Cooking: Szechuan Pickled Veggie

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

This one perhaps is not the food eaten by the majority Malay or Muslim people in our country. Mostly people who are related to Chinese or those living among Chinese community are familiar with this. It is easy to be prepared and does not have to be cooked. One may eat this raw. It is made from preserved sliced mustard plant. We call this as Char Tsoi in Chinese. Sometimes available coated with chilli paste. This one is 0.60 cents.

How to eat this? This one could be important in noodle based cuisine for e.g while we take instant noodle because we do not have to cook this. Can also have this with rice. Non-Muslim Chinese especially Southern Chinese may mix this in their noodle cuisine with chopped pork. Muslim Chinese mix this with beef noodle. Pickled vegetables like this can be compared to German's Sauerkraut but I never try German's pickled vegetable.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Cooking: Terung Bakag

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I have got the idea from my conversation with my undergrad colleague, brother Amir for breaking fast meal. Tastes quite nice and could easily being prepared especially for breaking the fast. I bought these eggplants yesterday, RM2.99 for five little eggplants.

 

Say the God's Names and wash first. Then just cut them like these. Maybe not as neat as girls' cooking but who cares they will be compounds in our tummy, lol... 

Sprinkle some salt, crushed black peppers and I have some green tea powder so just put it in the eggplants. I just cut them into two but we can cut like whatever we like...

 

Heat the pan and put some oil. So, just wait until they look like they are being cooked but not so much cooked. Serve this maybe with rice or bread. I don't know what is the name of this thing, we just call it as Terung Bakag. It's not really good to eat this often but this is a style of cooking simple vegan food. I have to cook my own food at home as people eat differently. One might be a temporal vegan, one is full vegetarian, others take meat and seafood. Some people perhaps are allergic to this fruit so be careful with what we eat.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Ablution

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

In Arabic, we have the term wudhu' which means ablution. In Persian basically we call this as aab dast while in Malay simply as ayer semahiyang. Before we perform our salat services, we have to be in good shape and pure condition. So, it is necessary for us to wash or expose the parts of our body which are generally exposed to dirt, smokes, smog or dust to the flowing water or water saved in the bottles.

There are about five  steps while we perform the ablution...

1. Intention

First of all we would say the prayer which means, "In the Name of the God the Most Merciful the Most Compassionate". Some scholars such as Imam al-Shafi'ie consider this as very important. Because this is good so I am following this suggestion.

And then say the intention maybe just mentally. No need to be so specific like reciting it in Arabic as it is outside of the salat services acts. We only recite everything in Arabic while performing salat services be they obligatory or optional. The intention proposed is like, "I am performing the ablution as a sacrifice to be closer to the God the Highest". The intention defines the purpose of our act and why we are doing so.

2. Wash Hands

Wash our hands maybe like making it wet so it would make us easier to wash other parts with already wet hands. This is optional.

3. Rinsing the Mouth

We may rinse it once, twice or thrice depends on the condition of our mouth. Rinsing the mouth is not mandatory as it is only optional. One may leave this without any sin or if he or she is fasting. 

4. Rinsing the Nostrils

It is not mandatory but optional. Usually we are doing like this when we are waking up for morning prayer services as to clear up our respiratory system. This also has spiritual meaning but I am not talking too deep about this. Once would be enough but it is not a sin to do it more than once up to thrice. As long as it is not wasting the water. Snuff the water

5. Washing the Face

For Shafi'ie school, one may say his intention while washing his or her face. Washing the face is obligatory. Wash the whole face with whole hands, from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the chin and from ear to ear. If one has beard at his face so he must also wash his beard. Once up to thrice depends on a person.

6. Wiping Head

Wipe our whole head once with wet hands. I just hold my head down the pipe and let the water flows until my whole hair turns wet. This is mandatory but it depends whether one would do it once, twice or thrice. Usually I am just doing it once as my head will be all wet.

7. Wiping Ears

Wipe the inner sides of the ears with forefingers and their outer sides with thumbs. Make sure the fingers are wet. This is optional part of ablution. If one is leaving it, no sin for that. The ablution is still going on.

8. Wash Feet

Washing two feet up to the ankles, once each or up to thrice for each. Begin with the right foot. This stage is obligatory.

The ablution is complete at the 8th stage. The person who has performed this may get ready to start his salat service or prayer service. The ablution is valid as long as it does not meets the matters that nullify it. He may pray as many prayer services as he wishes while it is valid. It will be more better for one to renew his ablution as often as possible but avoid from wasting the water. Doing everything as according to chronological order is preferable. Those who fail to keep the order but does it completely are not sinful. Their ablution is valid as long as he keeps the obligatory ones with him.

Supplication After Ablution

Once the ablution is complete, face the quibla direction and say the prayer preferably with hands a little bit raised or just point the forefinger of one's right hand to signify the Oneness of the God.  Recite...

أشهدُ أنْ لاإلهَ إلاالله وأشهدُ أنَّ محمدً عبدُه ورسولهُ أللهمَّ أجعلني مِنَ التوابين واجعلني من المتطهرين واجعلني مِنْ عبادِكَ الصالحينَ وصلَّى اللهُ على أهلهِ وسلَّم والحمدُللهِ ربِّ العالمينَ

The supplication means...

"I bear the witness that there are no gods except the God, and I bear the witness that Muhammad s.a.w is messenger of the God and His servant. Dear the God, please place me together among the people who seek Your forgiveness and make me person who is constant in cleanliness and make me a servant who strives in goodness and charity. And please be in contact with the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w and with his family members and peace. All praises due only to the God the Lord of the universe, amin!".

One may say this supplication in whatever language that they use. It is not strictly in Arabic as we are not performing the formal salat service yet. Please respect the prayer, thank you.

Nullification of Ablution

Actually many things depending on a person and what is his school of jurisprudence. The general ones according to my school of jurisprudence are:

1. Natural discharges for e.g pissing, pooping, gas, and others.

2. Flow of blood or pus or such from any part of the body.

3. Throwing out.

4. Falling asleep which means sleeping soundly.

5. Losing sanity by taking drugs or intoxicating stuffs.

6. Losing sanity or go crazy.

7. Touching private parts with the palm of hands.

After the occurrence of any of these, the ablution must be renewed for another valid prayer. After natural discharges, water should be applied as toilet paper is not sufficient for the purpose of purity and worship. Some people also have to renew ablution or even perform ghusl if having the contact with some seafood for e.g squid, shrimp and others like Hanafi school of jurisprudence. That is why I am trying to avoid taking seafood. Some who follow the Shafi'ie school of jurisprudence would have to renew his or her ablution if they touched people of different gender. 

Benefit of Ablution

Some of them are...

1. Helping us to counter diseases.

2. Refreshing our physical body.

3. Tranquilizing our soul.

4. Removing our sins as according to hadiths of prophet Muhammad s.a.w.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Najis

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Basically, this word refers to excrement or filth which prevents one from a valid salat service. Contact with it would bring a person into a state of ritual impurity. It requires one to undergo purification process before performing religious obligations and duties for e.g salat services.

Different school of jurisprudence have their own system on classifying the condition that a person would be regarded as impure. I am quite familiar with Shafi'ie school of jurisprudence classification on what kind of najasa or najis that requires different way of cleaning them. Shafi'ie school is not so much different to Hanbali school of jurisprudence in classifying the najasa. Types of najas would be subject to the studies of hadith in all school of jurisprudence. 

In our school curriculum generally based from the Shafi'ie jurisprudence, I found that we have three types of najasa. This basically comes from a systematic book of imam al-Nawawi rahimahullah known as al-Minhaj. Then, they are followed with the method to clean them. These are the basic ones for Sunnah Muslims and they are....

1. Mukhaffafa

2. Mutawassita

3. Mughallaza

1. Mukhaffafa

This refers to the impurity caused only by the pissing of little baby boy below two years old and only depends on his mother breasting feed. In order to clean it whether it messed the floor where people is going to perform worship or on the cloth that people use to perform worship, just remove the filth by wiping it and then splash some clean water on it. Then dry the place or wipe it clean. 

2. Mutawassita

This refer to something which comes out from human body or animals but in liquid form. Once it comes out of a human body, he has to perform ablution, no need for full dipping into the water. The e.g are...

a. All types of poops or feces except of the dog and pig as both animals are included in the list to come.

b. Vomit.

c. Pus.

d. Pissing except of the dog and swine as these animals are in the list to come.

e. Blood.

f. Bile liquid.

g. Milk from non-halal animals which consist of several different kinds of animals mentioned in Quran.

h. The madzi or wadi liquid (please refer to specific teachers for definition).  

To clean these, remove the excrement or filth from the infected area and wash it until the smell, color and the feel are not there no more.

3. Mughallaza

This refer to subject matters which is najas in all of the cases. They are...

a. Dog, its offspring and every part of the animal.

b. Pig, its offspring and every part of the animal.

c. Alcohol.

d. Carcass

To clean ourselves or area contaminated with the mentioned subject matters, first of all remove the najas for example if our cloth was contaminated with pig's feces or dogs' licking by wiping them clean with other cloth or toilet paper which would be thrown away. Then wash with the water mixed with clean soil once. Later, it must be followed by six times splashing of clean water.

Miscellenous

1. Semen

Some schools of jurisprudence consider semen as ritually impure. It is ritually impure if a person is ejaculating the subject matter and one needs to perform ritual dipping. But it is not ritually impure for both Hanbali and Shafi'ie jurisprudence if one unintentionally touched the subject matter or if it sticks at ones' cloth. Just enough by washing it with clean water. One does not have to perform the ablution as it does not invalidate his ablution only having a contact with it. The evidence for this as according to Imam Nawawi of Shafi'ie school comes from the hadith reports by Imam Ali r.a, Sa'ad bin Abi Waqas r.a and our lady 'Aisha r.a.

2. Dead Body

For some school of jurisprudence such as Hanbali school there is an opinion that the dead body of a non-Muslim would cause one to face ritual impurity or najas. This is a minority opinion by Ibnu Qudama al-Hanbali. Other than that, Shi'a Muslims and some minority of Muslims like myself also consider dead body as ritually impure whether of Muslim or non-Muslim but also with terms and conditions which I am lazy to state here as people are free to follow their school of jurisprudence as long as they are "recognized" by the majority and makes our life easy.

3. Non-Muslims

Twelver Shi'a Muslims and the Zaydi Shi'a Muslims who are closer to the Kufa Twelver Shi'a Muslims consider non-Muslims will cause them ritual impurity. However, there are some terms and conditions related to this subject matter where some of the Twelver Imami Marjas consider people of the scriptures such as the Jews and Christians or even the Zoroastrians who possess scriptures as clean and ritually clean. For Shi'a Muslims, they can get the help from their own Marjas or jurisprudence scholars. I have several books and notes about Shi'a jurisprudence too but I am not a Shi'a. This is only for the conduct of respect when visiting Shi'a Muslim brothers' mosques as I sometimes walked by their area like in Thailand.

For a Hanbali Sunnah Muslims like myself, everyone are human-being. So, we can touch or having contact with them without having to perform ablution or performing ghusl after the conduct. The conditions are just the same like those applied to Muslim fellows. 

Opinion of People of the Books

As for people of the books, I personally consider Orthodox Indian Brahmins as resembling the people of the books. They posses the Vedas as according to their clans' adherence and Puranas just like Zoroastrians of Persia who posses Avestan scriptures. They also perform dipping in the water almost the same like us. Regarding civilization, Middle East Civilization is far more earlier in its development than Hindu Civilization and I am not surprised with parallel conducts within our traditions or customs. I read Hindu scriptures as well as I studied history subjects while I was a form six student. I also believe in the prophethood of prophet Noah a.s, the ancestor of all nations.

Close

Those mentioned methods and the classification are just the studies of scholars. It is not by any way intended to make ones life in a burden but to make our life easy. So, if there are some differences here and there. Please be tolerant and do not force what we had learned on others. Just respect our fellow Muslim brothers as long as we have basis on every deeds. If there are no basis, just tell them but if they do not want to listen just do not argue or quarrel. It is not the manner to be a follower of Muhammad s.a.w and his traditions.

This post is just a basic reminder of a fellow Muslim to himself and to others who stepped by. It is not a complete lesson from a qualified teacher! To know in detail, there are specific teachers for this topic of cleanliness. Never stop at one point once we already know but further it as we are trying to reach perfection. Cleanliness is among the branches of the faith.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Qualities of a Believer

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Praises only due to the God the Most Highest. I managed to establish my relation with the mosque again after thinking on where to stop by as there were many traumas which makes me exhausted when thinking about them. It is quite tough for someone who is not stable in term of life like others to stay in a proper place. As for me now, I regard myself as a traveler who is in a journey to return to Him. I am just staying at the house of my parents because of their mercy-compassionate to provide me with shelter to continue this chaotic life and I own nothing. 

I always tell my sisters that I don't care about possessions because I do not regard my father property as mine. That possession came from his own effort and I have no right to claim the credit from his sweat and tears. The same thing also to my grandfathers possessions. We own no rights but only the rights to accept the Divine Path of our ancestral lineage. I am fortunate enough that our parents raised us up and we do not die due to famine though there might be some loopholes such as the lack of love due to the pressure of surviving in the city since the 90s until now. Parents are human-being and we must accept the fact that human are not perfect just like us. Only the God the Highest is Perfect. 

I do not know whether my sisters understood me but I really wish they understood me. I try to tell them about Him and to return together to Him with me. I also try to do so with my parents and preventing them from taking part in "public" sustenance as they do not know. I am aware about that and I checked everything again until the root, so I tried to prevent our selves from further defilement. I wish them to understand me but as always I am also labeled like what those Tabligh kids talked with me. I am also facing the same thing though I am not a member of that particular movement. I cried alone before Him and it is more painful when we are called names and misunderstood by our own family members.

Importance to be Grateful

I will continue with other notes once I record this note as I did not bring any pen or note book to the mosque this evening. I only brought with me a part of Quran which is the surats that I try to put into my heart through His permission. The lecture about Divine Path occurs in the mosque in the time that we expect the least about it. It will be a regret for me if I forgot these valuable teachings. Weirdly, I found that the ustad told the same thing which I am currently practicing. He mentioned about the importance of appreciating the grace of the God. The greatest grace of His graces is the grace of Islam and faith. This is greater than the grace of sustenance or luxuries of this illusory world. 

This question always struck me when I am applying for the job when I am annoyed with the pressures such as housing bills, loan payment, taxes, how to survive in this period or when people asking me what am I doing right now while I am jobless. I have nothing to brag to others and I am forbidden to accept the zakat by ancestral inheritance... Even if I try to do so, there would be many problems hitting my application. I checked my account and it scares me too but I try to convince myself that I can go through this time with His support. 

Perhaps my faith is not as great as the companions of prophet Muhammad s.a.w among the people of Medina as I am just a lowly follower among followers. I am envious to them as some of them were willing to die for the faith. There is a story about one of them which is an anonymous figure had met the prophet Muhammad s.a.w in order to pray for them for the cure of cholera infection. The prophet s.a.w said that he can pray for them and they will be cured once the God the Highest accept his prayers but if they hold on patiently, the reward is greater than they could imagine. The guy who heard this thinking for a moment and later return home without being prayed upon by the prophet s.a.w as he wishes to receive forgiveness for his sin. He later died because of cholera together with his family as unknown martyrs.

I wish I know his name and each of his family name, they would be those saints that I will specifically include in my humble prayers. I am so ashamed of myself as I almost cried in the mosque while listening to the sermon. The ansars or the people of Medina were well-beloved by prophet Muhammad s.a.w and they were the people who have preserved the traditions as transmitted again through prophet Muhammad s.a.w. I am bursting in tears while typing this. Anyway, nobody could see how ugly I am now or thinking that I am a nut because I am not living a "normal beautiful life" like them... haha...

Qualities of the Believer

In the surat al-Mu'minoon 23:1-18... The God the Highest has mentioned to us about the qualities of the people who are well beloved and enjoying the sweetness joy of faith. It is the highest quality in our Path and looks quite easy but actually requires us concentration and focus especially this period is the dark period of the universe. Being a Muslim is one thing but being a believer Muslim is another different thing. It is about being a Muslim by heart and not only by physical. 

A believer who submits himself to his Lord will be a successful person whether in this present life or in the other life. The word in the beginning of the surat actually denotes that the God is promising us something and His promises are all the truths and facts of the life. Maybe many other sites had also talked about this or perhaps I had posted about this too but I will put them always as reminders. It is important for us to repeat things not because we wanted to be boring but to stay in awareness. The highlights to us eight points for a person to be a believer although he is already a Muslim:

1. A person who is full of concentration in his salat services is a believer person. The first step to be a consistent and a focus person is to prepare early for the salat services. The key word that I have is preparation to see Him as salat services also means that we are in contact with the Creator.

2. A believer is a person who keeps himself or herself away from worthless words and acting in vanity. This is a trait of a dweller of the paradise and we can see it while we are in this world. 

3. A believer keeps his property and possession in purified condition through the prescribed zakat as what I had put in place in the introduction treatise. If we are not a fortunate person, it is enough to donate whatever that we have or sharing it with others who are unfortunate. 

As for myself, I just could just share these posts for the time-being. Say if we have RM1, so perhaps we just donate 10 cents to the donation box as it means one tenth from 100 cents. This is my personal logic based from the hadith narrated by Jabir bin 'Abdullah r.a. where prophet Muhammad s.a.w says that the crops watered by the rain and river water, the tithe would be one tenth of it and those by the camel; the tithe is one twentieth - Muslim. Since I cannot pay the proper zakat, so I am doing as this hadith proposes me because I might also had tyrannized others. It does not have to be strictly like the hadith but the principle matters. I received the support from my father and sisters while studying as undergraduate translation and interpretation student but I did not use them wholly for myself. Some, I donated to unfortunate brothers and to non-Muslim friends as a way to introduce my Path to them without having to to tell them anything or offend them with unwise attitude. They will come and ask me themselves why am I donating them with those things while I eat nothing from them. I managed to explain them about some principles of the Path and we became friends. This is also a practice of Orthodox Indian Brahmins and the Brahmins among Buddhist monks.

4. A believer must keep his or her genitals away from whatever is illegal to them. He or she must only stay in legal marriage condition as it is holy for them. The verse also mentions about genitals are only permitted for one's owned slave servants but nowadays the war principles are not the same as previous days. Nobody is the slave or serving others without any payment or binding contracts of employer and employees. One possess his mind to think and ponder on what is suitable with the principles around through the guide of Quran and Sunnah so use it wisely.

5. A believer must keep himself or herself away from committing adultery and other acts caused by the flesh desires. When we mention flesh desires here, it means that they are things that contradict the spirit. Those who are finding the ways as according to his or her evil desires are those who exceed the limit as a civilized human-being. Our Path is the Middle Path, we must be within the track and not outside of the track.

6. A believer is a person who is committed to his or her promises and trusts. Among the promises and trusts are the promises to be within the commandments and to hold higher the Covenant of the Lord. In our daily services, we actually make promises with Him so if we wanted to live for eternity, this is among the way that the God highlighted in the scripture for our convenience. The same thing also goes to other businesses, trusts and contracts that he or she holds. A believer also acts with this attitude.

7. A believer is a person who keeps his salat services and always learning about how to perform it nicely only for the pleasure of the God the Highest. This also refer to the litanies and remembrance that we chant for e.g the highest sentence which refers to the "there is no gods except the God; only Him with no partners to be worshiped;only for Him the Kingdom and Praises; He raises the soul into life and He put the soul into the death;and He is all-Powerful!".

I do not really like to put it here because I personally think that it is enough for a person to perform the basic things mentioned in the pillars of Islam. But I cannot hide this too. This has to do with our practices and also mentioned by the ustad. I guess he is from traditional circle because the reference books he use for the sermon and lecture is the books written by people of traditional circles. It takes times for one to perform this and I was also asked by a freshman undergraduate student while chanting this alone. I do not like people asking me this question because I do not like people relating this practice with mysticism. This is not a magical chanting word!

I am not so much traditional in approaches because we can conduct practices whether in private or in congregation. We emphasize on the Quran, the Sunnah and the wisdom of Ahl Bayt. Some traditional people say that we need to perform chantings of the highest sentence with teacher everyday and alone. It is up to people, the religion is very flexible. I chant without any teachers too while walking, while laying down or while I have no friends for conversation. I am communicating with the God, souls around and angels. Maybe next time I will share what I recite everyday. It is just the same with other people and I also perform tahlel for souls of faithful martyrs. Please some people do not mistook those chantings as magical.  

8. Once a person fulfills these integrated qualities, he or she will reach the Eternal Kingdom as promised by the Lord. One who sells everything that he posses which also includes his soul for His cause and the Lord is paying him with an extremely high price. I am not sure whether I have these qualities. I pray to him may everyone including myself acquire these traits. Please help me to pray together, amin!

 

Judging Faith 

So, these are the parameter of our Faith for Him. No need to see it in other people but try to put a mirror in front of ourselves and ask ourselves whether we hold these qualities? This is better than we label others as kafeer or with other unpleasant names. It should be imprinted in our heart...

After the 'Isha' prayer service, I just went to the nearby 99 Mart and I could see that I have some papers left in my wallet. I just used those papers to buy some vegetables like the lady's fingers and eggplants. I wanted to fast tomorrow and see if I will die because of hunger. No meat and no beautiful food, just enough with simple food to survive as fasting is a training for spiritual enlightenment. Not to demand the God the Highest to grant us any material reward. Just enough to receive His Merciful Love.

Next morning I would have to purify myself with turmeric as people at home began to take forbidden things like seafood and shrimp paste in the kitchen. I have told them many times a wara' person will never touch those matters. I am not a wara' person myself but I am trying to hold the codes as fast as I can and promoting them to everyone other than to myself. This is some influence that we have to encounter when we are melting in the receiving society...

It is up to them or anyone to take it or to leave it. I will stick to whatever I believe and I believe those subject matters will slow my effort to grab the Quran while it is for everyone benefits. It is a very painful process especially to maintain awareness about Him and not to fall again into darkness.... I am apologizing to everyone which also includes my parents. I am such a burden and a useless son. I am also a useless friend and could provide nothing for friends as offerings. I wish that I could do something as a favor for everyone... Ya Allah....

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Emirates of Ghassan

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Previously, we had discussed about the Kingdom of Ghassan. In this post we expand it further to the Emirates of Ghassan. Ghassan tribe were migrants in southern Syria since the ancient times. Previously, the region was controlled by the Dhaja'im and Qudha'a tribes.

The Ghassanides fought those two tribes and they won. So, they made the region as their state and pleading the Byzantine Roman empire protection. Later on, they had developed themselves until they established confederation of states among themselves and building citadels around their city. Their capital was Busra, in the state of Hawraan. Today people perhaps call the place as Busra Shaam or Busra Esky Shaam. The word Shaam or Saam actually refer to Syria and the ancient region of the Greater Syria was not like today's Syria. It extends from the Levant or Eastern Mediterranean which also includes the area of what we call as Palestine and covers some ancient areas of Eastern Europe, Iran, Gulf States and Iraq. 

The word Shaam or Saam is also the name of our ancestor which includes the Arabic speaking Ismai'lites or Qedarites, the Assyrians, the Arameans, the Hebrews, the Sabaean Yemenites who worship the sun with their sun temples and others. Saam basically means prosperity or a name. Our patriarch Abraham a.s is a descendent of Saam through Arphakhsad. Assyrians are our cousins from an ancestral uncle, Ashoor which is the second son of Saam. The subject of this ancient Ashoor no matter who he is will be known as Assyrians. He was portrayed as the solar deity the patron of a city-state. So the word Syria or Surya also means the Sun. It seems like cognitive to a Sanskrit word which sounds like Surya. There are stories about Suryavamsa in Brahma Puran about a group or ancient clan who worship the sun or solar deity and later about figures related to the navagraham or nine planets. I am not talking about this to compare whoever is good or whoever is bad. I am not reading or listening to Zakir Naik too. I can't remember whether I read his written literary works as I am not his fan. I read everything from the root sources which means if I wanted to know say about the Hindu religions, I will go and ask the Hindu priests myself and basically Hindu traditions do not really sound new to me. The ancient Sakyamuni that I followed during my confuse childhood time was from a royal Hindu family himself.

    

The legend figures in this part were the son of Noah a.s and Noah a.s is a sage and a prophet of the God the Highest. The worship of legends or famous figures began after the Great Flood which Noah a.s and some people had escaped from. So, whatever claim from academic writings of Orientalist scholars from colonial period to discredit Muslims as worshiping whatever moon or nature forces which happen to be the creatures of the God the Highest which no one could imagine Him is not effective. Because, Noah a.s was a sage, a prophet and a messenger of the God the Highest. Periods after his sons and descendants passed away that people turning to idolatry while the God the Highest reveals revelation after revelation through the chosen human-beings down to Muhammad s.a.w.

Back to the topic, by the first century of Christ era, Syria was included as a region of Byzantine Roman empire. During the time before Jesus Christ a.s walking among the people calling people to rectify their morality, the area known as Roman Palestine was administrated by a Roman governor known as Pilatus while the Roman emperor was Herodotus. The upper Syrian area was controlled by the Nabateans. I am not sure what kind of people were the Nabateans but they perhaps are the Bedouins who speak Aramaic language. The Nabateans always contested the Romans until the Romans had to plead for peace from them. The majority of these Nabatean Bedouins were from the Dhaja'im tribe who controlled some areas in Syria since ancient time.                       

After the conquest of Alexander of Macedonia where he managed to bring down Persian empire as many of Persian tributary states were controlled by the Greeks. Much of the areas controlled by the Greeks were from Persian empire areas to the western bank of Ganga river in modern India. This explains why in South East Asian ancient texts about ancient Hindu kings also mentioned the Greeks in their chronicles. It is plausible that they had contacts with the ancient Greeks and Persians when we check the historians researches. Those little regions of Persian empire were ruled by regional kings and governors and they were not centralized.

Because Persian empire were torn apart, it makes the Romans who later succeeded the Greeks taking the advantage and defeating them one by one. However, in the beginning of third century the Sasan dynasty gained control in Persia. They become so powerful and influenced that they managed to get back their protectorate and tributary states. At this time, the Ghassan Arabs tried to break over the northern most frontier. They managed to get Bulaqaa' from the Dhaja'im tribe. Bulaqaa' if I am not mistaken is an area in Jordan. 

The Byzantine Romans could see that the Ghassanides were influential amongst the Arab nations. Their states were fertile and filled with green trees. So, they began to spread Christianity among the Ghassan Arabs. Later on, Christianity of Byzantine rites became the official religion of the Ghassanides and the subjects there.

During the reign of al-Harit bin Jabalah and his offspring, the whole of today's Syria until Hawraan hill was under his rule. He colonized Tadmur, Palestine, Levant or Lebanon which includes the Bedouins. Dosseur among the archeologists had researched until the Hawraan hill and founded a huge citadel build by the Ghassan Arabs in order to prevent themselves from being attacked by other Bedouins. In the thesis of Henry Masse, as according to the chronicles... The Ghassanide king, al-Harith bin Jabalah was authorized and recognized by the Eastern Roman emperor, Justinian in the 529 CE. This Ghassanide king was a religious and pious Christian. He was awarded with the title Phyllarqui Patrikio by emperor Justinian which means the priestly king. This title was the highest title in the Eastern Roman empire.

The last Ghassanide king was the king Jabalah bin Aihaam. He accepted Islam as the Divine Path but later he returned to Christianity because he was unsatisfied that his ego as a king was lowered by the caliph Umar al-Khattab r.a as he had slapped the face of a commoner during the pilgrimage ritual at the cubical building in the grand mosque. The guy who was slapped had complained to the caliph and the caliph ordered the king to apologize but he won't. This is a typical Arabian attitude. I am not talking by generalization because I know human are not the same but this attitude is an attitude among rich people. I also experienced some of those half blood westernized Sayyids and Shareefas who demanded us to kiss their hands because they are rich (like we care) which makes me and my father avoiding their house maybe forever though we are related. Our feet are dirty and we are filthy poor people. Why should we pollute their beautiful mansions with our presence. Until now I feel really bad if I have to walk pass rich people or talking with them.

Does not matter if one is a Christian or a Muslim as egoism is a trait which exist in human-being. The king passed away as a Christian in Constantinople. However, his kingdom was absorbed under the Rashidun caliphate as many of his subjects began to accept Islam. This emirates ends around the seventh century... Later on, about Sergiopolis in Rassafa which was a city of the Ghassan Arabs. Inshaa Allah...

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

Istinja'

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

This topic is an extremely important topic and the basis for every da'ie. This is among the basic things that one needs to practice and know how to explain to people before they have the right to tie on whatever turban on his head. Practicing is actually a better way to explain to people because it shows in visual form.

Those who are involved within orthodox circles perhaps would understand what am I talking about. Just avoid looking down on others though he looks like an "ordinary secular public" for not tying on the turban or wearing the long white robe like an Arab Sheikh or not holding the kain sebai or using Urdu or Arabic terms while chatting. This is the first thing that we were taught while in i'dadi level in the madrasah. I think this topic is also taught in our national school curriculum for Islamic education from 15 years old up to 17 years old. It has to do with ritual purity that will validate our worship.

I had also talked about this in several previous posts but never mind, let me put this again until we remember every detail about it. Sadly, many people still are not aware about this although they are interested in mysticism. I don't mind for people to talk about mysticism but many other basic things which we do not know yet. So, what is the point of learning things to impress others or to show off while we are not aware about our self? I am just listing this up here as reminder for myself and others.

Definition of Istinja'

Now, this term refers to the act of cleaning the filth. It is obligatory for those filth which come on either way of the anus and urinary tract. Some reference books would mention the wudhu' or ablution before the istinja'. This means that ablution is something which should be done before the istinja'. The term for this is tahaarat qawiyya which means that the ablution is a priority as there is no filth. However for the tayammum or the wudhu' saaheb al-dharurat, we must therefore perform the istinja' first as it is the taharat al-dhaifa or the filth is the heavy ones. The term wudhu' saaheb al-dharurat means the ablution is the necessity after the calls of nature. 

Actually I don't know how to explain these in simple words, lol. However, most people are talking about istinja' first since it is customary and according to common sense; we would have to perform ablution after the calls of nature to validate our prayer services or before we touch the copy of Glorious Quran and reciting it. When we are in the condition without wudhu' or just after answering for the calls of nature; we are in the condition known as hadath or in worldly occupations. Before we perform the ablution, there would be the greater or lesser incidents depends on what is our condition. It is prescribed in the Divine Path to perform the ablution during the Laylat al-Israa' night. 

Istinja' by using purely clean water was introduced by our patriarch, the noble prophet Abraham a.s. But the istinja' by using certain things like stones are the convenience given by the God the Highest specifically for the nations in the epoch of Muhammad s.a.w. When someone is in the lavatory or toilet, it is not legal to face the direction of quibla or the prayer direction. Also, it is not legal to face the direction of the sun rise or sun goes down. That is why we have to check this aspect when we buy a house or building a house for our selves.

Pillars of Istinja'

There are four matters for a person the istinja' which are:

1. The person who has just pissing or pooping.

2. Ways where those filth come out.

3. Filth which comes out.

4. Stuffs to clean off those filth. 

Method of Istinja'

How to perform istinja' or to clean our selves once a person is pissing or pooping? 

1. Clean off the area in contact with the filth i.e the anus and genital with pure clean water. Just spray it or sprinkle it with water before wiping them clean with toilet paper. Or use the toilet paper to clean it off and spray the area with water. Then wipe again with toilet paper. 

2. Wiping the area contaminated with the filth with rough surfaces for e,g by using three different stones. Or using a handful stone but wipe them with different clean parts. Never use the same part to wipe the filth as it would make matters more complicated. 

3. Much better if one cleans his or her filth with stones and then sprinkle or spraying water. Water would be favorable but my experience when I was in Bangkok or Japan, there were no water hose in the toilet. So, I have to use toilet paper and I almost finished a roll of toilet paper just to stay clean, haha.

Tools for Cleaning

1. Pure water

This refers to clean water which is not the water mixed with other elements for example cordial, chemical stuffs and others. Just clean water.

Types of clean water suggested to us through scholars of jurisprudence studies are such as:

a. rain water

b. river water   

c. sea water

d. water from the well

e. water from the spring

f. gathered morning dew

g. melted snow

This is based from the hadith reported by imam Anas bin Maalik r.a. Imam Anas bin Maalik r.a is a companion of prophet Muhammad s.a.w. He is also the founder of Maliki jurisprudence school and a scholar of followers' period. The hadith was reported by Abu al-Walid Hisham bin Abdul Malik who heard this report from Shu'ba who heard this from 'Atha bin Abu Maimuna who heard the hadith from imam Anas bin Maalik report. It means, "Prophet Muhammad s.a.w went out for the toilet one day. I followed him and saw that another boy which is almost the same age with me following the prophet s.a.w while holding a pot of water to provide him with water to perform istinja'".

There was no water hose like nowadays and people in the desert cities usually using the water pot to perform istinja' or to clean the feces once they answer the calls of nature. I saw this myself while traveling during performing pilgrimage. I went to a friend's house... I just call him Ahmad but I have no idea what is his real name, lolol. He invited me to visit him in a neighborhood known as Odaibiyya in Holy Mecca where I found that people still use water pot in their toilet.    

2. Clean Earth

Clean earth means the soil that we have gotten from the place where no one spoils it with dirty things like feces, urine, and others. Maybe the soil could be taken from the hill. This type of soil is also the type of soil that one use to perform tayammum.

3. Rough Stuffs

They are for example stones, toilet paper, leaves and such things in the case of no clean water available. Prophet Muhammad s.a.w said, "When one of you are off to the toilet, use three stones as it is sufficient for you" - Ahmad and Nasa'ie.

If one is using stones or other rough surfaced stuffs for example, make sure that he use the stones in odd numbers. For e.g three, seven and so on. This is based from the Sunnah as narrated in hadiths for example:

"Narrated by Abu Huraira, prophet Muhammad s.a.w said: "If one is about to perform istinja' with stones, bring with him stones in odd numbers. It is much better of the person to do as such. However, if one is not using stones in odd number, he is not sinful at all" - Ahmad and Abu Dawud.

The same hadith is also reported of our lady 'Aisha r.a regarding the usage of three stones or rough matters in odd numbers. It is just a suggestion for us.  

Conditions for Istinja'

The ways to clean the filth is to achieve the objective of to get rid the filth from both parts where filth come out. It is also to get rid the smell of the feces and urine. 

Besides, one has to clean of the physical form of the filth. If one could not eliminate the smell or the color as the result of the filth, it is not a sin because nowadays people eat complicated stuffs and that is why the stool stains so weirdly. Ancient people just eat simple stuffs like rough empty bread or natural fruits. Maybe once in a while they take meat and just eat to survive, not to taste.

Other than that, make sure that the stuffs for e.g toilet paper, stones or leaves are clean. Never take anything from respected stuffs as cleaning tool for stools or urine such as bread, fruits and all food stuffs! It is a no no to use stuffs such as animal bones to clean poops and piss. 

I guess there is a hadith regarding the bones and dried stools whether of human or animal narrated by Ibnu Mas'ud where prophet Muhammad s.a.w said, "Never perform istinja' by using dry stools and never with bones. Bones are the food for your brethren amongst genie race" - al-Tirmidzie.   

It is also prohibited to use papers or other stuffs which consist sacred writing for e.g from the Glorious Quran or written with the Name of the Lord of Universe. As for this, I also extend this regulation to other non-Muslims religious or sacred stuffs. It is prohibited and manner less to defecate theirs' though we do not share the same faith.

For those who use stones to perform istinja' make sure that stones are clean. The stool or piss is not yet dry. Wipe the filth until it is clean and repeatedly with different stone. Make sure the stool or piss do not touch other body parts or having the contact with cloth. Unless one has to clean his cloth too. Make sure the stool or the piss do not mix with other things as one has to clean everything if this happen.

Manner for Istinja'

While performing istinja' use one's left hand but never right hand.... This is based from a narration of a conversation between Salman the Persian r.a with an anonymous person from imam Muslim report where the guy asked him...

Guy: Your prophet has taught you many things which also include on how to clean dirt and filth?

Salman: Yes... We are prohibited to face quibla direction while pooping or pissing, nor using right hand while cleaning the filth with lots of stones or pebbles and never use filthy things to clean filthy things and not to use bones while cleaning the filth. 

Make sure that the right foot stepping out first when one is going out of the toilet after the process. Mentally, praise the God while moving out for banishing diseases from one self... A hadith reported by Abu Dzar al-Ghifari r.a which means that prophet Muhammad s.a.w said this prayer after moving out from the toilet which means, "All praises due to the God who casts away diseases from myself and restoring my health". - Nasa'ie.

Relevance of Knowing

I had encountered some non-Muslims such as some Buddhists in my state who said that these rules and regulations are nonsense. I know they talked like that since there are some arrogant fellow Muslims who just talk blatantly without thinking with their head. On the behalf of them, I would like to apologize to Buddhist friends. I was a Buddhist myself and never feel ashamed about that. I studied Buddhism as a Buddhist and not as a Muslim. I could even write and read in Pallava sacred script if I wanted too because I picked up Sanskrit language and some Bali Prakrittam which shows that I studied Buddhism and Brahmanism with sincere heart. There are several rules from Praadimoksha hermitage codes which also correspond to the Sunnah but performed only by the monks and hermits. I still remember some of them as bind in the Sutta Vibbhanga such as no peeing while standing for monk, no covering on the head, cover the whole upper body while in the public, no spitting on the crop, no spitting on the water, no sermon for people who disrespect monk and stuffs... up to 227.  I still respect and remember these laws.

Some modern people or Westerner perhaps saying that these are the underdeveloped people customs and religious practices because they see some annoying muzzies in their country who behave differently to the teachings. My questions too, what would people say about European Union nonsense regulations related to environmental policies or the Public Health policies in Britain? As for me, I believe they had done researches to get to the point that they had put the policies nicely in the paper such as Green Paper, White Paper, Yellow whatever paper. 

I read some of the method on how the European Union and Britain framing their particular policies before execution by their governance. Sometimes they seem nonsense too but beneficial for environmental health. I am interested in them especially about public health and environment. The same thing also applies to a Muslim life and our Divine Path. We have the guidelines from the God the Highest and we also have scholars who conduct researches about cleanliness. When we see those people looks dirty or filthy, it is because they are not taught by their teachers about cleanliness or their mentality is below the scholarly mentality. These guidelines has both spiritual and physical significance. Thank you for visiting this humble site. May the God the Highest bless everyone.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!