Archive for October, 2009

This is for the coward at heart

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

Quoted from a book I bought years ago at Toronto’s RIS. Says the Brazilian Catholic new-age novelist Paolo Coelho,

Pitiful is the person who is afraid of taking risks. Perhaps this person will never be disappointed or disillusioned; perhaps she won’t suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow. But when that person looks back — and at some point everyone looks back — she will hear her heart saying, “What have you done with the miracles that God planted in your days? What have you done with the talents God bestowed on you? You buried yourself in a cave because you were fearful of losing those talents. So this is your heritage: the certainty that you wasted your life.”

Pitiful are the people who must realize this. Because when they are finally able to believe in miracles, their life’s magic moments will have already passed them by.

By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept

Blog Muqabalah

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Tuan Muqabalah telah menerbitkan beberapa esei yang sangat baik di mana saya perturunkan beberapa mutiara kata beliau untuk perkongsian:

Beza Political Activist dan Politician:

Political activist adalah individu yang berminat untuk melihat perubahan (ke arah kebaikan) berlaku di dalam masyarakat , sementara politician adalah individu yang berminat untuk mendapatkan kuasa politik (semada untuk dirinya atau kelompoknya). Kedua kelompok ini mungkin berkongsi (over-lapped) di beberapa aktiviti dan pandangan, dalam hal-hal yang lain (terutama tentang kepentingan dan matlamat memegang kuasa serta keutamaan dari segi nilai dan faham) mereka berbeza jauh.

Tentang aqidah politik:

..gambaran dalam masyarakat yang politik itu mempunyai huraian aqidahnya yang tersendiri. Antaranya huraian aqidah sunni, athari, shi’ah, muktazilah(rasionalis yang melampau) tidak lagi dianggap pokok-pokok fahaman yang perlu digarap, dilurusi dan diselaraskan, tetapi memberi sokongan kepada mana-mana parti politik itu yang dianggap memperjuangkan sesuatu cita-cita politik itulah syarat terasas untuk dapat berkongsi apa yang dianggap perkara aqidah. Seakan-akan duduk dalam sebuah organisasi parti yang sama itu bererti berkongsi aqidah yang sama, atau lebih dahsyatnya rosaklah aqidah seseorang sekiranya tidak bersama menyokong parti-parti tertentu..

Pandangan Ikhwanul Muslimin terhadap da’wah dan politik

Ikhwan al-Muslimin telah menjelaskan dengan terperinci pada website Ikhwan on-line yang parti tajaan mereka bukanlah parti agama, tetapi ‘civil party’, dengan maksud dalam skop politik ianya mendukung butiran perlembagaan nasional dan tidak mengaitkan hukum-hukum agama dalam meraih sokongan. Mereka mengakui parti mereka berinspirasikan ajaran Islam dan budaya rakyat Masir. Keanggotaannya terbuka kepada golongan muslim dan bukan muslim. Cita-cita mereka untuk mendirikan agama dalam masyarakat akan diteruskan dalam kerja-kerja dakwah mereka di atas platform Ikhwan al-Muslimin, dan bukannya platform parti politik mereka. Mereka membuat garis pemisah antara kegiatan dan matlamat parti mereka yang dihadkan oleh butiran perlembagaan dan peraturan negara daripada kerja-kerja dakwah yang tidak mempunyai sempadan.

Tentang pesta Aidil Fitri:

Kadang-kadang kita bimbang suasana kita menyambut hari yang begitu meriah sehingga ianya seakan-akan bertentangan dengan semangat Ramadan. Dua tiga hari di awal Syawal seakan-akan berperanan untuk menghapuskan kesan-kesan sebulan latihan intensif dalam Bulan Ramadan. Aduhai malangnya kita!

Kita bukan setakat tidak lagi bersembahyang terawih dan tahajjud selepas Ramadan, bahkan kita bimbang yang kita mulai meninggalkan sembahyang berjamaah.

Menjelaskan keutamaan pengislahan diri dengan memetik kata-kata Hassan Al-Banna (entri yang sangat baik untuk dihadam keseluruhannya – klik)

apabila jiwa manusia itu baik, maka baiklah pula pandangan mereka terhadap sistem yang ada. Apabila jiwa manusia itu fasad, maka fasadlah pandangannnya kepada sistem yang ada hatta walaupun nizam yang ada itu baik pada zatnya.(secara intrinsic-nya baik).

Sesungguhnya seorang qadi yang adil, wahai saudara, mungkin di depannya undang-undang yang zalim, bagaimanapun jiwanya yang baik dan keikhlasannya kepada keadilan serta kecintaannya kepada keadilan akan membawanya untuk mengeluarkan dari butiran dari undang-undang yang zalim itu hukuman yang adil.. Mungkin kita temui seorang qadi yang fasad jiwanya, yang mengikut hawa nafsunya di depan undang-undang yang adil, tetapi kefasadan jiwanya membawanya untuk mengeluarkan dari butiran undang-undang yang adil itu hukuman yang zalim yang sesuai dengan nafsunya.

Kritik Kemaraan gelombang PR

Kalaulah PR kelihatan akan terus mara ke hadapan, sebenarnya itu hanyalah persepsi kita sahaja. Sukar untuk PR bergerak ke depan, tetapi yang menyebabkan kita berilusi yang PR mara kehadapan adalah disebabkan BN yang mundur ke belakang, seolah-olah kita dalam pengalaman apabila dua gerabak keretapi berselisih, sebuah keretapi undur sementara yang satu lagi berhenti. Penumpang-penumpang yang berada di atas gerabak yang berhenti diam itu merasakan yang gerabaknya telah bergerak ke hadapan.

Perumpamaan golongan yang kononnya membawa tajdid:

Mereka berusaha untuk meremehkan golongan ulama dengan mendatangkan sesuatu perbincangan yang terpencil dalam kitab yang tertentu (bukanpun rujukan utama dalam mazhab) dan dijadikan seolah-olah ianya adalah isi utama kitab-kitab feqah mazhab. Lalu diserang perkara itu seolah-olah itulah musuh yang besar dan sangat mengancam. Umpama Don Quixote yang berkhayal dan membayangkan yang bangunan kincir angin itu adalah raksasa besar serta ganas dan dia terus menyerangnya bertubi-tubi dan lembingnya! Masyarakat kita juga punya Don Quixote, dan seperti Don Quixote dia juga ada pengikut yang setia. Don Quixote menunggang kuda, dan yang ini mungkin ada bahtera!

Nak lagi? Sila ziarah http://muqabalah2009.blogspot.com

An Economic Justification For Mass Media’s Islamophobia

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

We begin with the assertion that it is a no brainer as to who controls America’s mass media. People in power want to consolidate power through the employment of mass media to create propaganda, subliminal messages, etc… People in power also need trillions of dollars in political campaigns to remain in power.

Let’s take an example. The Chicago Cubs baseball team averages 40,000 fans attending their games at Wrigley Field. Us Chicagoans all know that beer is perhaps the sole reason people go to Cubs games. Baseball games are pretty much a beer party, especially if the stadiums are close to college campuses (in the case of Chicago, it is not many blocks away from Loyola, DePaul, UIC and Northwestern).

Let’s estimate that half of the crowd drink beer, so that’s 20,000 bottles. But they normally drink at least two bottles, so that makes it 40,000 bottles of beer. If each beer costs $5, beer companies makes a staggering $200,000 per game. Multiply that to 160 baseball games per year, they would earn more than $300million of revenue from Cubs fans alone!

This is not to counting the remaining 30 big teams of Major League Baseball. What about the other major sports in America? Basketball, football, hockey, NASCAR, … What about all the other festivals in America? We know from statistics that drunk driving accidents during Christmas and New Year is at least as high as the sum total drunk driving accidents throughout the year. We could thus approximate the amount of alcohol consumption at this time is perhaps 50% of all alcohol consumption throughout the year.

The point being made is that billions and trillions of dollars are made from the alcohol industry. Companies involved in this industry would surely not mind giving billions to politicians to do anything they can to continue and even expand their business.

Given this fact, there is no other religion in the world more ardently prohibits alcohol consumption than Islam. Likewise is the case with gambling, pornography, hedonist entertainment and other vices. So this perhaps provides an economic reason for Islamophobia in America. What this also implies is that portrayal of Islam in the media can never be neutral.

Facebook

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

Alert! Special guest at the MSD-Chicago Eid Ceremony, Dato Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, the new embassador of Malaysia to the United States, stated in his speech to the students that he is using a fake name in Facebook to unearth talented Malaysian students in America to be placed in top American corporations. Ah, better bloat my Facebook…

As a side note, you can catch a recording of the live performance of Purdue’s Hujan at the same ceremony on Facebook. Somewhat of an irony though, that the crowd cheered them sing the humanitarian-themed song of M Nasir’s Salam Dunia, when it was invoking us to reflect on the world’s suffering.

Smashing Magazine

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

My most esteemed and gifted IT guru, (now Mr.) Anas pointed me to Smashing Magazine some time ago and I am so indebted to him for this. This website is truly a gem. Not only that, its a gem that constantly churns out better gems all the time. SmashMag simply sets the trend for contemporary web design. Budding webdesigners can’t live without it.

Making a one-minute promo video for upcoming conference

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

I spent a few hours thinking and working on a promo video for the upcoming Quran conference. I couldn’t afford much time to work on it, so my instinct pointed me to ANIMOTO.

Since it was a Quran conference, I had to think what can be put in the video. The main attraction is surely the great line-up of distinguished speakers, so that’s a major selling point. But just showing speakers is lame. I thought of doing the famous RIS style trailers where they take video snippets of some speakers and mix it in with some captions about the conference.

Since I didn’t have time to find video clips and cut them, I thought maybe simplify it with just the captions. And then came the idea of putting in the 5 obligations of the Quran (Believe It, Recite It, Understand It, Act Upon It and Convey It. The words are quite catchy, akin to Nike’s Just Do It.

Then came the issue of background music. I love the techno beats of Rabbani, but desis (indo-paks) always have issues with music. But I can’t really make an impactful video with no beats. What to do? I consulted some friends, including Kuala Berang’s famous blogger Farhan Wahab, who suggested Ama Zilna of Benami. Its a great song, but I really needed a catchy beat. At last came the rescue of KISAS-MIT nashid star Hassan who handed me Rabbani’s Apa Yang Kau Tahu. It was perfect! It fitted in so well I didn’t bother worrying about desi uncles’ opinions.

Then came the minor technical issues. I had to take out the ANIMOTO stamp at the end of their videos. To do this, simply download the video, use AnyVideoConverter to change from MP4 to MPG so that I can cut out the ANIMOTO stamp with Adobe Premier (you can also use Movie Maker). Then I injected some effects and text with Adobe Premier that Animoto can’t do. Export it into DVD format (PAL/NTSC is fine).

And voila!

The Awal and the Akhir

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

What is Sufism? Sufficient is the first two hadith of An-Nawawi’s Arbain — tasawwuf begins with innamal a’malu bin niyyat and ends with an ta’buda lLah kaannaka tarahu fain lam takun tarahu fainnahu yarak.

Start by questioning the intent of all your actions (first hadith) until they are, for the sake of Allah, all in pure submission to reality. Once you are inline with reality, you know the Real. Thus you worship as if you see Allah (second hadith).

This is inline with the writing of Imam Al-Ghazali in his Bidayatul Hidayah. In fact, he extends it to also include the outer and the inner. You cannot reach the end without knowing the beginning, and you cannot know the inward without recognizing the outward.

A sufi is not to be seen in opposition to a Muslim. Rather a sufi can be juxtaposed to an intellectual (alim), a warrior (jihadi), and a propagator (tablighi). All four of these types of people are simply Muslims. The sufi shall not despise the alim, jihadi or tablighi and vice versa.

Especially, may the intellectual-scholar not chide the sincere sufi, for so advises Imam al-Ghazali,

The evil scholar, although he turns men from this world by his words and speech, calls them to it by his actions and states. A man’s actions and states speak more eloquently than his words and speech; human nature is more inclined to share in actions than to follow words and statements. The corruption which the deluded scholar causes with his actions is greater than the improvement he effects by his words; for the ignorant man does not venture to set his desire on the world till the scholars have done so. Thus the scholar’s knowledge becomes a cause of God’s servants venturing to disobey Him. Despite this his ignorant soul feels presumtuous; he is filled with expectation and hope of divine favour, and this leads him to feel that by his knowledge he has done favour to God, and this suggests to him that he is better than many people.

Quranism

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Finished reading Kassim Ahmad’s autobiography, Mencari Jalan Pulang in a day. Very easy and entertaining read, hence the reading speed. It started off rather interestingly, but they were poorly developed themes as the chapters progressed. The ideas are far out of touch. Very shallow indeed, and I’m led to say “so what…“. Just some lost eccentric man’s idea…

On what basis, or should I say usul, does one derive Quranic tafsir through his so called scientific methodology. Not very sound to me. Gives way to arbitrariness. This is problematic especially in today’s world where we are far from being raised according to our fitrah. Employing a naively constructed methodology of tafsir, and on top of that, a nafs not of pure fitrah is doubly misleading.

The author’s point in this book is mainly to demonstrate his great intellectual life and wide exposure to various thoughts. Portrayed his and his parents religious education. Debunking some “khurafat”. Showing how he had met, discussed and grown up with various illustrious intellectuals. He even threw some low jabs at SMN Al-Attas. Which are all fallacies.

This is not so evident as the overall theme is, as the book title suggests, about his intellectual journey from socialism to Islam. About his ideas of rational Islam being a solution to the failure of liberalism and socialism. Yet we all know his career-defining work is penilaian semula Hadith. And one adept at this issue will see the underlying message of “Rational Quranism” as I deem it, more so on a personal and social level, rather than the political Islamic solution to liberalism vs socialism.

Reading this autobiography, I see how the author never mastered any of the subjects that he is critiquing — the classical Islamic sciences. The author, unfortunately, did not escape the shackles of his own nafs aqli. Islamic reform cannot be a purely mental and intellectual effort.

Having said all that, I appreciate his anti-feudal and pro-marhain remarks. That is perhaps what I personally take from his book.

Last remarks, the book is published by ZI Publications, who have also produced other works that promote liberal thought and a new Malaysia.