Islam Oppress Women?

And do not wish for that by which Allah has made some of you exceed others. For men is a share of what they have earned, and for women is a share of what they have earned. And ask Allah of his bounty. Indeed Allah is ever, of all things, Knowing.

[AN-NISA’ Ch.4: V.32]

          Alhamdulillah it is great to be back in here to write another entry. It looks like I only wrote one entry per month now. So, I am sorry for this and I always try my best to write an entry so that people can read and learn new things. Few weeks back, I bought one book with title of “Travelog Minda Tajdid”, written by Dr MAZA. If you are following my blog from the beginning, maybe you know that I am fans of Dr MAZA.

          Something from this book that I want to share with you all, it is about the position of women in Islam. I look to my blog statistic; it looks like there are some people viewing from other than Malaysia. So I think this issue is a big issue in the European country and the thought now coming to Asia recently. People nowadays easy misunderstood about Islam and also misinterpreting Islam. Most non-Muslims only know about Islam by looking at the Muslims’ practice. They are not understands it with the actual meaning. Therefore, when the Muslim did something wrong, the non-Muslims think that is Islam.

          In this entry I am going to renew the thinking about hijab, that most people think that the hijab is oppressing the Muslim women. It is not a shocking things when the Muslim women, themselves are trying to “fight” for their right to not wearing hijab. They give Europe as an example, country nowadays that is not oppressing women. Actually, only they think western women are not oppress by the laws or the cultures there. There are stories or true stories that they (people that against hijab and proud with western women) did not see and take into consideration.

          During the middle age, the culture of people when they are going for a war, they will bring their wives. Most civilization did the same thing. They bring along their wives so that they have greater spirit to fight with the enemies and they will realize that they have a very big burden on their shoulder. If they are not success in the war, they are going to lose everything, including their wives, wealth and their country. In Europe, what they did to their wives to make their wives loyal to them is that they make their wives to wear iron jockstrap.

          It is something that very extreme. It is unimagined, it must be very painful. This is going to make the women hard to move, hard to void and many more. If the environment is very cold, it is going to make the women more suffer. Maybe you say that their women already free from that thing. Maybe you can say they already come out from the darkness ever. But actually their women coming out from that darkness and now entering into the next darkness.

         

          I mean that, until now their women are not free from any kind of torture. In the middle age with the iron jockstrap and now in the modern days with the pornography. You can see that they are exploiting their women in every kind of business including magazines, films, dramas, music and many other things. They are showing the women beautiful bodies, for people to see and even to touch. They are doing such that the women pride is very cheap and very low. They are like insulting their own women.

O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.

[AL-HUJURAT Ch.49: V.13]

          It is very different in Islam, very much different. In the above verse, Allah says that the most noble among the human is the one that the most righteous. If woman more righteous than a man, she deserve it. Hijab is not the torture tool; it is for the good of the women. Hijab covering the women bodies from being seen by non-right person. It is to avoid negative feeling (lust) towards women.

          Hijab is not phycology torture method to the women. If they know the purpose of wearing it, they will wear it willingly. Hijab is not the obstacle that stops the women from become successful women in their fields of jobs and their lives. There are many women that wearing hijab, but they can success in their lives. Hijab has its own values; courtesy, morality and also beauty.

          There is country that claiming that they are ruling the country with Islamic laws and they are practicing Islam fully. However they are only practicing the Islam with the way that they understand that. They are not showing to the world the beauty of Islam and the actual practice of Islam. They only making the world confused about Islam, misunderstand about Islam and also misinterpreting Islam.

          The conclusion is that, to know about the others religion is not by looking at their practice. But in order to know their religion, we need to study their scriptures. This is not only for Islam, but it is also for other religions. With this kind of practice, we can avoid misunderstanding about the religion and the most important thing is that we are not giving bad description about them.

Be just; that is nearer to righteousness. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what you do.

[AL-MAIDAH Ch.5: V.8]

~Wallahua'lam~

Habil & Qabil

And recite to them the story of Adam's two sons, in truth, when they both offered a sacrifice [to Allah ], and it was accepted from one of them but was not accepted from the other. Said [the latter], "I will surely kill you." Said [the former], "Indeed, Allah only accepts from the righteous [who fear Him].

[AL-MAIDAH Ch.5:V.27]

          Peace be upon to all the readers in this blog. It is getting harder when the age of this blog is getting older. I mean that, it is getting difficult for me to maintain writing in this blog. This is because I am a bit busy with my studies here, a lot of reports to do, assignments and other exercises. That is why there is only a few entries in a month. Therefore, I am trying my best to always update my blog with new entry and with fresh ideas.

          For Muslims, our Eid Adha just passed a few days ago. We are celebrating this eid because of famous story about our Prophet Abraham and his son Prophet Ismail. But I do not want to touch about their story, because most people that telling this story, they will tell with correct way. There is another story that I want to “brainwash” the readers here. It is about two sons of Adam, that people always gave name to them, Habil and also Qabil.

          People always take the story of Habil and Qabil from Israilliyyat stories. Even in the Quran did not mention the name of two sons of Adam. So come where their names? So in this entry, I want to wash the bad things about them and give to you all the correct ideas about their stories.

If you should raise your hand against me to kill me - I shall not raise my hand against you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds.

[AL-MAIDAH Ch.5:V.28]

          The most popular story about them is that each of them had their own twin pair. When it comes to give married to them, they need to marry in cross style. Qabil needs to marry Habil’s twin and Habil needs to marry Qabil’s twin. However, Qabil did not agree with his father, Prophet Adam because Qabil is a handsome person and his twin also beautiful. It is opposite with Habil that is not too handsome and his twin not as beautiful as Qabil’s twin. Then they need to perform a sacrifice.

          Allah already mention to our Prophet Muhammad as shown in the first verse I put. Allah tells Prophet Muhammad to say the truth about the story of two sons of Adam. But when it comes to us, we took the story from the Jews (in their scripture). So I want us to come back and take the story from the most authentic resource that is Quran. Let us look about their story as mentioned in the Quran.

          Obviously, in Quran did not say that they want to marry or what, Quran only say that they do a sacrifice. One of them is accepted the sacrifice and the other one are not accepted. So it makes the one not accepted the sacrifice feels not satisfied. Therefore, he wanted to kill the other one. In the Quran also did not mention their names. So let us give simple cop to them. Let say A is the one that his sacrifice is accepted and B is the one that his sacrifice is not accepted.

Indeed I want you to obtain [thereby] my sin and your sin so you will be among the companions of the Fire. And that is the recompense of wrongdoers."

[AL-MAIDAH Ch.5:V.29]

And his soul permitted to him the murder of his brother, so he killed him and became among the losers.

[AL-MAIDAH Ch.5:V.30]

The story is more on the sacrifice and as mentioned in the verse, Allah only accepted the sacrifice from those who are righteous and fear of Him. The other part of the story is about killing person. The verses after that are all about B wanted to kill A. All the verses actually teach us how to react and how to response when there is people want to kill us.

          In the verse 29, it stated that if we kill someone, we will need to bear our own sin and the person’s sin. And of course we will belong to a group of losers. To make B regret about killing his brother, Allah sent a crow to teach him to hide his brother’s body. Of course we will feel shame as human need to learn from a crow. With a brain that can think and differentiate bad and good, still need to learn from a crow that has much little brain than human being.

Then Allah sent a crow searching in the ground to show him how to hide the disgrace of his brother. He said, "O woe to me! Have I failed to be like this crow and hide the body of my brother?" And he became of the regretful.

[AL-MAIDAH Ch.5:V.31]

          A few months ago, my friends and I did a presentation about Islam and terrorism. We did touch about this story and with important evidence from Quran that is the verse below. It is clear stated in Quran that prohibit human to kill each other. When we kill one person, it is such as killing the whole nation. It means that we are creating a situation that not peace. People will feel afraid to come out from their houses and also afraid to have social lives.

There is a research saying that, the first time the person want to kill, he/she needs to fight with his/her own self. Only the first time is difficult to do it. After he/she have done it, the second time to kill other person is become easier as he/she already across the “trash holes”.

It is opposite if we save person lives. It such as us already saved the whole nation and creating a peace environment. People will feel comfortable and safe. This is the phycology teach from Quran and also an evidence to prove to the people that saying Islam is promoting violence and terrorism.

Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors.

[AL-MAIDAH Ch.5:V32]

~Wallahua’lam~

Knowledge

So know, [O Muhammad], that there is no deity except Allah and ask forgiveness for your sin and for the believing men and believing women. And Allah knows of your movement and your resting place.

[MUHAMMAD Ch.47:V.19]

          Alhamdulillah, it is good to be back in here to write another entry. It looks like lesser entry per month. I am so sorry about this. I already back in university to continue for a few more years here. It is a little bit busy here when the classes already start; there are a few “homework”, assignments and so on. Today’s topic I took from my note in Facebook translated into English. It is about the knowledge we have going to strengthen our faith and believe in Allah.

          Actually knowledge is very important in everything that we want to do. It helps us to make the work easier or helps us understand the work or it can be many other ways. For me, knowledge is something that is new to us, something that fills in our brain or mind. But others may give different definition on knowledge, and it is up to you. The definition is something that is subjective.

          I like the verse above, I like it very much. There is one person that taught me on that verse. He said that, Allah says the verse to show to us that knowledge is very important and also very powerful thing. To know that Allah is only one, we need to have knowledge. This verse shows that in Islamic faith to believe Allah is one is not only to follow the others but to know by having knowledge. Without knowledge, yes you can still believe Allah is only one, but you cannot prove and explain to other person. Without knowledge you cannot make the non-Muslims to become a Muslim. I am very anti with person that always say; “we just have to follow”.

He gives wisdom to whom He wills, and whoever has been given wisdom has certainly been given much good. And none will remember except those of understanding.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.269]

          I prefer to follow this path, where the knowledge is the backbone of many things or more accurate is for everything. Because of my style like this, so I love to watch videos of Dr Zakir Naik. I think that in my blog, many entries I always mention his name and also the great teacher of him, Syeikh Ahmad Deedat. When I watched his videos debating with the non-Muslims; atheists, Christians and others, his argument, his stands can make us clear about this religion, Islam. When he gave examples, the examples suit to current modern age and the analogies can make us very understand on his speech.

          So Dr Zakir Naik maybe the best model for the da’ie to follow for the time being. His critical thinking, his knowledge about science, his knowledge about the other religion helps him a lot in his speech and in his work to revert the non-Muslims. If in Malaysia, I prefer Dr MAZA and also Dr Danial as the scholars that critical in giving their opinions and they also have minds that thinking further than the others. Therefore, their speech is very good and the knowledge they gave can make our mind think wider and also make us become critical thinking like them.

          In the Quran, Allah have repeated the word ‘ulul al-bab’ which means the person that us their brain to think. Allah praise people like this and Allah also said that people with knowledge is better and is more love by Allah than the people that did not think and also do not have knowledge. People that do research on Quran are better than those who are only reading the Quran but they did not understand it. There are many people who have embrace Islam after doing some research on Quran. Only a little part of the Quran can change their lives because of the knowledge they have.

So the magicians fell down in prostration. They said, "We have believed in the Lord of Aaron and Moses."

[TAHA Ch.20:V.70]

          There a few examples in the Quran that shows the important of having knowledge. The Quran records there are people who embrace the true religion that is submitted themselves to Allah after Allah shows to them the true power and with their knowledge in their specific field. For the first example is the story of the witches in the age of pharaohs and Prophet Moses with his cousin, Prophet Aaron. The story is recorded in the chapter named Taha, chapter number 20. If you are good enough maybe you can read from the start of the verse. However, the part that I want to highlight in this entry is just around verses 60-80.

          When Prophet Moses and Prophet Aaron came to see Pharaoh, to teach him the true religion and also to tell him not to do tyranny in his country, the Pharaoh did not want to listen to them. In addition, he challenged Prophet Moses to show his ability to fight with his witches. Pharaoh gathered all the people in his country to witness the competition between Prophet Moses and his witches. The witches start first by throwing their ropes and the ropes turn to look like snakes. The snakes are just the illusion that cheats the eyes of everyone that see that. When time comes for Prophet Moses turn, Allah asks him to throw his stick.

          With the power and with Allah permission, the stick turns into a snake. However, this time the stick really changes into a snake, a very big snake that ate all the ropes (snakes) of the witches. It is true snake and not an illusion. With the knowledge that the witches have, they know that the snake from the stick of Prophet Moses is really the power of Allah and not from the devils. Then they turn to be with Prophet Moses and Prophet Aaron as in the verse above tells us.

          Although Pharaoh wanted to kill them all for the punishment to loss and also not to obey him by saying he is the god, all the witches remain with their faith in the teaching of Prophet Moses and Prophet Aaron. Their faith stand firm and nothing can make them repels or rebels against Allah. This story shows the important in having knowledge. Because of their mastering in some sort of fields make them to believe in Allah and His promises.

And [subsequently] the king said, "Indeed, I have seen [in a dream] seven fat cows being eaten by seven [that were] lean, and seven green spikes [of grain] and others [that were] dry. O eminent ones, explain to me my vision, if you should interpret visions."

[YUSUF Ch.12:V.43]

          It is also the same happen to Prophet Joseph. When the king in his country dreamed about the cows such as in the verse above, there is nobody can explain and can predict the future from his dream. At that time, the king has a few people that very well in predicting the future, astrologers. When comes to this dream, there is no one can tell the story behind the dream.

          When Prophet Joseph in the prison, he predicts the food that the guard will give to him and his partner in the jail. His prediction is very accurate. He also explain other prisoners dream for a few times. When his friend (the person in the prison) get out from the prison and heard the news about the king’s dream, he try to meet the king and trying to recommend Prophet Joseph to explain the dream. In the Quran, the story is in chronology. You can check it in the chapter of Joseph or Yusuf, chapter number 12.

          At last, the king called Prophet Joseph to explain about his dream. Because the king believes Prophet Joseph’s prediction on his country’s future, he took Prophet Joseph as a ministry in his country. It goes the same for other Prophets such as Prophet Solomon, Prophet Jesus and the others. The signs (mukjizat) that Allah gave to them (His messengers) is compatible and suitable for that time. It goes the same with Prophet Muhammad.

          His case special that the other prophets because Allah left behind the signs in the form of scripture, that is Quran. Quran is compatible to all ages until the end of the day. It can be proven through the language, through the histories in it, through the scientific facts in it and many others. Only those who do research and understand Quran can feel it is signs from Allah.

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding.

[ALI IMRAN Ch.3:V.190]

~Quran is not book of science but it is book of signs~

~Wallahua’lam~

Heaven For Non-Muslims

Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet Muhammad] - those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.62]

          Assalamualaikum, may Allah bless all the readers. Month of august is a very challenging month for me. This is because my laptop had few problems that delay my job (write an entry in this blog) and also made my life a bit difficult. We are relying much on the technologies and this is not good as if it is not in good condition, we feel like “no life”. Today’s entry I translate from my note in Facebook. When I wrote the note, I just think that it is important for the Malays. After that I think it can be useful for the others that cannot read Malay.

          Maybe some people will think this entry is very controversial entry, maybe some people will think this is just to attract the non-Muslim people towards Islam and maybe there are people that are not agree with me. You are allowed to agree and also to disagree, that is your choice. This entry is just want to explain the truth and to eliminate the thought that say people that not Muslim will go to hell. I want to renew our knowledge and also our thinking style, at the same time doing dakwah to attract the non-Muslim towards Islam.

          I read a post in one page in Facebook saying that, “if people that kafir, no matter how good they are, they will enter hell.” I disagree with this statement and that lead me to write note and also this entry. People are using word “kafir” as they like or wish to. They are using the word without knowing the actual meaning. The word “kafir” actually is not refers to non-Muslim, I will explain the definition later. They are few people (figures or scholars) that are holding the same thought that I am going to tell today.

          Dr Tareq Suwaidan has explained about this, a few months ago in one talk. He is the first person (that I know) that explained about this. At that time, I was amazed by his explanations, very good and excellent. Dr MAZA also always talks about this in his talks. People in Malaysia confirm knows him. You can check in YouTube for his videos. In his book, “Aku Ingin Kembara Lagi” also has one chapter talk about this topic. Therefore, I have a few references to strengthen my argument.

Now, let’s look on a few definitions:

1.     Munafik

The person is called “munafik” because he/she said they already have the faith on Allah, but in their hearts, they did not want to obey Allah. In Quran chapter (al-Baqarah), verse 8 until 20 tell the characteristics of these people (munafik).

And of the people are some who say, "We believe in Allah and the Last Day," but they are not believers.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.8]

2.    Musyrik

The person that believed in Allah, but he/she make two of Him. Make two of Him meaning that shirk. For example, the people that worshiped idols, asking help (prayer) from other people but not Allah, believed in superstitious things and others.

3.    Kafir

The meaning through language is that the action to cover up something or action to close something. The person can only be called “kafir” if they refused to accept the truth and also rejecting the truth. The person become a “kafir” if the argument is stated very clear until there is no more doubt about it, and at last the person did not want to accept it.

4.    People of Scripture

This category refers to the people that received scripture from certain prophets. In Quran, the people of scripture is refers to the Jews and also Christians. They are the follower of Prophet Moses (Jews) and (Christians) the follower of Prophet Jesus. However, in Quran tells us that only in the beginning they follow the teachings of these prophets. After the prophet left or die, they started to adjust the religion and made their own religion. Not only that, they also change their scriptures.

So woe to those who write the "scripture" with their own hands, then say, "This is from Allah ," in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.79]

5.    Non-Muslim

This category is about outside the other categories. The people of scripture also can be included in this category, I will explain it later. The people that have no religion can include in this category and people that have other religion such as Buddha, Hindu and others also the same.

          When we know the differences of these categories, we can understand who are going to survive from entering hell. From the Quran, there are clear evidences that say the “musyrik” will enter the hell. Based on Quran, we know that the “munafik” will be punished because of their behavior and “kafir” is clear that they will enter hell. For the people of scripture, maybe they are safe or they can also be punished after this life. For the non-Muslims, as long as they did not receive clear facts, strong evidences, strong argument, dakwah does not get to them, they have the opportunity to enter heaven.

          For the people of scripture, they have special case. They can either be saved or cannot be saved. For those that really do research on their own scriptures and then they found that their scriptures are not right. They realized that their religion is not the true one, and they try to find the correct religion. These kinds of people have the chance to survive or to make it safe from hell. However, if they do the research and found the truth about their religion (that is not true), but they do not want to accept the truth. They also cover up the truth from being known by their people, they will enter hell. They are classes into “kafir”.

          But, the people of scripture (the earlier generation) that did the change on their scriptures and also change their religions, of course they will enter hell for their punishment. We cannot deny that there are people (Jews and Christians) that embrace the religion because of their parents from that religion. These people sometime they do not really know or understand about their religion. They just follow what had been told to them. These kinds of people, only Allah knows the best for them.

And among them are unlettered ones who do not know the Scripture except in wishful thinking, but they are only assuming.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.78]

          For the non-Muslims, if there are no people come to them to spread the news, to tell the truth, to tell about the true religion, to give evidences, to explain the facts, how can they are going to know that they are not correct. Of course they cannot know if there are no one tells them. It easy for us to say they can use their brain to think which one is true and which one is not. It easy for us to say they can think by their own or do analysis about their own religion. Let us think together, how many of us today embrace Islam because they really understand about Islam? I think many of us just became Muslim because of their parents. Maybe at certain age like me, then I try to find the truth, try to have strong argument about my religion.

          It is true that Allah created this universe that have tress, animals, water, sky, earth, mountains and others so that human can relate back to Him. From His creation human can know Him. In Quran, many time Allah asked us to use our eyes to see, our ears to hear and our hearts to understand the signs of His power. However, human need guidance to guide them in understands something.

          Maybe we can say to the non-Muslims to look in the internet to search about the religion and to do research by using the modern technologies. It is easier to say than to do. There is much information in the internet. Some people do not have internet, then how they want to find the truth? In the internet there are many kinds of information. Most of the time people said that Islam is the religion of terrorist. Sometimes, they showed that Islam has many sects. That made them difficult to understand which one is the true one.

[We sent] messengers as bringers of good tidings and warners so that mankind will have no argument against Allah after the messengers. And ever is Allah Exalted in Might and Wise.

[AN-NISA’ Ch.4:V.165]

          Mankind need prophet and messenger of God to guide them in understand about God, about the religion. Prophet and messenger of God is also human being, but they are the special one or the chosen one. The difference between them and us, they received revelation from God. They use the revelation to guide us and to make the evidences or facts very clear and until there is no more questions and doubt about the religion they brought.

Whoever is guided is only guided for [the benefit of] his soul. And whoever errs only errs against it. And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. And never would We punish until We sent a messenger.

[AL-ISRA’ Ch.17:V.15]

          In Dr MAZA’s book, he said that the non-Muslims can be saved from entering hell. He used the above verse as proves to support his views. He said that many scholars before, also have the same view. They also prove and rely on the above verse to support their answers.

          I hope that you can earn something from my entry today. This is very long entry and I hope that you are not bored with my writing. Islam is not the religion to punish other people, but Islam teaches us to tell the truth, to spread the truth, to spread the love. Only Allah has the rights to punish people, not us, not other human being. I hope that from this entry, we can do our job better, harder (dakwah) so that the news is reached to the other people.

          Them (non-Muslims), already saved from hell. How about us? It is now for us to think about ourselves and also improve our worship. We do not want to be a selfish person, only survive alone and let the others been punished.

And we are not responsible except for clear notification."

[YASIN Ch.36:V.17]

~Wallahua’lam~

Harut & Marut

Indeed, those who are near your Lord are not prevented by arrogance from His worship, and they exalt Him, and to Him they prostrate.

[AL-A’RAAF Ch.7:V.206]

          It is great to be here again to write another entry. It is only because of Allah wills. I hope that all Allah will bless all these works (all the entries) and hope that other people can have the benefits from the entries. Almost a month I did not write an entry because of few problems. Busy with ramadhan, then to celebrate eid day. Last week my laptop had problem, so my routine delayed a bit.

          Today’s topic is about two angels that are very well known I think. Many people know their names and also a little knowledge about their story. The main objective here is I want to change the Muslims thought about these two angels. I want to eliminate all the bad stories or the false stories about them. I want to replace it with new knowledge. It is not new, but it just likes refreshing back the old one. I want to encourage all the Muslim to come back to Quran and Hadith with the authentic knowledge.

And they followed [instead] what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon. It was not Solomon, who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut. But the two angels do not teach anyone unless they say, "We are a trial, so do not disbelieve [by practicing magic]." And [yet] they learn from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife. But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allah. And the people learn what harms them and does not benefit them. But the Children of Israel certainly knew that whoever purchased the magic would not have in the Hereafter any share. And wretched is that for which they sold themselves, if they only knew.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.102]

          The above verse is just general story about the angels, Harut and Marut. In the Quran, only one verse telling story about them. There is no more verse that explains or completes the story. Allah tells the story generally and there is no hadith from Prophet Muhammad that explains about this verse. Actually this will not make us difficult, but it makes us easy. Only based on this verse we can solve the problems. Before I tell the true story, I will tell a bit on israelliyyat story first, so that we can make comparison and also change our knowledge.

          When we say about these two angels, we always hear the story about the two become man. Angels questioned Allah for creating human being as they are going to make bloodshed on the earth. Therefore, Allah answers them that human has something special that no creature He created has, that are mind and lust. In order to make the angels understand the human, Allah gives them a try to have “lust” as angels have no lust. The angels decided Harut and Marut to do the task.

          So when Harut and also Marut got their “lust”, they were sent to the earth to test their capabilities. In short, they felt in love with one woman. The woman already have husband. They try to make the woman divorced with her husband and they succeeded. If we look into this story, the story is longer than the verse in the Quran. The story also has no lessons to learn, maybe have but I think it is very limited. We just focus on the angels trying to be a man, then love a woman and make the woman divorced. Actually there are things much important to learn rather than those stories. Israelliyyat stories always diverge from the messages that Allah sent to us.

          The true story about Harut and Marut is already explained by Quran in the verse given. So I am going to focus more on the misunderstood about them.

First of all, Harut and Marut are angels or normal human being? There are different answers from the scholars. There are scholars say they (Harut and Marut) are normal human being. But then, why in the verse says “angels”. They answered, the word “angels” did not mean both of them angels, but they both very good persons and people around respect them very much. So they level was recorded just like an angel. There are scholars say, they are angels.

If they are angels, why they teach human magic and make woman and her husband divorce? There are few answers for this. One thought says that they teach magic to human so that they (human) understand the difference between magic and signs (mukjizat) from prophets or messengers of Allah. If the human cannot differentiate the differences between both of it (magic and signs), so it is going to make the task for the messengers of Allah difficult.

The thought that I think close to the verse is that, Allah sent both of them (Harut and Marut) as a test for the human being. Maybe at that time, the orders from Allah not to learn magic as magic come from the devils and magic can give bad effect to the others. Quran used word “fitnah” in the verse. If Malay people they think that fitnah is likes people accused you on the things that you never did. Actually fitnah is more than that, fitnah is a test or alleged. Both angels already said to the human that they are trial before they teach the human magic. You can check the verse above, I already highlighted it.

They not only warned the human that they are trial to them (human), but they also gave advice not to become disbeliever (kafir). I can give another example that showing the angels come as trial to human. One of them is the story about Prophet Lot. His people are homosexual (gay). Verses below already explain in a very clear manner I think.

And when Our messengers, [the angels], came to Lot, he was anguished for them and felt for them great discomfort and said, "This is a trying day."

And his people came hastening to him, and before [this] they had been doing evil deeds. He said, "O my people, these are my daughters; they are purer for you (with marriage). So fear Allah and do not disgrace me concerning my guests. Is there not among you a man of reason?"

[HUUD Ch.11:V.77-78]

          It is impossible for the angels to disobey Allah’s order. There are many verses in Quran that explain angels never disobey Allah’s order. So all the verses are going to oppose the verse telling the story about Harut and Marut, if we say that the two angels make the situations chaotic. It is the time for us to change our mind and thoughts about the story of Harut and Marut. I hope that from this entry, you can get something or new knowledge.

And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate before Adam"; so they prostrated, except for Iblees. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.34]

~Wallahua’lam~

~Pray For Gaza~

Time Capsule

Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al- Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing.

[AL-ISRA’ Ch.17:V.1]

          Alhamdulillah, thank to Allah as we are still in Ramadhan. But let’s us take a few minutes in our daily life to pray for our brothers and sisters in Gaza, for their safety. It is great to be back here and write another entry. Maybe we cannot involve in the battle, but we can do other things such as boycott, pray for them, gives donation to them and so on. So this is one of my battle fields to spread the knowledge, insyaAllah.

          Today I am going to continue the journey with the continuation about time. Last entry I already discuss about “time”, and I just realised that there are something that I not mentioned in the earlier part. So I will continue a bit more in order to explain that “time” is one of unique creatures that Allah created. There is nothing before Allah and there will be nothing after Allah, as Allah is not dependent on “time”. He is not in the system of “time”. There will be some more proves today about this.

          In the Quran, there are a lot of stories about the people of the Book and also about people that lives before. It is not just stories, not just a story telling, but incidents or events that we need to take lessons to learn. Allah described the stories not in detail but just the important point for us to remember and learn. There are few examples of verses below.

And [recall] when Moses said to his people, "O my people, indeed you have wronged yourselves by your taking of the calf [for worship]. So repent to your Creator and kill yourselves. That is best for [all of] you in the sight of your Creator." Then He accepted your repentance; indeed, He is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.54]

And [recall] when Moses said to his people, "Indeed, Allah commands you to slaughter a cow." They said, "Do you take us in ridicule?" He said, "I seek refuge in Allah from being among the ignorant."

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.67]

And [mention, O Muhammad], when Abraham was tried by his Lord with commands and he fulfilled them. [ Allah ] said, "Indeed, I will make you a leader for the people." [Abraham] said, "And of my descendants?" [ Allah ] said, "My covenant does not include the wrongdoers."

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.124]

          We can say that, the majority stories in the Quran tell about the Bani Israel. That is one of the reasons the name of Prophet Moses came out so many times in the Quran. There are also stories about other prophet in other chapter such as Prophet Yusuf, Prophet Jesus, and so many more. It will take some time to list all those names and it will make this entry longer. In the example above there are also about Prophet Abraham.

          We say that Allah is omniscient (Maha Mengetahui), so He knows what happened in the past, present and also in the future. When we read the verses telling stories about the past events, maybe we not feel it is weird or miracle or impressed with it. This is because the nature of Allah to know it. So maybe most of us will take it easy and not care it too much. Most of us just read it, without an understanding about it. So we just feel it just like story telling.

          Today’s topic is “time capsule”. I already brought you to the past with a few verses and now I am going to bring you to the future with a few verses also. With the nature of Allah I mentioned above, still some of us thing that there is no need to feel weird or what if Allah can tells story in the future. Maybe some can say that, there are people also can predict what happen in the future. But there are no one can predict it as accurate as Allah. Let’s take a look on the verses.

And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a provision of fruit therefrom, they will say, "This is what we were provided with before." And it is given to them in likeness. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.25]

If you could but see when the criminals are hanging their heads before their Lord, [saying], "Our Lord, we have seen and heard, so return us [to the world]; we will work righteousness. Indeed, we are [now] certain."

[AS-SAJJADAH Ch.32:V.12]

          In the beginning of this entry, I put the verse about isra’ mikraj. The event that Prophet Muhammad goes to the heaven to receive prayers duty from Allah. In that event, Allah shows to him a few things such as heaven and hell. Our prophet saw people being punish for their fault that they did during their lives on the earth. Now the question is, how can there are people in the hell and also in the heaven as the world is not destroy yet? The doomsday still not coming, it means that if people die they should still in the grave and waiting to be back alive in the day after to be judge by Allah.

          This is incredible for me. There are few verses in the Quran telling about the people in the hell, they ask Allah to give them chance so that they can repent and not enter the hell. There are also about people in the heaven saying they get the food same like they got during their lives. Things are not happen yet, but the stories are there (for us). Actually, alongside of Allah all things are already happen.

          For Allah, it just a movie. He can play it at the “time” He wants. He can bring it forward and also backward the movie. If He wants to show to His prophet, He can just select the “time” and views to him. In the Quran, it is just like a movie trailer. The movie already complete, just wait for the “time” to publish it. In the mean “time”, Allah shows a few examples so that we can take it as lessons to learn and to avoid the bad things.

          So the conclusion is, we need to read the Quran with understandings. Hope we can improve it in this remainder of month of Ramadhan. There are a lot of people can tell you about this more interesting than I did, still a lot more to learn.

And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like livestock; rather, they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless.

[AL-A’RAF Ch.7:V.179]

~Pray for Gaza~

~Do the best in Ramadhan~

~Wallahua’lam~

Time

By time. Indeed, mankind is in loss. Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.

[AL-ASR CH.103:V.1-3]

          Bismillah and Alhamdulillah. I begin this entry with the name of Allah and by praising Him. It is too long I did not write an entry in this blog. Therefore, it is good to be back here writing and dakwah. Thanks to Allah as He prolong my life and your lives, to do good things, dakwah, worship Him and also repent from our mistakes.

          First of all, before going into the topic, I want to seek for apologize as I did not update my blog for more than two months. I had been busy with other stuff in my university, in club and others. After that I have to go through the final exam for this semester, so I need to focus more on studies than to write an entry here. I did write something in the notes in facebook, so maybe you can check it in my account. However, I am so sorry again because I wrote it in Malay, maybe some of you cannot understand it. I hope that I can back to continuously write entries here in this beautiful month of Ramadhan.

          Today’s topic is going to be a lot different from the others. This is because in the entries before, I always discussed about God, a bit on angels and also Quran. This time, I am going to write about “time”, something that I think so unique and also mystery. I am sure there are many people like me that asking the same questions about “time”.

          For example, I have been thinking it is better to die near to the end of the day (doomsday @ day of the last judgement). This is because, for those who died earlier need to be punish longer time compare to those who died before. This is because after the first call, the universe going to destroyed and all things will die and the second call from Allah will wake all people from their graves. So this shows that Allah is not fair enough. The punishment in the grave going to be different in period of time compare to other person.

          If people ask this question to you, how are you going to answer them? Actually it is simple. In surah al-Ikhlas, the second verse already told us that Allah does not depend on other things. He can stand by His own. So Allah does not depend on time. He is time independent. He is the one who controlling the time. It means that “time” also one of His creature, a very unique creature.

          Let’s take a look on a few verses that Allah cursed (sumpah) by using time. I am sorry if the meaning changing when I said “curse”, because I did not know what exact word to be used.

By the morning brightness.

[AD-DUHAA CH.93:V.1]

By the night when it covers.

[AL-LAYL CH.92:V.1]

By the sun and its brightness.

[ASH-SHAMS CH.91:V.1]

By the dawn.

[AL-FAJR CH.89:V.1]

          The verses that Allah used “time” also include the chapter that I put in the beginning of this entry. When we die, we will be buried in the grave (for most of the people), and of course we are going to be alone in the grave. Imagine that we are inside a box and everybody has their own box. The box is in different space and dimension from our real time here. Then Allah control the time for every boxes.

          To be fair to all people (human kind), the setting of the “time” need to be different so that all human will feel the same period of time in the box. When I said “time”, it is not necessary to be days like in earth (day and night). This is because we are in different dimension, maybe there is no light or no moon or no sun in the grave (box). There are a few examples in the Quran that sometime people get confused and misunderstood with.

          In the Quran Allah said that He created the universe (earth and heaven) in six days (ayyam). In Arabic “ayyam” not only meaning many days (day and night) but it is also means that for a long time. It is the same if we translate in English. The word “days” used in Bible also have the same meaning that is long time. Days here are not the replacement of day and night, so it is the same for those who are in the box (grave).

          In the first year, I learned calculus. The lecturer always has stories to tell to the students. The most interesting story is that, he said that there are mathematicians found or have theories saying that there are more than 4-Dimensions. Like us now, we are using 4-D (front and back, up and down, right and left and also time). But there are mathematicians said there are 12 dimensions for example.  So I think that these theories may be useful in order to prove something, such as dimension of the box or grave that I mentioned earlier in this entry. There are a lot more to be explored.

          For this month of Ramadhan, I hope that we can have a good time with “him”. I hope that we can fully use this opportunity to seek for Allah’s forgiveness and accumulate pahala as much as we can. I hope that this entry is useful and give something new knowledge to us.

So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?

[AR-RAHMAN CH.55:V.13]

~Wallahua’lam~

~Time passes and it will not wait for us~

~Salam Ramadhan~

Agama Untuk Pendosa

And seek forgiveness of Allah. Indeed, Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful.

[AN-NISA’ Ch.4:V.106]

          Alhamdulillah, bersyukur kita kepada Ilahi kerana rahmat-Nya yang telah diberikan kepada kita. Kali ini pelik sedikit sebab Musafir Dalam Hidup tiba-tiba tulis entry dalam Bahasa Melayu. Bagi yang dah biasa ikut blog ini mesti agak terkejut dan hairan. Relax, we go slowly tonight. I will give reasons for this thing.

          Saya akan campur-campur bahasa dalam entry ini supaya mereka yang kurang faham atau yang langsung tidak faham Bahasa Melayu turut boleh ikut penyampaian saya kali ini. Saya akan biarkan terjemahan ayat-ayat al-Quran dalam terjemahan Bahasa Inggeris dan bagi mereka yang kurang faham terjemahan itu boleh cari terjemahan dalam Bahasa Melayu sendiri. Saya sendiri rasa kekok dan pelik. Maklumlah entry yang pertama dahulu kala itu saja yang saya tulis dalam Bahasa Melayu, kemudian semuanya dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Ada sedikit entry dalam Bahasa Melayu yang saya tulis juga, cuma dia bukanlah dalam blog saya sendiri. Ada di dalam blog Tinta Seorang Pencari, seorang sahabat.

          Let me gives you reasons that make me wanted to write this entry in Malay. There are no important reasons actually. I want to write in Malay this time because I hope that friends around me will attract to read this entry and also I afraid that my messages cannot be deliver in a good sentences, and then maybe it is going to have misunderstood about that. So I want to avoid the misunderstood and want to attract other person. However, in the important part I will try to translate it in English, so there are going to have mixture between Malay and English.

And those who, when they commit an immorality or wrong themselves [by transgression], remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins - and who can forgive sins except Allah? - and [who] do not persist in what they have done while they know.

[ALI IMRAN Ch.3:V.135]

          Today’s topic is about a religion for the sinned people. Agama untuk pendosa. Zaman sekarang ini nampak kita dah mengkhaskan (exclusive) agama hanya untuk agamawan. Sehinggakan seakan-akan kita memaksumkan mereka. Dalam erti kata lain seperti mereka tidak melakukan kesalahan ataupun dosa. Sehinggakan apabila ada kesalahan yang mereka lakukan kita tidak boleh menegur. Agama bukan untuk mereka yang hanya pandai dalam bidang agama sahaja, tetapi agama adalah untuk semua.

          It is not right to make the agamawan as the special person. We (muslims) should learn from the Christians mistakes. When they were in the dark ages in Europe, their priest claimed to be so noble until no one can judge them or correct them. It makes such only they are true the other does not know anything.

          Dalam berdakwah dan juga tarbiyyah, kita perlu ada sifat kasih sayang dan bukannya sifat menghukum. Ramai orang melarikan diri daripada agama kerana mereka merasakan agama ini hanya tahu menghukum orang lain, terutamanya mereka yang melakukan dosa. Sebenarnya agama ini adalah cinta. Cinta yang sejati dan paling sejati. Banyak ayat-ayat Quran yang Allah turunkan menunjukkan betapa cintanya Allah terhadap hamba-Nya walaupun mereka itu semua telah melakukan kejahatan, kemaksiatan, kemungkaran dan lain-lain lagi. You can look at the verses that I quoted. These only several and I am very sure there are more in the Holy Quran.

If you avoid the major sins which you are forbidden, We will remove from you your lesser sins and admit you to a noble entrance [into Paradise].

[AN-NISA’ Ch.4:V.31]

          Biarlah kita membenci kesalahan dan kemaksiatan yang orang lain lakukan dan bukannya membenci si pelaku kesalahan dan kemaksiatan itu. Bertindak adillah dalam kehidupan ini kerana adil itu lebih dekat dengan taqwa. We, ourselves also has done and also doing bad things, but why we never hate ourselves? Then, why you want to hate other person when they did wrong things? This is not fair.

          It should be because of the religion people want to do good things and leave the bad things. It should be because of the religion people are close to God and have a good relationship with other people. It is not because of the religion people are doing the bad things. There are no religion in the world come and claim to promote the bad things.

          Bagi mereka yang membawa imej agama, hendaklah membawa berita baik dan harapan yang sangat baik untuk mereka-mereka yang telah jauh tersesat. Saya yakin ada antara mereka yang sememangnya ingin kembali ke pangkal jalan, namun mungkin kerana mereka tidak menemui jalan-jalan itu maka mereka semakin hanyut dalam kemungkaran. Janganlah kita ini selalu salahkan mereka, “mereka malas menuntut ilmu”, “mereka malas pergi masjid dan mendengar kuliah” dan sebagainya. Bagi saya tidak ada guna menyalahkan mereka jikalau kita sendiri tidak pernah turun padang terlibat untuk mengajak mereka melakukan kebaikan.

          Do not only blaming others for not seeking the truth or seeking the knowledge. We did not know the actual problem that they are facing to. We should play our roles. We should go and see them and bring them back to the good life.

And whoever does a wrong or wrongs himself but then seeks forgiveness of Allah will find Allah Forgiving and Merciful.

[AN-NISA’ Ch.4:V.110]

          Masih ada harapan dan sentiasa akan ada harapan bagi mereka yang melakukan dosa. Allah Maha Pengasih, Maha Penyayang dan paling penting Maha Pengampun. Seperti satu hadis yang sangat popular iaitu berkenaan dengan seorang lelaki yang telah melakukan dosa membunuh 99 orang. Kemudiannya dia pergi bertemu seseorang dan bertanya sama ada dia boleh ampunkan atau tidak, dan orang itu berkata tidak mungkin dia boleh diampunkan. Lalu orang yang memberi jawapan menjadi mangsa si pembunuh yang ke-100. Dia tidak jemu untuk mencari jalan untuk bertaubat kerana dia pergi berjumpa dengan seorang yang alim tentang agama, lalu orang itu suruh dia berpindah daripada kawasan itu. Dalam perjalanan dia meninggal dunia lalu dua malaikat datang. Untuk disingkatkan cerita dia dimasukkan ke dalam syurga kerana jaraknya lebih dekat dengan kawasan yang dia ingin berhijrah.

          The moral value of this story is not you can kill 100 persons then you can repent easily. One of the moral values is that the initiative to repent and back to normal life. The person really wanted to repent, just because of his surroundings making his life bad and worse. That is why the alim person asked him to move to other place. This story also teaches us to give hopes to the person and give the answer with knowledge not with emotions.

          Islam is beautiful. We have to show the beauty to the non-Muslims and also to the people that did not really understand about Islam. Islam agama harapan bukannya agama hukuman. Menghukum itu kerja Allah, maka kerja kita sebagai khalifah di muka bumi ini adalah mengajak manusia melakukan kebaikan dan meninggalkan kemungkaran. Syurga atau neraka, paradise or hell, bukanlah kerja kita.

Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."

[AZ-ZUMAR Ch.39:V.53]

~There are still have hopes~

~Islam is beautiful~

~Islam is not the religion of punishment~

~Entry daripada seorang Insan~

~Musafir Dalam Hidup~

~Wallahua’lam~