hear from the knowledgeable, this is basic adab. That does not go to say that I have adab, but I am endowed with choice and the choice I want to make is to want to have adab.

Tasawwur, this whole idea about the Islamic Worldview really shook my core… it teaches us to see things from an Islamic Prespective, the need being more dire given that many of us muslims are HEAVILY influenced by western ideals. We must recognize that there are fundamental differences between the worldviews, and needless to say, MERE RECOGNITION IS NOT ENOUGH.

We tend to say things like “of course I see things from the Islamic Perspective! I Am a Muslim!”
Well, good that if the first part is true, but more common is that when we examine just a little deeper, oh what a far cry…

There are many examples to illustrate the point.

When the West talks about advancements in society, progress in Industrialization and revolutions and renaissance… we ask ourselves when was the Golden Age of Islam?

The timeframe that comes to mind is of the numerous great innovations and discoveries pioneered by brilliant muslim thinkers and scientist, about Baghdad as centre of knowledge and Andalusian Science etc.

But what about the Hadith ‘ Khairul Qurun Qarni’ … the best of Times is my time, referring to Zaman Rasul s.a.w.

Subhanallah, we know this at the back of our minds, insyaAllah we do, but we cannot say it out the first thing in mind when asked that question… question is why? The answer is that we are too caught up with what others define as progress/success for us. This does not go to say that we should not aim for excellence in the sciences, we ought to, but that in itself cannot mean success for us Muslims…

Imagine, we say we love Nabi s.a.w., and we know that everything associated or close to Nabi is ‘sacred’ by virtue of his barakah…think about the Prophetic Sandals…Time itself, when it is close to Nabi, is Sacred!

Bukankah ini satu tempeleng?

There are other issues of course, for example, how some MEASURE THE SUCCESS of a community by considering how many working mothers are there….but is this true success of a community? What about the real costs? Disgruntled families, delinquencies all traced to lack of proper parental care etc…then think about the Islamic concept of children as being God’s Trust unto parents…subhanallah!

One issue I find easy for us to relate is how some people thank God and attribute success to Him even when they are in an area that deals with mungkar…beauty pageants, singing competitions etc…upon winning, they make the classical speech thanking God for His Bounty and His granting ‘success’ to them… Then others will argue “at least they are thankful!”

How? I mean, I am aware of many people who sense something wrong with such concepts and goes on to explain that it is not right. But Tasawwur, leads one from a level of feeling something fishy to a CLEAR AND FIRM stand on such matters! How one approaches such people, either harshly or gently with wisdom is an entirely different issue, but the bottomline is there needs to be a FIRM view on such things!

I brought up a question: I was reminded of an article, distributed months back, or even years back, by Sidi Faiz when he came to Maqam Habib Nuh for Zikr. The article was about the four levels of sin.

The First, the lightest and presumably easiest to be forgiven, is the kind of sin that one has regret for.
The Second, is the sin that one does not feel anything for, no regrets, no nothing, purely neutral, like as though the sin is everyday commonpractice.
The Third, is the sin that one is proud of
The Fourth, is to sin and then COMDEMN ISLAM for being BACKWARD etc when it forbids that sin.

At first I thought, the article made perfect sense, was quite logical and easy to follow, basically, there is this idea of progression from bad to worse in committing a particular sin.

Given this framework, I asked myself where does the attitude of ‘Syukur’ for a munkar stand????!!!!
Suddenly the gravity of it all becomes so severe! From mere feeling, hey I think there is something wrong with saying Alhamdulillah for a munkar that is done to IT IS VERY BAD AND SERIOUS!

No matter how much we want to pacify others or make them feel good, we cannot help but to know that it is at least at the THIRD LEVEL….subhanallah, maybe they didn’t know…but now that we know…

Subhanallah, I do not want to make assumptions or judge, but I know such things will surely kena condemn by Sidi…needless to say…

One more thing: from my entire listening to Sidi Faiz, I have never heard of the term Tasawwur Islam from him…but I heard many ideas that are conveyed in Tasawwur from him…

For example : Lahir Islam, Mati Islam, Hidup Islam, al islam ya'luu wa laa yu'la alaih, udkhulu fis silmi KAAFFAAH

So I made it a point to clearly clarify one concern I had in mind: is it possible for a person to have solid Islamic Worldview even though he may not be using the terms and jargons related to Tasawwur Islam as a learning subject?
THE ANSWER: YES! HIGHLY POSSIBLE! THOSE TRADITIONAL ULAMA HAVE ALL THE WAY BEEN SEEING THINGS FROM THE ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE! Only now it is made organised into a proper subject to clarify a lot of confusion amongst us who are so taken in by foreign ideas.

Khalas, settle, I have no doubts or queries about the dire need for Tasawwur anymore.

Another point worth mentioning:
To see things from the Islamic Perspective means to see things from the eye of the heart, ainul Qalb, and this alone, I feel brings in all the other basic sciences of Islam, such as iman, islam, ihsan…everything, aqidah, tasawwuf, fiqh…all…

Afterall, as muslims, we want to be seeing things from the Islamic Perspective…

It is because of islamic Worldview that we have, whether consciously or subconsciously, that we are able to say things like:

Books on Islam written by muslims are preferred over those written by non-muslims, a VERY TRADITIONAL KIND OF STAND IN ISLAM

It is wrong to chase after material gains under the pretext that Islam is ‘progressive’; as such, if I drive lexus this year, next year must ‘upgrade’ to mercedes…Islam is Progessive mah…all these at the expense of fundamental obligations like solat, seeking ‘ilm etc…

May Allah guide us all, amin

I have no ilmu, I only copy and paste.

Review The Intention Experiment

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
Alhamdulillah
Assalatu wassalaamu ‘ala Rasulillah

Subhanak, Laa ‘ilma lanaa illa maa ‘allamtanaa, innaka antal ‘aliimul Hakeem.

In light of the fact that I have ample free time now that I’ve ORD-ed ;) I’m really in the mood to jot down my thoughts on a book I’ve recently finished reading. (I actually do not like the idea of to be governed by moods, why can’t we be vibrant 24/7? Or energetic in carrying out all our duties and responsibilities?) The book is titled “The Intention Experiment” by Lynne Mc Taggart. It is actually a follow up reading after Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. In his book, Dan Brown mentioned “The Intention Experiment”, and what are the chances that I actually already have the book in my house, although it was starting to age due to constantly being shifted down the list of ‘next-to-be-read’. Subhanallah

As I jot down my thoughts, I will refer to certain pages in the book that mentioned points I find fascinating and intriguing, especially to us Muslims. We as muslims know so well the importance behind Intention, or Niat; as emphasized by our Beloved s.a.w. in the numbered one Hadith in the collection of Hadith 40. “Innamal ‘amaalu binniat, wa innamaa li kullim ri-im maa nawaa” loosely translated as “Every action is based on Intention; and for every person, what he intended for”. Though the Hadith was set in the context of the Hijra to Madina, its implications are vast and affect virtually all our ‘ibadah, for in order for an action to be considered an ‘ibadah, an act of worship, intention is of paramount importance. One of the rukun for most if not all amal is Niat.

The Intention Experiment of course does not dwell into the Syariah aspect of the requirement of Niat in every ‘ibadah; rather the book is more in line with the second phrase of the hadith; “and for every person, what he intended for”. The book presented the findings of many SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS conducted by prominent, world-renowned scientists to suggest that immaterial things such as thoughts, intentions and prayer can all affect a physical change in the material world and that such changes can be measured! Subhanallah, as I read through all the experiments mentioned, I think we as Muslims have lacked to use the full potential of Niat as how our religion demands of us: can you imagine doa as the Muslims’ strongest weapon?

I would like to begin with some of the closing statements mentioned in the book:

Frontier Science is the art of inquiring about the impossible.

True science, unafraid to explore the dark passages of our ignorance, always begins with an unpopular question, even if there is no prospect of an immediate answer-even if the answer threatens to overturn every last one of our cherished beliefs. This was exactly what happened at the time of the conception of the idea about Gravity during the Middle Ages.

Miracles do not happen in contradiction to nature, but only in contradiction to that which is known in nature – St Augustine

Bearing those in mind, I hope that they can serve, at the outset, as a pretext to subdue whatever negative reservations we may have about such experiments, as there are a lot who will dismiss such things off hand as pseudo-science; which is why I suppose having a team of reputable scientists and scientific Institutions involved can lend some weight.
Granted, this area of inquiry is rather new, and it is also acknowledged that what we humans have gathered collectively about such matters intangible as thoughts, intentions and prayer are still very limited for us to have any conclusive say. I also do not intend to subject Islam, the Prophet s.a.w. or the tenets of Islam to strictly man-made yardsticks of measure, for Islam is Transcendent and Divinely Revealed. But humans, in their quest for knowledge, are beginning to see patterns that affirm the Truths – an idea also mentioned in the Quran in that Allah mentioned “We will show them Our Signs in the horizons and in themselves, until it becomes clear to them that this is the Truth” This showing is mentioned in the present or even future tense.

NONLOCALITY of matter in the Universe. (page 9-11)
John Bell, an Irish physicist, famous for his experiment Bell’s Inequality, have demonstrated that when quantum particles have been in contact with each other and then separated, they become ‘entangled’. ‘Entangled’ in the sense that one particle can influence the behavior of the other.
Vast implications: Influence does NOT only occur OVER TIME and SPACE (the classical 4D of things, x,y,z and time)

Physicists have long consoled themselves that such strange, counterintuitive property of the subatomic world only influenced their world, and that they apply to nothing bigger than photons or electrons. When macroscopic world of physics is talked about, the universe eventually behaves according to predictable and measurable Newtonian Laws.

THE HUMAN ANTENNA (pages 21-23)
Gary Schwartz, as a child, played with old TV sets that used long antennas. He experimented that when we stand near those antennas, image on the TV blurred, and that when we touch the antenna, the images became clear. His experiment showed that his student became an antenna, received the EEG signal and then transmitted it to an amplifier.

(pages 27-28)
German Physicist named Fritz-Albert Popp, in the 1970s, stumbled upon the fact that all living things, from basic single-celled plants to sophisticated humans, emitted a constant tiny current of photons, particles of light. He called them ‘biophoton emissions’. Popp maintained that this biophotons, rather than biochemistry, is the true driving force in coordinating all cellular processes. Another German Biophysicist Herbert Frohlich, had proposed that a type of collective vibration coordinates cellular activities. Such theories were ignored until Popp constructed a machine, a photomultiplier, that captured light and counted it, photon by photon. Hence biophotons were detected. It also mentioned that cancer patients have fewer photons, almost as though they are fading out.

What does it imply then, that when the Prophet s.a.w. is constantly being described as a Light, that even his Holy Visage emanated a radiant Light? And that like Jesus, peace be upon him, had been granted the miracle of the healing touch? Where sahabas’ wounds sustained during wars were healed by his (s.a.w.) touch?? Of course we do not mean to reduce the Prophet’s miracles/barakah to some biophotons, perhaps we do not know exactly what is going on, but nevertheless it sets the mind wondering…

EINSTEIN-BOSE CONDENSATE (pages 30 to 32)
I’ve roughly read about this just out of interest years back, where this EINSTEIN-BOSE state is offered as one of the states of matter, like solid, liquid or gas. It occurs only just slightly above absolute zero (about 170 billionth of a degree above 0K) on the Kelvin Scale or the Ideal Gas Scale. At this extremely cold temperature, atoms that normally operate at different speeds, would slow down to identical energy levels, losing their individuality and behaving like one giant atom. (very different from solids, liquids or gas)

Then, Wolfgang Ketterle from Massachusetts Institute of Technology replicated the experiment using sodium that worked well. When particles are at the Einstein-Bose state, they will oscillate in perfect harmony, highly coherent and thus achieve extraordinary efficiency of energy…Like in resonance in Simple Harmonic Movements…when the driving frequency exactly matched the natural frequency of a substance, the amplitude goes to infinity…so in lasers, instead of sending light just 3 metres, a laser can emit a wave 300 million times as far…

Fritz-Albert Popp also found a similar property of these biophotons, which is not supposed to happen to living beings that operate in hot room temperature as compared to that temperature near -273.15 deg celcius. They acted like a single superpowerful frequency, a phenomenon called ‘superradiance’.

British Physicist Roger Penrose and his partner, American anesthetist Stuart Hameroff from University of Arizona proposed that microtubules in cells were like light pipes through which disordered wave signals were made coherent.

Gary Schwartz also witnessed a coherent photon stream emanating from hands of healers: if thoughts are generated as frequencies, healing intention is well ordered light.

When Nabi s.a.w. asked us to make doa upon visiting out ill brethren, it goes without saying that we ought to be SINCERE in our supplication, in our intention to have our brethren healed….

And sincerity is yet another aspect of Niat heavily emphasized in the ambit of Islam, especially tasawwuf. When sincerity is for Allah alone, it means that intention should be highly focused, eliminating all other than Allah…Oh my God, all these linking up is just dazzling! SUBHANALLAH!!!

Now I am really beginning to appreciate why Islam is against fragmentizing of Knowledge, If you are a physicist, do not say “I do not do Biology’ or worse “I hate Biology”. Ultimately all knowledge is from Allah. And today the broadest fragmentizing of knowledge is the dividing it into two classes: duniawi and ukhrawi…we ought to have BOTH! And I was advised that whatever field I intend to study, be they very specific to an industry, INTEND it for Allah…

THE RIGHT TIME(pages 106 to 108)
The book also suggests that the right timing plays a role in our intentions/prayers. Certain experiments showed that geophysical effects affect humans. I will refer more to this when I share about the ongoing intention experiment at the end of the book.

MENTAL BLUEPRINTS (pages 127 to 133)
Aye, finally, some boxing action!
The legendary Boxer, Muhamamad Ali, was not only a skilled professional boxer, he was also a master intentionist! The book describes how Ali uses ‘mantra’, even songs that described how he knocks his opponents down. Ali would repeat the same mantra even to reporters. Ali also uses mental trial runs, intense imagination of his fists impacting Frazier’s eyes, Ali basically envisages the future in minute details as it is unfolding. If image of difficulty pops into the head, he will change the internal movie, editing the scene to one of success…Athletes that employ the mental trial run not only do visual imagery, they engage all the senses in their mental rehearsals! Studies were done to compare the effects on neuro-pathways when a thought of doing something is compared to actually doing it. The neuro pathways used were essentially the same and postulations were that such mental rehearsals eases the way for the real realization/manifestation/happening of the real thing.

“wa innamaa li kullim ri-im maa nawaa” and for every person, what he intended

Allah’s qudrah is also a manifestation of His Will (Iradah)… and whenever He decrees a matter, He Wills (or Intends) it and it comes into being.

(pages 143 to 145)
Psychologist William Braud conducted a study that suggested that we can most influence others to become ordered when we ourselves are more ordered. Calm people were most successful in sending intentions to calm other nervous people.

Dr Daniel Benor also conducted an experiment with lettuce seeds; those seeds that were exposed to positive intentions for their germination showed 10% more crops with significantly less fungal diseases compared to the controls.

THE VOODOO EFFECT (pages 150 to 155)
Negative intentions, those that intend to harm, tend to have higher success rates at remote influence, even when they are unconscious such as when one harbors ill-thoughts or intention about another person. A negative thought about yourself or even such as calling names can ultimately manifest itself as an energy and thus become a SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY. Such negative thoughts were also shown to influence the people around you.

Again, Islam is so against harboring of ill-thoughts, ill-intentions…and even name calling, explaining that that in itself is a doa that can manifest…

(pages 157 to 158)
The idea that we can ‘charge’ inanimate objects with our thoughts is the basis for many dark arts of native culture, also known as black magic, sihir etc, which infuse effigies and voodoo dolls with negative intentions and then use them to target people. There can also be benevolent voodoo, where effigies are used to send positive intentions.

The book also recommended some method to ward off incoming negative intentions. Methods recommended include imagining one’s self in a bubble, impenetrable to such negative thoughts, or imagining a light that ward off the darkness of the evil intentions.

And again Islam has a rich culture for similar stuff, ayat pendinding or husun, are recommended for such objectives.

The Prophet s.a.w. also once suffered from Jewish Sorcery. After the victory at Khandaq, the unsatisfied Jews from Khaibar approached an elderly Jew named Labid, a very skilled magician, to formulate an evil spell on the Prophet s.a.w. Labid, who lived in Madina, acquired several strands of the Prophet’s s.a.w hair and tied 11 knots and upon each knot Labid’s daughters would breathe devilish incantations. The tied strands were then thrown into a well only Labid knew.

The angel Gabriel told the Prophet s.a.w. of the sorcery and revealed the 11 verses of surah al falaq and surah an-naas, upon each verse the knots were untied one by one.

PRAYING FOR YESTERDAY (pages 170 to 175)
Our idea of causation dictates that a certain Cause causes an Effect to happen, and as such, Cause must precede the Effect. However, discoveries in quantum physics tend to defy that understanding. Subatomic particles exist in a state of potential until observed or thought about. This sort of backward influence resembles nonlocal correlations found in the quantum world, as if the connections were always there in some underlying arrangements. Experiments done with Random Event Generators (REGs) showed that thought done in the present can affect the past. In audio REG experiments, audio clips were recorded and then in the present, were influenced by the thoughts of an observer to somewhat influence some sense of order in the sounds which were supposed to be random. It was observed that the person attempting to influence the tapes must be the first listener. Some studies suggest that observations by sentient beings will block future attempts at time-displaced influence.

Of course this raised the clichéd questions that occur when you watch movies like Back To The Future. The truth of the matter is, we know too little even about time-displacement phenomenon in the quantum world. Though this may offer a glimpse of how every event is laid, past, present and future, and that God, being unbound by Time, Transcends Time itself.. wallahu ‘alam

THE INTENTION EXPERIMENT (pages 182 to 184)
During Transcendental Meditation, when minds of mediators become tuned to same frequency, this coherent frequency will begin to order the disordered frequencies around it. Resolution of individual internal conflict leads to resolution of global conflict. A group of meditators were experimented and results were that during the period of the experiment, crime rates significantly drop. When experiments were over, they rose again.

Perhaps this could be one of the mechanisms that cause the widespread peace during the reign of al-Mahdi?

Even intentions and prayers can affect weather. PEAR’s Roger Nelson’s experiment seemed to show that intentions can affect weather…

The very idea of solat asking for rain, again, established in Islam.

Japanese Masaru Emoto, studied water crystal appearances after being exposed to positive and negative thoughts and intentions. Positive thoughts such as those of love produced aesthetic, symmetrical crystals whereas the negative thoughts one produced disordered crystals.

Dr. Emoto even experimented with ZamZam:
As for the ZamZam water you asked, it is true that we could see a beautiful double crystal (one over another one) with six points when we dilluted by 1000. And I commented that maybe it created a double crystal since the word consists of two words.I've already experimented on the 99 word of God or Koran about four years ago and showed the results in a book.However, we are not Muslim and cannot read Arabic. So we put the Arabic words on the water bottle and left it over twenty four hours. Then photographed it. It is true that each crystals were unique and beautiful.

How can the ZamZam not be blessed when it washed the heart of the Prophet s.a.w.?

I may not have covered the experiments in high detail, otherwise that would be very lengthy. If you are skeptical, you just need refer to the names mentioned, search them online, or if you want, you can search the book itself, I have loosely referenced some pages. Even the book has more footnotes pointing to reputable scientific Journals such as Nature.

In conclusion, these latest discoveries offer convincing evidence that all matter in the universe exists in a web of connection and constant influence, which often overrides many of the laws of universe that we used to believe held ultimate sovereignty. Admittedly, even for modern particle physics, much of it is in the realm of theoretical physics, so much of the information about such novel ideas like the String Theory, Warp Passages and the Unified Theory that sought to combine all the four fundamental forces of the universe into one are all very much speculative work and subject to constant modifications and refining; think Stephen Hawkings ;) So theoretical physics now I suppose is very messy and convoluted.

At the end of the book, the author asked the reader who has finished reading to partake in an ongoing worldwide experiment involving intentions. The author recommended several preparatory steps that needed to be taken before going through the Intention experiment.

I’ve read through the author’s guide and I can safely say that I am not keen to participate, though at first I thought the idea was cool. Several reasons why: time consuming, the preparation and all require commitments of no less than 20 mins each time, and the thing is it has to be consistent. Plus, in the context of accommodating readers from all faiths, she recommended chanting mantras that you feel comfortable with, such as OM for Hindus or prayer with the rosary for Catholics and maybe Muslims. I’m not so much for syncretic ideas.

Another interesting point is when the book mentioned that at certain times of the day, the environment is more conducive for sending out intentions. For example, the early hours after sunrise. The morning rays are a natural air ionizer, and positive ions in the air somehow helps in sending intentions. As muslims, we know that there is much Barakah in the morning hours, we are encouraged to work, do Dhuha, send salawat upon the Prophet s.a.w. etc. But of course we are not about to reduce Barakah to the measure of positive ions in the air, or claim that the amount of barakah is directly proportional to the amount of ions in the air.

Somehow this book makes me more aware, or appreciative of the fact that when you send a salawat upon the Prophet s.a.w. or rather when you implore God and thereby intend God to send Salawat upon the Prophet s.a.w., then surely he receives it! And when he s.a.w. receives it, he will reply it and have it sent back to you ten times over!

Subhanallah,
All these frontier discoveries, even if they just barely scratched the surface, can already dazzle the mind. What more when we see Allah’s Visage in Paradise like how we see the Moon, a single glimpse leaves us in wonderment for a thousand years!

Let us all be humble like how the angels were humble:
Subhanak, Laa ‘ilma lanaa illa maa ‘allamtanaa, innaka antal ‘aliimul Hakeem.

My thoughts on the “Lecture: Liberalising Islam? What Liberal Islam stands for and our Response”

AlhamdulilLah, I was fortunate to have ample free time recently to be able to attend a rather one of a kind talk dealing with a pertinent issue, Liberal Islam. The talk entiled “Liberalising Islam? What Liberal Islam stands for and our Response” by Shaykh Abdul Halim was at Pergas on 27th Oct 2009. I was interested in this talk because I have heard of Liberal Islam being promoted, especially on the Internet. The truth is, I was already apprehensive about such as ideas especially knowing that the proponents were not exactly established classical scholars of Islam. But I reckoned that this issue really needs to be looked at and a lecture to explain what it’s all about would be a good opportunity to find out more.

One of the first things I learnt at the talk is that the phenomenon of liberal Islam is a rather recent one, the term having been first coined by Ali Asghar Engineer. The lecture began by directing our awareness to the two kinds of enemies of Islam; the enemy from “Outside” and the enemy from “Within”. It also mentioned one of the reminders from the Prophet s.a.w. in his final sermon; that Syaitan has lost all hopes in leading muslims astray over big issues, so beware of following Syaitan in small things.

With these two pieces of information in mind, it bids helpful to note that concepts such as Liberal Islam ought to be scrutinized, especially when already established teachings in Islam are being modified to suit the flippant whims of some people.

Shaykh Abdul Halim also briefly explained the origins of Liberalism having roots in the discontentment among the Christians in the face of the poor’s suffering, in view of the fact that the Catholic Church has massive wealth. In claiming itself to be the champion of the oppressed, Liberal Islam draws its inspiration from the idea of Liberation Theology in the historical development of Christian thought. Liberal Islam thus has “foreign” roots.

It was also explained how presently, Islam is being examined as a social phenomena, to be studied scientifically. This and more led to many misleading terms , such as Liberal Islam and Feminist Islam which in the words of Shaykh Abdul Halim is the “conceptual fragmentizing of Islam” itself. Throughout the lecture, we were also reminded and exhorted to always refer matters to the proper authority, and when it comes to ‘Ilm pertaining to Islam, to refer to the genuine Ulama who are neglected by too many of us. With such a background on the current discourse about Islam, the main gist of the lecture, however, was a point by point rebuttal of Liberal Islam’s principles; Shaykh Abdul Halim demonstrated how these principles are either unacceptable to Islam, or simply fail to offer anything new.

Of interest is the explanation of the concept of Secularism and how this ideology/philosophy seeks to make God and religion inconsequential to our daily lives. The punch of this lecture, in my opinion, is the paradox that inevitably comes to mind when the terms “Islam” and “Liberal” are put together. “Islam” has the meaning of Submission (to the will of Allah s.w.t.), so, when put besides the word “Liberal” which connotes the idea of being free from any constraints, it becomes a paradox that ought to be detected the moment one thinks more deeply about the term “Liberal Islam”. This alone is a signal that there is something fishy with Liberal Islam. This is the reason why Shaykh Abdul Halim draws our attention to the idea of “Freedom” in Islam which he contrasted with the Western view of Freedom.

Ok, what I was exposed to about Freedom during that lecture was really a mind opener; Freedom according to the Western understanding means to not be constrained by anything, this ‘not to be constrained by anything’ is very misleading in Islam, because one knows so well that a human being can be heavily influenced by things such as his own Nafs. Therefore when he perceives that he is ‘free’ to do whatever he likes, without being constrained at all, he may jolly well be trapped or succumbed to the demands of his own Nafs; this when properly realized, is not Freedom at all. Thus in the lecture we were reminded to understand and appreciate that true Freedom in Islam is the sincere submission to Allah s.w.t., and not to anything ephemeral such as our desires or anything else for that matter.

One of course needs to be aware that some Muslims are confused about the relationship between Islam and Modernity and so, Liberal Islam may appear appealing to them. It takes a learned and trained eye to look through all these confusions! AlhamdulilLah, attending the talk, the audience would be in a better position to not be fooled by Islam Liberal, insyaAllah!

Lastly, I really thought that it would be great should there be a second session or even a few week’s course dealing with this topic and other related issues.

Written on 06 Nov 2009 (MY ORD) MUAHAHAHA

The Moment of Truth.

I was toggling through the channels on Starhub Cable TV when I stumbled upon Channel 5’s The Moment of Truth.

Contestants were challenged to answer up to 21 questions pertaining to their lives truthfully, in order to win a maximum cash prize of USD500,000. What disgusts me so much was that the nature of the questions asked was very encroaching into people’s private spheres and secrets. Understandably so, the appeal in such questions rest in the fact that they reveal ‘interesting’ information about individuals. This same appeal has been abused by Satan and the Nafs to excite people, to make them want to gossip, backbite, slander etc. This age old tactic has long been exposed by the Quran and the Prophet s.a.w. when he declared that gossiping if Haram and is one of the greatest sins. The hadith about the 2 ladies who vomited out fresh meat of their brethren whom they gossiped about comes into mind.

It is uncalled for; to look into or spy or expose people’s private spheres and secrets. Indeed, the Quran and Sunnah explicitly prohibit spying into another person’s life, if there is no pressing investigative need. Wa laa tajassasuu…Jangan sepai-menyepai.

The implications of this reality show can be devastating. It is broadcasted on national TV, in fact worldwide! The very fabric that holds together an entire family or the bond between friends are at risk of being obliterated just by the questions that seek to expose the ‘truth’. Note that how the computer gets the ‘correct’ answer is in itself demanding to get an audit.

Man, in pursuit of money, can sometimes be willing to expose their personal inequities even when Allah As-Sattar has covered up their faults for them. Do not reveal what Allah has covered up for you. And this is done risking their marriage, family bonds, friendship, and God knows what other costs are involved. It is essesially trading one’s dignity, self-worth, family, friendship for a meager sum of a maximum if USD500,000.

I have not been offered such a sum in my face, so I myself do not know how I would fare if I were to be in their shoes. But the least I can say is that my mind knows the stakes involved. So May God guide us all and Forgive us, Amin.

Review: The Lost Symbol

The one who called himself Mal’akh pressed the tip of the needle against his shaved head, sighing with pleasure as the sharp tool plunged in and out of his flesh. The soft hum of the electric device was addictive…as was the bite of the needle sliding deep into his dermis and depositing its dye.
I am a masterpiece
The goal of tattooing was never beauty. The goal was change. From the scarified Nubian priests of 2000B.C., to the tattooed acolytes of the Cylebe cult of Rome, to the moko scars of the modern Maori, humans have tattooed themselves as a way of offering up their bodies in partial sacrifice, enduring the physical pain of embellishment and emerging changed beings.
Despite the ominous admonitions of Leviticus 19:28, which forbade the marking of one’s flesh, tattoos have become a rite of passage shared by millions of people in the modern age – everyone from clean-cut teenagers to hard-core drug users to suburbas housewives.
The act of tattooing one’s skin was a transformative declaration of power, an announcement to the world: I am in control of my own flesh. The intoxicating feeling of control derived from physical transformation had addicted millions into flesh altering practices…cosmetic surgery, body piercing, bodybuilding, and steroids…even bulimia and transgendering. The human spirit craves s mastery over its carnal shell.

From Dan brown’s The Lost Symbol, chapter 2.

Islamic Law shares quite a few similarities with the Law that was given to Moses, inscribed in the Book of Leviticus of the Old Testament. Some of the similarities included the forbidding of pork, and the flesh of carnivorous beasts, and, as alluded to in Dan Brown’s book, tattooing.

The Islamic view of Man is that he is the Vicegerent of God on Earth; and that his duties include managing this world, and also his own physical body, according to Divine Principles revealed unto Man. The philosophical reasoning behind why Muslims, people who submit to God, are forbidden from tattooing their flesh is that ownership of the flesh is not with Man, rather, the flesh, as with everything else, is a loan from God that will ultimately return to Him and is subject to some serious reckoning in the Hereafter. This is the reality of Man, that Man in reality does not own. Clearly, this Islaimic view is at odds with the declaration mentioned in Dan Brown’s book: I am in control of my own flesh. The act of tattooing one’s skin was a transformative declaration of power, an announcement to the world: I am in control of my own flesh. Such arrogant declaration of power is seen as something sacrilegious in Islam, and hence it forms part of the understanding of the wisdom behind the prohibition of tattoos in Islam. It can also be seen as a blatant, rebellious denying of God’s authority; although in today’s age, it can be difficult to throw such charges around since many of those who tattoo themselves do so out of a sense of keeping in trend or being up to date with the latest fashion statements. For certain, the origins of tattoos in the earliest civilizations were with the proclamation of personal control over the flesh, in defiance to the Divine.

In order to understand the Islamic position on Tattoos, it helps to also be aware of the Purpose of Syariah, one of which is to safeguard the physical body from harm. That is why any unnecessary alterations of the body is forbidden, unless there is a medical backup calling for such procedures.


One thing I like about Dan Brown’s three book series involving Havard Symbologist Robert Langdon is that the buildings, organizations, art pieces, rituals mentioned in them are true; they exist and can be verified. Often times, his narrative gets the reader to think deeper into the meaning of these things, even casting new conceptions about them.

Okay, the other matter mentioned in the book is the painting, fresco on the ceiling of the domed US Capitol Building. The apotheosis of Washington. painted by Constantino Brumidi.

I believe this painting has some issues with the idea of a strict monotheism in Islam. Firstly, apotheosis means “process of becoming a god”. Islam made it clear that Godship is His alone, and that there is no such thing as Man becoming God, and yet this painting depicts George Washington becoming a god. Heavily influenced by Roman PAGAN literature, the painting also depicts mythical gods such as Minerva, Ceres. I have no doubt that the divine message of Islam was first sent to mankind to abolish all forms of idolatry, the most symbolic moment representative of that message is when the Prophet s.a.w. himself destroyed the idols at the Kaaba after the Opening of Mecca. So how can a muslim accept that Ceres is the god of plenty, god of grains, from whose name the word cereal come from? That would be to associate Allah Ar-Razzaq with Ceres. Blatant Idolatry. Here we are not even talking about the hidden idolatry in the heart which takes the form of ostentation, arrogance, anger, superciliousness etc.

The same for the other gods depicted in the Apotheosis painting. My question is: if the early founding fathers of America are purportedly Christians, then how does one put together belief in a Supreme Creator and other mythical gods like Ceres? Admittedly, I do not hold Christians to be the champions of monotheism, Islam teaches the purest monotheism. Then somewhere in the book Dan Brown mentions that in the clandestine Masonic Lodges, religious books of every faith are venerated, the Quran, The Bible, The Bhagavad Ghita etc. apparently, according to Dan Brown, Masons were not anti-christian or anti-religious, they in fact believed in the Supreme Architect of the Universe, and championed a kind of religious freedom that caters and accepts all faiths; which explained why some Masons were Christians, Muslims etc.

Now there is a grave danger in such an ideology. While we agree that Allah over the history of Mankind has sent many messengers to guide Man; and in the course of history, many authentic books of God were altered. We do not say that the alteration is 100% such that absolutely no remnant of truth remains in those books, but we are also incapable of pinpointing all the alterations such that we can perfectly filter the altered from the original in those books. It is precisely this reason why we can find things Bathil in the old books.

So how can a search for Truth venerate the Quran equally with the other books?
Ja al Haqqu wa zahaqal bathil, Innal Baathila KAANA ZAHUUQAA.
Truth will prevail over falsehood, falsehood is bound to perish.
Innad deena indallahil Islam
The religion with God is Islam
Al Islam ya’luu, wa laa yu’la alaihi
Islam is the Highest, and nothing is higher than Islam.

Do not get me wrong, while I believe that Islam is the way of truth, I do not in anyway mean to demean the other religions.

I find such syncretism not the way to Truth.

I know of one scholar who argues against those who fervently quote Sufis like Mawlana Jalaludin Rumi and Ibn Arabi in an attempt to campaign the idea of acceptance of all religions.
They like to quote sayings like “I look into the synagogue, I do not find God there, I look into the church, I do not find God there, I look into the mosque, I do not find God there, BUT when I look into my heart, I find Him there”

While there is of course truth to that saying, however, the truth there meant more to emphasise the keeping of God close to the heart. This does not negate the need to follow a legitimate path, the Path of the Prophet s.a.w. which is Islam. The saying also serves to highlight the disparity even among Muslims, those who obey God only ritualistically, and those who obey Him while knowing deeper meanings.

Bear in mind also that the scholar whom I know also argues that Ibn Arabi, whom many like to quote and champion him as an example of one who accepts religious syncretism, was a very strict monotheist! His view of the Oneness of God is so ‘extreme’ that he declared nothing exists except God.

Even Dan Brown acknowledge in his latest novel that there exists alterations in the Bible. The Horn of Moses, an idea that depicted Moses with horns, came about because of an early mistranslation of the bible from Hebrew to Latin. This is an example of ‘kebatilan’.

Later in the book, Dan Brown also venerates Sir Isaac Newton, the famed scientist, as a man with deep passions for ancient mysteries, alchemy, and was a researcher of secrets in the Bible. Isaac Newton is said to have found in the Bible many Truths that transcended even modern science, describing the progress of today’s science as going backwards towards what the ancients already knew. That POWERFUL.

If so, then historically speaking also, Sir Isaac Newton wrote a treatise on the Bible titled: An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture, with the specific verses under scrutiny being those that referenced directly to the idea of a Triune God. Two disputed Bible passages: 1 John 5:7 and 1 Timothy 3:16. Kebatilan.

A central theme I guess in The Lost Symbol is the idea that Man, upon realising his true human potential, can be divine. Dan Brown quotes : Know that ye are Gods, the kingdom of God in within you, your body is the temple of God etc.

I had the chill of realizing that somehow the truth of Man being ‘divine’ resonates even in Islam. God created us in His Image, God taught Adam all His Names, takhallaqu bi akhlaaqillah, take on the attributes of Allah. That the Ruh is from Him and its secrets are only minimally revealed. And that Man has the capacity to attain Perfection, if not then it would be in vain to give glad tidings of the the highest Maqams. This reality being epitomised in the story of the Mi’raj, where the Prophet s.a.w. rose to a station that surpasses even the capabilities of the Chief of Angels.

Even some sufis have said ‘to say that I am His servant and that He is Master is not as humble as to say ‘I Am God’.” Of course this is not about associating God with anything, neither is it about the glorious rise of Man to the level of the Divine, nor is it about snatching Divinity/Godship from Him, rather, it is an extreme expression of humility that surrenders everything to God, even the existence of the individual, acknowledging Greatness only to Him ALONE, being annihilated in Him. This is not Apotheosis.

The Mind sits atop the body for a reason, that being it is highly valued. Dan Brown explained that the temple at the head is so called because it is ‘sacred’. The capstone of the Masonic Pyramid represents the Human Head, and the Mind. This also helps us better understand one of the Sacred Purposes of the Syariah, which is to hold the capacity of the human intellect sacred. And hence any forms of intoxicant is haram; from drugs to alcohol to sniffing glue.

Dan Brown mentions that many ancient people, the Adepts, the Kabbalist, even the Sufis of Islam, knew of the Ancient Mysteries. While I am impressed that the author quotes many spiritual masters of mystical orders, he quoted no Sufi who would surely protest against pagan idolatry even in its most subtle forms, think Ibn Arabi the strict Monotheist. Yet Ibn Arabi’s understanding of Man is such that Man is a ‘divine’ creation. Ibn Arabi saw the dialogue between Pharoah and Moses in a different manner, one that channeled all Transcendency to God alone.

Subhanallah.

The other central theme in the narrative is that of Noetic Science, the science that studies human potential. It is claimed that this novelty in science has the power to turn serious skeptics into believers. This science is now QUANTIFYING and MEASURING intangible things once taught fiction such as the soul, human thought and a kind of energy many has called spiritual. This Noetic Science is now proving irrefutably that human thought possess mass, can be measured and that when magnified, can exert a physical influence in our physical world. When the entire world was sensitized by a single monumental event such as the 911, human thoughts all over the world shared the same grief or so to speak. This event of a massive commonality of the human thought all over the world influenced significantly the outcomes of several computerised Random Event Generators. This is no placebo effect. The idea of Man’s thought can influence water crystal patterns mentioned in the works of a Japanese scientist is now gaining scientific credibility, and is irrefutable, although it was once thought of as a pseudo-science.
Dan Brown even mentioned a book my brother bought, The Intention Experiment, a scientific experiment measuring the effect of intangible things like thought, intentions, prayers.

There are scientific medical observations of how prayer groups and faith healers can heal. Evidence showing cancer cells turning to normal cells upon focused prayer etc. A kind of scan also revealed light emanating from the hands and heads of faith healers, apparently scientific evidence of a kind of energy.
And we heard how Imam Nawawi studied in the dark. And how we are going to be recognised in the hereafter, by the light of the wudhu we take. The Light on the Prophet’s visage that the Sahabas have reverently spoken of. So when a saint is described as a Qutb, a Pole, it is really like a magnetic pole that causes magnetic field to emanate from it. Any monumental breakthrough in science almost always began in a surrounding of skepticisms. Think about the discovery of gravity, the dispelling of the notion that earth is flat. The magnetic field is definitely not an energy field that we can see with our naked eyes. So it is not impossible that there are spiritual poles with very high spiritual energies.

The book also describes how the power of the human thought increases when more people are synchronized to that same thought. And the increase is exponential. A second person does not double the effect, it multiples it! It also says how an individual, through practice, can hone this skill, sharpening it until its effects are very profound. Just like how a child can master the piano after many, many hours of learning and practice; no longer a wonder why sometimes a zikir is prescribed in the thousands. To intensify the effects of the ‘thought’, one must learn to focus. Now that knocked into me the importance of striving for khusyu’ in Salat, in zikr etc. Mintak bersungguh-sungguh, Sidi Faiz always reminded us. Anatara sebab doa tidak maqbul adalah kerana kamu kurang keyakinan….really sounds like the very central idea in Noetic Science. Somehow this Noetic science can also explain why in some mass Zikir majlis, when the focus of the congregation is intense, there have been recorded cases of a light descending upon them in all suddenness, and all the other stories we’ve heard.

The book champions Noetic Science as the science that will bring about a global enlightenment. Wallahu ‘alam. And it said that Man has only scratched the surface when it comes to understanding human potential. When Shaykh Nazim said that there are many saints around today and they are all holding the miracles, not being granted permission to show them yet; somehow the meaning of this becomes more profound. Skeptics will turn to believers.

The other intriguing matter mentioned in the book is the Hand of Mystery. I do not intend to spoil the story for you but a certain Peter Solomon’s right hand was severed, with all fingers clenched except the thumb and the index finger that were made to point forward, or upward, depending on how you see. This, he said, is the ancient symbol of INVITATION to secrets held by whos-who of mystical orders. I was stunned, how much of my mind does this book want to drag??? I immediately picture the shape of the right hand in the Tahiyyat, which can mean greeting or connote an INVITATION. The context of the Tahiyyat, and its recitation, which is one of the Rukun for Solat, took place after the Prophet s.a.w was INVITED to MEET Allah in the Mi’raj. And the finger is raised upon recitation of the Tashahhud…Subhanallah. The secret, the Mystery, is One God? Him…One, Unique…Him…He…Huu…Allah…

Of course there were several ideas mentioned in the book that contrasted with the ideals in Islam.
For example; the importance of blood on sacrifice. Dan Brown mentioned that Abraham had to willingly sacrifice Isaac, when we muslims know that it was Ismail, Hajar’s son, the first born. The story seems to imply that blood sacrifice is necessary, the blood of Christ on the Crucifix etc. When we all Muslims know that God is Transcendant, and never in need of any blood. Abraham’s story was a test of his Faith, not the value of blood-sacrifice. And there is no atonement through the Blood of Christ.

Dan Brown also claimed that the word Amin, commonly recited by Christians and Muslims, actually came from the name of a pagan Egyptian God Amon. God spoke in Arabic way before everything was created.

This book is really a fascinating read!
Never have I typed 3000 words just to passionately talk about a fiction-thriller novel!
Plus there are some other things in the novel I haven’t mentioned.

Laa ilaha IllaAllah, Muhammadur RasuluLlah, Fii kulli lamhatin wa nafasin ‘adada maa wasi’ahu ‘ilmullah

Raya Sept 2009

Alhamdulillah, I should be greeting this year’s Eid ul Fitr with much gratitude and glee, for both Ramadhan and Syawal 1430H came around the time which is considered the best period of an NSF’s life, his last few weeks to ORD that are filled with many interspersed and clumped together combinations of OFFs and Leaves ;) the ORD mood is just beyond words

I had ample time during Ramadhan, much more free than when I was in JC2 simultaneously preparing for the A-Levels, although this year many of my relatives who are my juniors will be quite sad at the prospect of Raya being just that few weeks before exams, and for some of them, major exams. But well, that is part and parcel of life.

I began Eid Ul Fitr 1430H in the usual manner, woke up for Fajr, then set off to Al-Istiqamah for sunnatul Eid. At the mosque, I met some of my friends whom we customarily meet during Ramadhan for at least a few iftars, but somehow, this year, everybody seemed so caught up with NS, work commitments etc.

Then spent some time at home, eating traditional raya dishes. After Zuhr at about 2.30pm my eldest bro fetched us from Pasir Ris to Bedok Reservoir to begin our visiting rounds. We enjoyed the variety of kuih raya. I always ask for warm water or tea, I just can’t take too many glasses of gassy drinks. It had been several consecutive years already, that my elder cousin and his family join us in visiting the common close relatives; somehow that makes the visitings more vibrant.

I can't restraint him!

As usual, we all caught up with each other, the elder of my relatives asked us about our lives, what are we doing currently and so forth. And yes, as expected, they all asked me almost the same question, just paraphrased differently according to their respective styles of talking. Sekarang masih NS? Biler Habis? I. as you might have guessed, am all smiles when I answer that question. And the follow up is always this: Lepas tu sambung belajar kat maner?

My second brother snapped shots with his DSLR, some of which is shared on this platform.

And I had the pleasure of digging in Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol on every trip in between houses ;) Such a thrilling and grabbing read! I have a few topics to share on the book...soon when i have the time

The mood was light, the humour highly appreciated and most importantly, the ties strengthened. Essentially, that would be the goal of ziarah-menziarah di bulan Syawal; of course bearing in mind that the lessons imparted to us in Ramadhan are not neglected, in fact, should be continued upon for our individual betterment. May Allah accept of us all in Ramadhan and may we benefit from Ramadhan all the generous Bounty He has promised us and May He bestow upon us the rewards of Lailatul Qadr and may He impart in us the consistency in performing the deeds striven for in Ramadhan, Amin!

At cousin's place

P.S. An Update on my 2 nephews:
Izharul Haqq, aka The Abang, is now 2 years old and is a very active and cheeky toddler, you can imagine all his musings during the visitings. He has even learnt how to dance Tango with my sis-in-law! So cute!
He is also a chef to be now, adding unconventional ingredients to dishes; honeydew cordial into mee goreng.

Izdiyad Rizq, aka The Adik, is just a 7-month old baby, still very chubby and tempting with his puffy cheeks that just never fail to beg me to pinch and kiss. The Adik too can dance, I call it the “Joget Pak Ma’on”, the kind of typical robot-kena-electrocuted dance of the 1960s featured in some of P Ramlee’s films.

Terejal Abang, Adik coming up, don't worry

Finding that which is lost.

Something that is lost has to be found; especially so if the matter concerned is of utmost importance in our lives as Muslims, both in this world and in the Hereafter. An analogy was made, that if a person were to lose his most treasured diamond ring, he would endeavour tirelessly to find it back. Now, replace that diamond ring with Taqwa, which is, as we all know, infinitely more precious than any material diamond ring, regardless how heavy its carat measure. Is the same amount of fervor seen in finding that Taqwa? In fact, it should be more!

Well, the sole reason why it isn’t the case must be that our emphasis on the importance/appreciation of Taqwa is seriously insufficient.

Bearing in mind, half of Ramadhan 1430H has already passed; in it is the Divine Ordainment to fast, with the ultimate purpose of obtaining precisely just that, that extremely precious Taqwa.

Sometimes, in all the speech meant to stir up our zeal in obtaining Taqwa, a mental picture of finding something comes to mind. I honestly do not know which case is more reflective of the truth; that Taqwa is to be found or Taqwa is to be built up from/beginning with ourselves; that is, assuming such differences do exist.

The first case seems to tantalise us with a sudden rapture upon the finding of that ‘lost’ entity, whereas the second tends to subtly inform us of the need for time, arduous training and the likes, in order to slowly increase that Taqwa.

‘lost’ itself seems to mean that the entity was once present, and then it went missing.

فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ
So keep your duty to Allah as best ye can
At Thaghabun (64:16)


People have misinterpreted this to mean that Man can slacken in his duties to God, even when it comes to those matters obligatory, because they say, “that is the best we can.”

But Man has the capacity to reach perfection, for otherwise letting us know about Paradise and perfection would be vain and useless, all those stories on high levels of servanthood would be useless. So in reality, “keep your duty to Allah as best ye can” is an instigation for us to dutifully maintain our God-Consciousness, definitely not an excuse to enjoy sloth and lazing around.

I am indeed grateful to have Ust Hasbi, as a person who truly teaches and inspires us to have Taqwa, and to love the Beloved Prophet s.a.w.


And just to share, whatever that is left of Ramadhan this year and all the other Ramadhans to come insyaAllah, Shaykh Afeefudeen taught us a very important dua to be regularly recited in Ramadhan. A simple request asking Allah to make us from amongst those who are near; Allahumaj’alnaa minal muqarrabiin… why? Just a simple allusion to the verse at the end of Ayat of the Dalil for Shiam:

وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ
And when My servant question thee concerning Me, then surely I am Near. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he crieth unto Me.

When we are near, our prayers are answered.

Wallahu ‘alam.
God Forgive us all and accept all our ‘amal this Ramadhan, and all our sincere intentions.
Amin

One of my friends, who is a follower of Qadiri-Naqshbandi of al-Khidmah, messaged me 2 days back informing of the sad passing away of their mursyid, Kiayi Ahmad Asrory… I was shocked, but am aware that Yai had been ill for some time. Personally to me, he is one of the most soft-spoken and genteel mursyid, I felt a strong sense of admiration to him whenever he was around in the mosques here for haflah zikir and/or mawlid. His followers really revere him… May Allah bless Kiyai Ahmad Asrory Al-Ishaqi! Al-Fatihah!

KH. Ahmad Asrori Al-ishaqi merupakan putera dari Kyai Utsman Al-Ishaqi. Beliau mengasuh Pondok Pesantren Al-Fithrah Kedinding Surabaya. Kelurahan Kedinding Lor terletak di Kecamatan Kenjeran Kota Surabaya. Di atas tanah kurang lebih 3 hektar berdiri Pondok Pesantren Al-Fithrah yang diasuh Kiai Ahmad Asrori, putra Kiai Utsman Al-Ishaqy. Nama Al-Ishaqy dinisbatkan kepada Maulana Ishaq, ayah Sunan Giri, karena Kiai Utsman masih keturunan Sunan Giri. Semasa hidup, Kiai Utsman adalah mursyid Tarekat Qadiriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah. Dalam dunia Islam, tarekat Naqsyabandiyah dikenal sebagai tarekat yang penting dan memiliki penyebaran paling luas; cabang-cabangnya bisa ditemukan di banyak negeri antara Yugoslavia dan Mesir di belahan barat serta Indonesia dan Cina di belahan timur. Sepeninggal Kiai Utsman tahun 1984, atas penunjukan langsung Kiai Utsman, Kiai Ahmad Asrori meneruskan kedudukan mursyid ayahnya. Ketokohan Kiai Asrori berawal dari sini.

Tugas sebagai mursyid dalam usia yang masih muda ternyata bukan perkara mudah. Banyak pengikut Kiai Utsman yang menolak mengakui Kiai Asrori sebagai pengganti yang sah. Sebuah riwayat menceritakan bahwa para penolak itu, pada tanggal 16 Maret 1988 berangkat meninggalkan Surabaya menuju Kebumen untuk melakukan baiat kepada Kiai Sonhaji. Tidak diketahui dengan pasti bagaimana sikap Kiai Asrori terhadap aksi tersebut namun sejarah mencatat bahwa Kiai Arori tak surut. Ia mendirikan pesantren Al-Fithrah di Kedinding Lor, sebuah pesantren dengan sistem klasikal, yang kurikulum pendidikannya menggabungkan pengetahuan umum dan pengajian kitab kuning. Ia juga menggagas Al-Khidmah, sebuah jamaah yang sebagian anggotanya adalah pengamal tarekat Tarekat Qadiriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah. Jamaah ini menarik karena sifatnya yang inklusif, ia tidak memihak salah satu organisasi sosial manapun. Meski dihadiri tokoh-tokoh ormas politik dan pejabat negara, majelis-majelis yang diselenggarakan Al-Khidmah berlangsung dalam suasana murni keagamaan tanpa muatan-muatan politis yang membebani. Kiai Asrori seolah menyediakan Al-Khidmah sebagai ruang yang terbuka bagi siapa saja yang ingin menempuh perjalanan mendekat kepada Tuhan tanpa membedakan baju dan kulit luarnya. Pelan tapi pasti organisasi ini mendapatkan banyak pengikut. Saat ini diperkirakan jumlah mereka jutaan orang, tersebar luas di banyak provinsi di Indonesia, hingga Singapura dan Filipina. Dengan kesabaran dan perjuangannya yang luar biasa, Kiai Asrori terbukti mampu meneruskan kemursyidan yang ia dapat dari ayahnya. Bahkan lebih dari itu, ia berhasil mengembangkan Tarekat Qadiriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah ke suatu posisi yang mungkin tak pernah ia bayangkan.

Kiai Asrori adalah pribadi yang istimewa. Pengetahuan agamanya dalam dan kharisma memancar dari sosoknya yang sederhana. Tutur katanya lembut namun seperti menerobos relung-relung di kedalaman hati pendengarnya. Menurut keluarga dekatnya, sewaktu muda Kiai Asrori telah menunjukkan keistimewaan-keistimewaan. Mondhoknya tak teratur. Ia belajar di Rejoso satu tahun, di Pare satu tahun, dan di Bendo satu tahun. Di Rejoso ia malah tidak aktif mengikuti kegiatan ngaji. Ketika hal itu dilaporkan kepada pimpinan pondok, Kiai Mustain Romli, ia seperti memaklumi, “biarkan saja, anak macan akhirnya jadi macan juga.” Meskipun belajarnya tidak tertib, yang sangat mengherankan, Kiai Asrori mampu membaca dan mengajarkan kitab Ihya’ Ulum al-Din karya Al-Ghazali dengan baik. Di kalangan pesantren, kepandaian luar biasa yang diperoleh seseorang tanpa melalui proses belajar yang wajar semacam itu sering disebut ilmu ladunni (ilmu yang diperoleh langsung dari Allah SWT). Adakah Kiai Asrori mendapatkan ilmu laduni sepenuhnya adalah rahasia Tuhan, wallahu a’lam. Ayahnya sendiri juga kagum atas kepintaran anaknya. Suatu ketika Kiai Utsman pernah berkata “seandainya saya bukan ayahnya, saya mau kok ngaji kepadanya.” Barangkali itulah yang mendasari Kiai Utsman untuk menunjuk Kiai Asrori (bukan kepada anak-anaknya yang lain yang lebih tua) sebagai penerus kemursyidan Tarekat Qadiriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah padahal saat itu Kiai Asrori masih relatif muda, 30 tahun.

Nat Geo Aug 2009

And yes, had the delight of just sitting back and reading August issue of National Geographic.
I simply just wanted to share about some interesting facts they have in this month’s issue.

1. A deep-sea fish, the barreleye, of the genus Macropinna and species microstoma, is truly a magnificent creature. Living in the depths of up to 2000 feet underwater, this fish has to have eyes well adapted to capturing faint flashes of light; since when you are so deep below, light has to shine from on top, and the barrel eye has a pair of eyes oriented upwards, instead of the more familiar frontwards. It has also nostrils that take a frontward position, easily misinterpreted as eyes.
Now, the paradox created here is this, how can a pair of eyes, oriented in an upward position, look forward to aid the fish in hunting its prey? The answer, obtained from video captured from a remotely operated vehicle shows that the fish has muscles that can prop the eyes in the forward position to help the fish see as it hunts. Interesting indeed.

The Barrel eye; what looks like the eye is actually the nostril

2. In another article, we are told about an idea to shield the earth from the Sun’s powerful rays by introducing trillions of 2-foot wide sun deflectors orbiting a million miles from earth. This would cool the earth by several degrees. The other idea is to engage geoengineering by introducing reflective paricles such as sulphates into the stratosphere, methods of delivery are endless; planes, balloons, guns pointed upwards. This is rather linked to another article on the supervolcano beneath Yellowstone Park in USA.

3. In the millions of years ago, there had been several supervolcanic eruptions, the kind that spewed out gigantic amounts of ash and soot and chemicals into the atmosphere, blanketing as far as across the globe, casting a darkness shadow that chilled the climate, devastated many ecosystems in what is grimly known as a ‘volcanic winter’. The idea of a volcanic winter just does not seem right, winters are supposed to be a time of peaceful serenity; but definitely the volcanic winter isn’t.

4. The other interesting article was about mimicry in nature, I was just fascinated by some of the less conventional methods of mimicry employed in nature; definitely not the typical examples that we commonly encounter. Examples of which include: a parasitic fungi that wishes to free ride on the moist, coolness and safety of a termite mount, achieving so by assuming the shape and texture of termite eggs. Caterpillars that are ‘smart’ enough to chew on leaves in a manner that leaves no tell-tale signs of a caterpillar pillage, potentially dangerous to caterpillars as insectivorous birds flying on top tend to look out for areas of leaves severely attacked by caterpillars, since they signal a strong population of the juicy bug. So these caterpillars resort to eating neatly, strictly by the sides, maneuvering to attain the same shape of the leaves, albeit smaller. This will mislead the birds from thinking that the leaves have been attacked by caterpillars.

And there are also those that hitchhike and hijack. A type of parasite is known to be secreting sweet juices to attract ants to eat them, thereafter while in the abdomen, these parasite will produce chemicals to make the ants’ abdomen appear vivid red, like ripe fruits, therby enticing birds to eat them. When birds defecate, these parasite will repeat the cycle.

But sometimes, when one reads National Geographic, one has to be careful of its inclinations towards Darwinism. In a single paragraph, the author of the article on mimicry was able to pen down his strong attachment to Darwinism in his accounting for the mimicry observed in nature

It writes, and I quote “Of course, even the most cunning of nature’s caricatures have no narrative mastermind behind them. Mimicry exemplifies evolution by natural selection, the relentless struggle in which parents spawn a diversity of offspring that chance and nature’s cruel eye for weakness shear almost clean away. If your slight resemblance to bird dung gives you enough of an edge to guarantee your survival, your progeny may inherit your lucky charm. Maybe one will even top you as a dropping imposter, and within many generations, that trait would have spread to most of the population and become the gold standard for your kind. “

Easier said than done huh, just because appearing like a dung is good for you and you need to appear like a dung to survive does not make you have the capacity to appear like a dung.

I am rather perplexed by the West’s celebration of the ingenuity of the classical science polymaths such as Isaac Newton, Leonardo Da Vinci, Louis Pasteur, Faraday and many others and yet contradict these luminaries in their ever strong emphasis on a Designer who Created with a Plan.

Sure enough, It can be accepted that God in His Mercy give his creature adaptations to live better in an environment, and maybe this part is what they call evolutionism (whether it really is evolution is a debatable matter). But to use such methods to discredit the fact of creation with a design is difficult for me.

They have noted ‘imperfections’ in the world of mimicry. Small spiders that take to appear like army ants have a flaw in their plan, so they say. This is because, with the enlarged spiders’ fangs, these ‘imperfect’ mimics only manage to mimic an ant in a defenseless state, because ants encumbered with bundles (in this case is the enlarged fangs) are least likely to fight back.

This, they claim, is an indication that nature and chance are working on a new lineage of method on how to mimic; a new method embarked on the mimicry path.

They also said that if there are too many imitators, the original will lose value and hence all will have to ‘figure out’ new ways to avoid being prey. The example they gave was the non-poisonous frogs spotting large patches of vivid colours that were meant to warn of toxicity, a warning appropriately adopted by the truly poisonous ones. If, they say, too many non-poisonous frogs take up this approach, the vivid colours that once effectively served as a visual warning to predators will over time lose its value or brand name, since more and more vividly coloured frogs would be perfectly edible and non-poisonous, rendering the method outdated. This is what I call SPOIL MARKET.

But is this evidence enough for Evolution? Adaptation yes, but evolution that can cross species? Not likely. Even so, it may be God’s plan that he allows ‘evolution’ on a micro scale for the sake of adaptation to changing environment and circumstances, but this in no way denies the fact of creation.

And God knows best.

Friday Leave well spent!

Alhamdulillah, wa syukrulillah...a friday leave well spent! Had Jumaat at An-Nur, then off to JB with Fariz and Mat Chong to have lunch at Restoran Singgahselalu, where we unexpectedly met Fattah! Good time catching up with each other...then in the evening went to celebrate Zamir's bdae hehe