We Forgot The Big Picture

Yesterday, I went to a friend's house. His name is Ahmad Fadzil Mohamad. He is a home-bounded architect. Though he has a very successful family, he keeps his head low, but praising my family instead. What a guy to befriend with. Chatting with him is always the moment I treasure. If someone ask me to find an Ustaz to give a ceramah, his name should be in the list. He is indeed, a hidden gem in today's dusty society.

We had a couple hours of chat. He reminded me about a saying by the Prophet of Muhammad p.b.u.h, in which the meaning of the saying is something like this:

"I fear my ummah would start to believe in God less and less". Muttafaqun`Alaihi.

The above saying means he feared that the current Muslims would have double faith, or Syiriq, as we call it in Arabic, which means believe in something other than God. Here, syiriq is the big picture, where every single Muslim knows that it is prohibited totally to believe in something other than God. But little by little, we, in which including me, started to doubt the power of God without realising this act.

Just look back what we did through our life. We did good sometimes, and we we also did bad sometimes. When we did good, it was always us who deliver the result. And when we did bad, we simply pointing our fingers to everyone, claiming that the failure wasn't our doing. Giving you the situation like that, I think I hit it bull's eye.

The world of Muslim today, or to be exact, Malaysian Muslims, has been arguing for small, trivial things. We forgot the basic pillars of being a Muslim - The Five Pillars of Islam. We forgot to look into the Holy Furqan and Hadith as the first two sources of Islamic jusridictions. I still remember a few years back, when there was a debate over should Tarawikh be performed at prayer houses (mosques and suraus) or rather at home. What a shame to Malaysians who call themselves pure Muslims.

Here, I would like to stress that we go to the basic. Improve our basic doings (amaal), and be a good Muslim to our own selves first before we tell people that they are indeed wrong. Being a good Muslim to ourselves, is indeed, a good form of da`ie (Malays call it dakwah).

A Major Letdown

I had a major letdown today, but I won't write what was it exactly here. I just couldn't do so. At this moment, my fingers are shaking, my mind is flying somewhere and I have a lot of typos when typing this post.

Some of my pen-pals have come (on me through online forums) and consoled me not to get down with it, and that's exactly what I'm doing. I believe that I can get over this letdown pretty quick, as I dealt with some major blows some times ago.

I really don't know what to write here, but I don't even have the intention to sleep. Maybe I take this too deep. Maybe it's the first day of the incident. Maybe this is the biggest letdown I've ever had. Just maybe.

I'll rest this case, and I won't open the same book ever again next time. Thanks to "Yellow", an online friend who has been accompanying me on the net.

Haza Yaumul 'Aziim

Means today is the greatest day. The day where Muslims around the world celebrate their win against lust. It's what we call fasting, which is compulsory to every single Muslim throughout the month of Ramadhan.

This festive is called Eidulfitr. Eid means a festival, while the word Fitr carries a meaning of going back to the neutral. Most Ulama' agreed that the fasting month is the process of freeing ourself from any bad elements. And Eidulfitr is the day where the bad elements should have been gone, and also created as to celebrate human's pure nature, pure form -- clean, just like a plain white cloth.

There's no ritual included, only the chanting of Takbir which can be heard all day long.

Kandungan Blog dalam Bahasa Melayu

Untuk pertama kalinya, saya telah "dipaksa" oleh rakan-rakan untuk menulis blog dalam Bahasa Melayu (saya tidak rasa seperti dipaksa, malah berasakan sudah sampai masanya untuk menulis dalam dwi-bahasa). Pada sesetengah orang, peralihan penggunaan bahasa, terutamanya dari Bahasa Inggeris ke Bahasa Melayu, merupakan satu penurunan tahap (atau dalam Bahasa Inggerisnya; degradation of standard). Namun saya tidak merasakan begitu.

Saya adalah orang Melayu, yang dilahirkan dalam keluarga campuran Melayu-Jawa, menggunakan Bahasa Melayu sebagai bahasa perantara, dan berpegang teguh pada Islam. Jadi, tidak salah untuk saya terus menggunakan Bahasa Melayu. Penggunaan Bahasa Melayu di dalam blog saya adalah bertujuan untuk memudahkan rakan-rakan membaca dan memberikan komen dalam blog saya.

Saya tidak mempunyai pengikut (blog follower), namun ada ahli keluarga dan rakan yang sudi melawat dan membaca tulisan (posting) saya di blog. Mereka tidak memberikan komen secara bertaip, namun mereka memberikan cadangan dalam bentuk lisan, yang mana saya fikirkan lebih berkesan, kerana tidak menggunakan kertas sebagai perantara.

Saya lebih suka mengatakan yang saya tidak boleh, dan tidak akan lari dari Bahasa Inggeris. Ini kerana saya dikelilingi oleh individu dan media yang menggunakan Bahasa Inggeris. Dan penggunaan Bahasa Inggeris adalah salah satu dari aset saya yang terpenting. Semua orang memiliki aset ini, dan ada sesetengah orang Melayu yang lahir dengan aset ini, dan mereka berbangga dengannya.

Ingin saya jelaskan di sini, aset saya yang satu ini telah diperoleh melalui usaha yang tidak kenal penat, dan saya masih cuba untuk memperkaya aset saya ini. Melalui usaha-usaha itulah, baru saya dapat menguasai sesuatu yang panggil aset ini; penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris yang boleh dikatakan "boleh tahan" oleh 99.8% orang Melayu, atau dalam Bahasa Inggerisnya; intermediate level of competency.

Seorang pensyarah saya memberitahu (namanya Manoharan a/l Nalliah), "adalah mudah untuk menguasai. Dan sekali kamu menguasainya, ianya harus dipertahan sampai bila-bila (It's easy to pick-up English. And once you've got it, you have to retain it at all cost).

Saya akan terus menggunakan kedua-dua bahasa, Melayu sebagai bahasa perantara saya, dan Inggeris sebagai aset saya yang perlu dipertahan.