Persian: I Like ...

Assalāmu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

A : Salām, chitor asti? 

      Peace, how are you?

B: Ma khob astom, tashakor!
     I am fine, thanks!

Sentence

Ma khoshem maya ...

I like ...

Vocabulary

Sag Dog
Seb Apple
Pishaq Cat
Kelār Banana

Example

Ma khoshem maya seb.

I like apple.

Ma khoshem maya kelār.

I like banana.

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

Arab Civilization

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

There are differences between the Arabs in the North and the South. The Southern Arabs were more to conservative nomadic lifestyle or known as Bedouins. Northern Arabs were city-dwellers and they engaged themselves with people from around the world so they were quite open and well-developed as compared to the Southern Arabs. This is what some people said. However, I do not agree with them. This is actually more dependent to the geography of the people there. Some places had a lack of resources for development and that makes the people moving here and there or having lack development. We cannot generalize people or attached to the perception based on what we see or hear.

Southern Arabs

Southern Arabs were quite civilized and stated by Mahmud al-Alusi (1802-1854) who says, "The Qahtanites who are native to Yemen lived in prosperous states and their lands were fertile. They build up huge and strong fortresses and their buildings were extremely beautiful. Their grandeur was mentioned by historians throughout centuries. Their achievement is also recorded in the Glorious Quran in Surah Sabā' (No. 34)".

The Qahtanites were the offspring of Joktan the son of Eber. Qahtan is the Arabic rendition for a person who was known as Joktan. Joktan is the younger brother of Peleg who is the ancestor of Abraham a.s. Qahtan has 24 sons who were the progenitor of Southern Arabs who live in Yemen, Southern Arabian Peninsula and some parts of Oman. During the period of Solomon a.s who ruled Judea, the Queen who ruled the kingdom was of Sheba dynasty and they worshiped the Sun. The same thing also happened in Vedic India and in Assyria within Mesopotamian region. In Assyrian religion, the Sun is known as Shamas just like in Arabic we call the Sun as Shams. Vedic Indian worship the Sun as Surya. The Sun was associated with Saturn in their astrology system. The same thing too in Indian nine planets system where Surya (the Sun) is associated with Shani (Saturn). Southern Arabs had built Sun Tower in their kingdom for religious purposes.

In this matter, we could see that Southern Arabs were quite civilized because they know how to build up buildings, they practiced some kind of planet worshiping religion and that means that they studied the heavens. They had kingdoms within their region and it shows that they know how to manage a government and its political system. They had irrigation system, forts and trained their own soldiers for peace-keeping and security. All of these would not happen if they were stupid, block-headed or illiterate like what religious teachers in our country said to us as the reason for why prophet Muhammad s.a.w was sent among Arab nations. 

How many times, people had encountered the statement that prophet Muhammad s.a.w is a mercy toward the universe but some of them repeatedly throwing racist remarks on us and they are Muslims just like us. It would not hurt if they are non-Muslims because we know that non-Muslims would have different way of viewing the world. I never look down on Malays nor anyone... Instead I learned their history and their achievements since Hindu-Buddhism period down to the period they become Muslims. I believe we could learn and taking lessons from our past for better future. We cannot change people mind-set in just a blink of eyes....

As such, the religions of Southern Arabs are of various practices. The kings were skilled in astronomy and astrology. All of these could be traced through archeological findings and not only through oral narrations. 

Northern Arabs

Northern Arabs are of various backgrounds. Mahmud al-Alusi mentions that, "The offspring of 'Adnan and Qahtanite Arabs who moved and lived around the Ishmaelites after the breach of Ma'arev Dam followed the norms which they received from their ancestors. Those norms were the traditions of ancient sages there and based from what they heard from other realms".

Celestial path was inherited from Abraham a.s. and Ishmael a.s. but due to the changes of time, the "path" could not maintain its pure teachings. Later on, many foreign influences infiltrated people's traditions and customs and they claimed that those practices were the teachings of Abraham a.s. until younger generations could not differentiate things no more. Later on, there were new migration from down south to Mecca and Hejaz region and one among the migrants was a figure who was known as Amr bin Luhay. He was a shaman and also a chief of the Khuza'a tribe of the larger Azdites which is a sub-branch of Qahtanite Arabs from Yemen. His father is of Ka'ab clan. 

Amr bin Luhay performed charity and he respects everything related to customs and religion. Then, he joined a caravan and traveled to Syria and saw the people at the sea, which happened to be the Phoenecians or Levantines worshiped the elements of the universe which were represented by the statues. He thought that it was a righteous deed since Syria was known to him as the land of sages, prophets and revelation. He brought back the Hubal statue and placed it inside the Cubicle Shrine. Hubal was a chief deity worshiped by the people after they were persuaded by Amr bin Luhay to accept the religion. Later the practices widely spread among Arabs of various lineages.

People were so fond of poetry and delivering sermons in beautiful way. Then, Arabs also memorized their ancestral lineage, wars and battles that their ancestors had engaged, checking astrology before starting the war and battle and practicing warrior rites for swords, lances and others because of their life were surrounded with battles and wars. More or less like the warrior caste of ancient India...

Ancient Arab Achievements  

Gustave Le Bon says, "Those authors since biblical times recorded in their literature works that the Arabs especially in Yemen had reached their zenith in trading and businesses".

Herodotus (4 BC) says that, "Arabia was a prosperous and fertile land". Strabo further said, "The Dam of Ma'arev was an amazing creation of man-kind". Modern archeology has shown that Yemen was a developed region during its ancient time and it was cultural center in which is comparable to ancient Egypt. Modern researches have discovered large amounts of ancient artifacts in Southern Arabia and other regions related to Arabia just like those founded in Nineveh and Babylon in the region of Assyrian empire.

As such, I do not agree with those teachers who taught their students that ancient Arabs were barbaric people and plainly ignorant so the God the Highest has sent prophet Muhammad s.a.w among the Arab nation so other nations such as Malays in South East Asia could respect the Arabs. The Arabs were already actors involved in world political affairs since before the emergence of the Romans and it is proven in the record of the Old Testament. Arabs had also contributed to the world civilization since ancient times and the recent ones in Medieval period of AD was just the re-branded ones. This is the excerpt that scholars have got from La Civilization des Arabes by Gustave Le Bon (1884).        

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

Ancient Civilization: Mesopotamian Artifacts

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Mesopotamian Artifacts

continue....

What is the Purpose of Qiyaamullail?

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I read this in our musalla just after Ishaa' service where they had pasted it at the board of current issue. I think the reminder is quite nice and I would like to share it with brothers and sisters world wide who unintentionally hit this humble site may Allah bless all of you. 

Introduction to Qiyaamullail

First of all I would like to explain what is Qiyaamullail. It is Arabic compound words which means wake up in the night. This term means we sleep early at night maybe around 22:00-23:00 at night and wake up again at maybe 3:45 or 4:00 at the morning. About an hour or half an hour before obligatory Fajr prayer service. For a traditional person, he might be walking to masjid after the Qiyaamullail according to the prayer time. For me usually, I will take bath and finding my hygienic stuffs first before Qiyaamullail so if brothers and sisters could not bear cold water use hot water if you wanted to take bath. If you don't smell like rotten socks then it is ok to talk with Him without shower or bath, lol.

This thing is also founded in other traditions such as the Brahmin traditions as to make it easier to understood by non-Muslims or non-religious Muslims. They have several what I could say as quite harsh rites which should be followed by Brahmins as part of customs. I don't call it as Hinduism but only Brahmanism because not all Hindus perform this as this is only the duty for Brahmins and I am not going to talk in detail about it but in Islam it could be practiced by everyone who feels it as a necessity for them. I think Christians for example Roman rites also have this and they call it with few terms such as the three nocturns during special religious festivals. Orthodox churches as well and they also have terms in Syriac and in Christian nations' languages who adhere to Orthodox faith. I went to several churches and asking here and there to priests just after prayer services in churches. Avoid speculating if we never ask anything from the right person. We would be outraged too if people speculate something which does not really represent us right? 

Qiyaamullail is a discipline which helps human-being to develop their spiritual strength and it protects us from diseases because our weak inner selves will harm our physical selves. Psychological problem is about spiritual. I read psychological journals too about Sigmund Freud and others but I am not as fanatic as people who are obsessed to certain things. I rely also on researches when talking about things and this is what we are. We believe in holistic approaches and it is also approaches used in several fields such as in nursing in the United Kingdom for example since I helped my sister with her assignments and I read all of the journals for her thesis and assignments. I hate people who love to boast such as those who claim themselves as proving this and that as false, comparing this and that trying to show to people who is better who is not. I believe that they have no life, ugly attention whores and I bet their life must be boring and pathetic as hell, hahaha. This is addressed equally for Muslims, Christians, Atheists, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Wiccans, Satanic religion followers and etc, hahaha. We hate all of you boastful people!!  

For Muslims, we have Qiyaamullail during Ramadan and also Qiyaamullail in everyday if we had already make our selves familiar with it. It is wrong and sinful to stop from Qiyaamullail when one has chosen to perform it everyday and already familiar with it.

Qiyaamullail as a Sunnah

Noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w mentions that: "Wake up in the night to pray and remember the Lord at that time as it is the common acts of pious people before you. It helps you to be close to the Lord and prevents you from committing sinful acts. It blows away your past sins and evil around you besides prevents you from diseases" (Hadith narrated by Imam Ahmad, at-Tirmidzie, Hakim and Baihaqi).

Goals of Qiyaamullail as a Discipline

Now let us see the purpose of Qiyaamullail and the article pasted at the musalla stated there are 10 goals for it.

1. Merit will be granted without obstacles to His servant who wake up to remember Him (Surah Ali-Imraan 113-115).

2. His Grace in the paradise descends on those who remember Him in the early hours (Surah Ali-Imran 15-17).

3. A person who wakes up early at nights only for His Lord are assured noble and appraised position in His view (Surah al-Israa' verses 78-79)

4. When a person performs Qiyaamullail, the Lord will grant him with a sacred heart and noble manner. He is respectful to people and environment around. This is the sign of a person who remembers His Lord in contrast to boastful people who writes nonsense things like in answering Islam or answering whatever it is (Surah al-Furqan verses 63-64). When I read those things I just laugh at the writers and I think that they are just clowns. The same thing also about scientific proving of the scriptures and etc. Scriptures are beyond scientific research. It is metaphysical, beyond physical boundaries. I read physics and chemistry books though I was from Shariah streams, not a talented student in academic and I don't know why people love to look at us as stupid than them just because we are humble. Sometimes these people confuse me and make me think should I also show off to make them realize that their attitude is so annoying? I don't like to make people crying and I made one of our colleague crying simply because he showed off to me and my friend, Amir ahahaha. I am so sorry for being bad ass person but sometimes we can't bear these kind of people.

5. A person who performs Qiyaamullail is hardly a boastful and hardly a show off person (Surah as-Sajjadah 15-17). It is because boastful and show off are some kinds of mental illnesses.

6. When performing Qiyaamullails, a person will receive profits and benefits through His Mercy (Surah az-Zumar verse 9). If one is conducting say business, his business will receive blessings from the Lord and though we can't see the blessings but we can feel it. If we are on some affairs, the Lord will bless us and make everything goes smooth though we do not notice it. So, we have to be very careful with environment as we don't know where is his blessings and mercy and how they look like.

7. Qiyaamullail teaches a person to be patient and it is a very good discipline for a person who can't control patience (Surah Qaaf verses 39-40). Try perform this for few nights and feel it your selves. You don't have to be a Muslim to perform this. If you are a Christian, then perform this according to your rites. If you are a Buddhist or Hindu, try perform it according to your responsibility of birth. If you are a Muslim, then perform it according to Sunnah and prophetic traditions. Who says that when we are different from each other and trying to return to the faith, we have to chop everyone's head? This is the act of a pea-brain sized person not the act of civilized people. We can see this kind of people in all community, society, and faiths. Their mind is dirty their heart is filthy thus their mouth instigate evil things for people to scratch each others' faces.

8. It will lead a person who performs it to feel wrong if they do not sacrifice themselves to help the poor, the unfortunate and the tyrannized people (Surah az-Zaariyat verses 15-19). A person who always remember his Lord alone in the darkness of the night will try to take part in social works in the daylight.

9. The Lord will grant a person who performs Qiyaamullail with perseverance to wait the decree of the Lord (Surah at-Tuur verses 48-49). Whatever decree of Lord will be the things which is uncertain in the future or anything which had already happened. This discipline teaches us to accept everything that will happen or that had happened as it helps us to get rid anxiety.  

10. Waking up in the darkness of night alone to worship makes us more focus to Him and it is more effective rather than when we pray optional prayers in front of people because we might get distracted (Surah al-Muzammil verses 1-6). We will recite things and ponder the meanings of the recitation. It will make us think deeper as we contemplate the messages of the Lord in His divine revelation. We also can cry and confess everything to the Lord without being known by others because many people are sleeping so they can't see or even hear us, lol!

Respected brothers and sisters in faith, please check the meaning and messages of the surahs for yourselves. A person who performs Qiyaamullail usually possesses wisdom and he is always blessed by the Lord though people look at him as no less than a tiny dust. Qiyaamullail is an additional worship act apart of the obligatory prayer services performed by orthodox sunnah Muslims. It helps us to get His Mercy and Love while we are still in this harsh world. In Qiyaamullail, a person will perform the salaat tahajjud, recites supplication or wazifas in devotion to the Lord and begging His Divine intervention to solve daily problems. 

So, brothers and sisters, I would like to advise myself and those who share the faith with me to stop talking about my Wahhabi movement is better, my Barelwi movement is better, my Deobandi movement is above all, my Tabligh movement is better, my Sunnah madzhab is correct, my Shi'ah madzhab is more honorable. Stop talking about who is wrong or who is correct. Let us together open up our scripture (Quran) and open up our Sunnah (prophetic traditions). We won't scratch each other faces when we are uniformly guided by these two primary sources of our Sacred Path. Stop fanaticism, stop being obsessed with our selves. The first creature/being who is obsessed with his self is the Devil the father of genies and the leader of evil genies, animals and human-being. Are we going to be one of his followers? Na'udzubillahu min dzaalik (may Allah helps us to be away from evil traits) may Allah makes us only as His followers and not others'!

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

Muslim Chinese Figure: Wang Daiyu

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Calligraphy by Haji Nurdin Mi Guangjing

We return to our Muslim Chinese figure since it is very important for us in the Eastern part of the world. I think researches should also be conducted about the clerics and scholars of Islam from China other than those from Indian sub-continent or Nusantara which consists of Malay, Javanese and Achehnese speaking people. We also need to check about those in Indo-China as well. Researches about these are very rare or maybe do not reach audiences. It needs to be spread widely.

Introduction

I am not sure about his Arabic name but I am sure he must have his Arabic name along with his indigenous name 王袋輿 Wang Daiyu. He was a Ming dynasty imperial scholar of 15th C and he was known as Zhenhui Laoren. I guess it is perhaps an equivalent to Muslim Sheikh in Arabic. His early paternal ancestor came to Ming dynasty of China but later end up in the imperial court as a master supervisor of imperial observatory since he was talented in calenders calculation and astronomy. Due to this, Wang's ancestor was given a residence in Lu Fei Lane which is now in the South part of Hongwu street in Nanjing. So, if brothers and sisters are visiting China, you may also visit this place and capture some pictures to share with others. I wanted to travel to China, India and Middle East but now I am still occupied because we need financial support for that. Our country is no Welfare State like in Europe or Australia where jobless people could use tax-payers money to travel around and later producing personal works either for Orientalism, Socio-Political studies or Anthropology. I hate being tied like this but we have no choice.  

Education

Wang Daiyu studied under his dad's supervision. Then he was sent to a Muslim teacher known as Ma Junshi in Nanjing city. Only around 20 years old of his age that he began to study Chinese language. He also investigated the writings of philosophies and religions such as Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism and etc. 

Around 15th year of the reign of Chongzhen emperor, he produced a translation of a True Explanation of the Right Teaching. Then he translates Islamic sutras or scriptures. He also wrote the Great Studies of Islam and the Rare and True Answers. Within the Chinese tradition, he was known as among the "Great Saint" of the Qing period. He believes in providing Islamic works in Chinese language version instead of just depending on Arabic ones. Our people in South East Asia also have the same belief that make some of the foreign teachers from Southern Arabian Peninsula trying hard to learn local languages and later we as their descents have also abandoned our identity. 

Literature

Wang was fluent in Chinese, Arabic, and Persian. I am also not sure whether he was fluent in term of speaking or written or both. I speak Chinese too but my Chinese is still rusty as compared to the last five years but I could still write in Chinese. People might feel weird if I read everything in Malay or English but it is Chinese writings, hehehe.  

He studied Confucianism and using its terminologies to explain Islamic concepts. Urmm, sometimes I am also using Taoism concepts to explain about things like angelic beings and stuffs about worship to some Chinese friends so they would also forgotten that I am a Muslim. I could also use Arabic terms transliterated into Chinese but it would be very weird and people could not understand them. In other time, I also used Buddhism terms that I had translated into Chinese.

Besides, he used Chinese Classical texts to explain Islamic concepts and writing commentaries because Chinese speakers do not read original Islamic texts. However, he is very critical to Buddhism and Taoism. He favors Confucianism more because its ideas agrees more with Islamic teachings. Urmm, I am not sure about Taoism but I understood most of Buddhism ideas through Theravada school and Forest Monastic traditions. It is closer to people here as compared to Confucianism and Taoism but we don't need to translate everything into native languages here anymore because our elders had helped us with it. And many natives are also proficient in Arabic as they were sent to Arabian Peninsula and Middle East to study religion. 

His intention of writing about Islamic teachings in Chinese language and citing Confucian text was not to convert non-Muslim Han Chinese. It is just a way to help Muslims in China to understand their own religion better. Most of Muslim in China at that time already speaking in Han language or Chinese so it would be very difficult to transliterate stuffs into Chinese scripts without using the already in existence terms used by Chinese speakers.

He also used Chinese language and Confucianism concept to explain about Islam to non-Muslim Han Chinese if they ask him about the teachings. His work became part of an Islamic text known as the Han Kitab along with those Muslim scholars from Eastern provinces of China such as Liu Zhi and Ma Zhu.

Translation of concepts

Yesterday, as per my experience talking with non-Muslim friend, I used Taoism terms to explain about metaphysical stuffs like angels or malaaikah to friend and talking about angels who taking the notes at the masjid before the Friday sermon. I don't know if it is correct because I have no Muslim Chinese here to ask what are the correct terms and a Chinese national brother is still in his semester break. Maybe he would return the next week. I bought a Chinese translation of Quran for parah 30th which was translated by few individuals like Prof. Obaidellah bin Mohamed, Ustazah Ma Lee, Ustazah Hajjah Alina Wong, Ustazah Nuralina Tay, and Ustazah Juliyana Wong simply to check religious terms. I also need to polish up my Chinese since it has been a long time being separated from Sino-sphere. If I have free time perhaps I could also do some writings in Chinese about Islamic figures like prophets and messengers of Allah so I could also have the terms imprinted in my mind again. This is also a motivation for myself and also for beloved brothers and sisters. Now, I could peacefully go back to my thesis. Wishing it quickly finish. Please, help me pray brothers and sisters. Thank you.

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

Science of the Pillars of Islam

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I read again this basic book about the Introduction toward the Path. It was our childhood textbook but my parents still keep it with them. I'm so touched to see it again and I silently put it into my bag. So, it's now in my hand and I flip it over and over. But I would also like to first talk about Shi'a Muslims. If it's not suitable I would be thinking to private this site so it would be a closed one. Just sharing what I discussed with brothers.

About Shi'a Muslims

This kitab that I read is from Orthodox Sunnah side. But as to say, I am aware that our Shi'a brothers and sisters also have their own kitabs regarding Pillars of the Faith and Path. I had analyzed their treatises because I also have their treatises. But I would further read and analyze their kitabs only when I finished my Quranic and Hadith studies and it is for the sake of unification. I am sick of accusations over each other. I watched our TV channel about Shi'a in our country and I found that we should not accuse our Shi'a brothers since Shi'a Ali has many branches. What I fear is that we might also falsely accuse the Ahlul Bayt. 

I make friends with people regardless faith and also denominations and it includes my fellow Shi'a brothers. I found that those who were in contact with me were nice people and I don't care whatever Taqiyya that people wanted to label them with. I prayed beside an Iranian Shi'a Muslim in the Masjidil Haram I didn't make any note about that but I am sure the Lord is noting it. The brother knows that I am a Sunnah Muslim and I was also aware that he is a Shi'a Muslim. We talked about many things including about cars and the Sunnah Muslim of Kurds ethnicity in his country.

Before we go further to our introduction about Orthodox Sunnah sciences, I would first put into the light about the view of our Shi'a brothers regarding the Path. Yesterday, I had contacted a Shi'a Muslim brother in Iran and asked him regarding their jurisprudence since I feel quite offended by the special program about Shi'a Ali and Ahlul Bayt. I discussed many things with him for about 3 hours and it includes about soul but I refused to talk further about soul because we have no knowledge about it but only the God knows. I don't totally buy anything that had been shown in the media because we know that it could also be an agent to spread propaganda and accusations to other sides. Generally, our Shi'a brothers have 5 Pillars of Faith in which they call it as Usuluddin. Then, they have the branches of the Path known as the Furu'uddin which are the 10 Pillars of the Path. Their jurisprudence is according to the jurist, Imam Ja'afar as-Saadiq. His real name is Ja'afar bin Muhammad bin Hussain bin Ali bin Abi Talib. His school of jurisprudence is widely known as the Ja'afari school.

In certain part, I found that I also share the same thing of Furu'uddin with Shi'a brothers' school of jurisprudence for example, in the dietary. I found that not all of the people in Sunnah side are attached to this kind of dietary as I looked around. I don't take fishes without scale, or that I can't see its scale. So I avoid every fish even with scales as I don't want any problem with ritual purity. In fact, I feel scared looking at blood dripping from fish's mouth at the market. I only take them when I am forced to take it like respecting people who prepared the food or the host or sometimes people will call me a rude guest, hehehe. I and my little sister don't take squid too. But I don't know if it is halal too as some of that kind of thing is known as Cuttle-fish in English. I think it's safe with chicken, beef, mutton, fruits or veggies if meats are non-Halal. Maybe next time we would compare our pillars of Path with Shi'a brothers'. For the time-being details about Shi'a side would only be kept in my notebook.

Introduction

Salawat, peace and blessings for prophet Muhammad s.a.w, his family members, and companions and for those who follows his path to the eternity. Be known that, the greatest grace of the God given to human-being and universe is Islam and Faith. Because of these two graces and blessings of the God, He created the reasons for human-being to enter His paradise for eternity and the salvation from the torments of hell due to obedience and worship to Him. Thus, according to the meanings; Without Islam and the Faith, nobody would have the right to enter the paradise.   

It is obligatory for Muslims who knows to differentiate what is right and what is wrong, sane, reaching their puberty and adulthood to study the Pillars of the Religion and the Pillars of Faith. They must learn the Jurisprudence and the origin of the Path. Muslims must understand the Pillars of Islam and Faith as to be grateful to the God and to perform worship by obeying the rules and conditions through the knowledge. For these, please check this post about Second Hadith of Forty Hadiths and Third Hadith of Forty Hadiths.

The Science of Pillars of Islam

Before knowing what is Islam, a person needs to know the meaning and the interpretation of the Testimony of Faith. This is known as the Usuluddin or the Origin of the Path. It is also known as the introduction to Tawheed. It is the science which brings us to get to know our Lord and His Holy characteristics.

Through this science, a person will know the obligatory characteristics, the impossible characteristics and permissible characteristics of the Lord. With this knowledge a person will also know about noble prophets and messengers of the God. Through this knowledge, a person will know about those prophets and messengers' obligatory characteristics, permissible characteristics, and also impossible characteristics. 

So, this is how a person understood the meaning of the Testimony of Faith which means: "I bear witness that there is no gods but only the God and Muhammad s.a.w is His servant and messenger." Everything must begin from the basis and must return to the basis, over and over.

Miscellaneous Sciences of the Path

According to the book, other miscellaneous sciences in the Path for example the Jurisprudence is crucial too. In Arabic we call this as Fiqh. What I understood from this is that; It is the external component of the Path and the Path is known as the Shari'a Islamiah or the Divine Way of the God. This is what I mean that medias like the article writers in Western newspapers or researches need to understand before rambling about Shari'a here and Shari'a there. 

It is best to shut up if we know nothing about what we are trying to talk about if we have no 'knowledge' as it would be more peaceful. There are sciences within this particular term that we are talking about. When we talk about Political Science, there are scholars in it. So, in the Sciences of Shari'a there are also scholars in it so we don't act like we are scholars if we have no capacity of a scholar to talk about it or criticize it. Orientalism is out of the issue because it's the study by a bunch of people who looks at a certain matter as an outsider and not as an insider. Previously, as an example, I was a Buddhist but when I returned to Islam; I never attack any tenet of Buddhism at all because I realize that I am now an outsider unless if I become a practicing Thera (high rank monk or a venerable one) to criticize the tenets. That would then be a different thing. I could still remember some practices and pujas that I had performed while being a Buddhist but I just about talk them with the public only for general knowledge.  

In order for the Path to be accomplished, we need all of the components together. It is obligatory on every Muslim to know and to practice with it. It is a sin for a person who is ignorant about the jurisprudence and never take any effort to learn it. 

Why is this Science of Fiqh important? The importance are:

1. A person can differentiate obligatory and optional practices.

2. A person can differentiate what is halal and what is haram. Halal primarily means legal and haram means illegal in which everybody must respect the matter.

3. A person can differentiate what is detested and what is licit. 

So, a faithful believer should not perform acts of worship without knowing its sciences as what has been mentioned in the Zubad: "The acts of worships of those who perform them without knowing anything about its sciences will be rejected and not accepted by the Lord."       

Insha Allah if we have time, we would check more details about basic things may Allah guide us and strengthen our faith to Him through His messenger and servant, Muhammad s.a.w.

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

New Year 1433 H Event in Masjid al-Malik Khalid

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Souvenir from the event, a Hijriyyah calender so I could also check prayer services time and try to be as early as possible in prayer hall waiting to see Him : )

Before the Maghrib Prayer Service

I regret that I had missed congregational prayer service in masjid this morning. They had conducted a lecture there I can't remember delivered by which Habeeb. This evening, rain fallen quite heavy. I had made a mistake by going to Sungai Dua without bringing clothes and hygiene stuffs where I could just clean up myself at the shower at the side of the masjid. I had some meal at the Thai restaurant at the alley near the KFC of Sungai Dua. I had to walk back to perform ghusl, wudhu' and clean up everything because we must be clean both physical and spiritual to enter the holy boundary as a mean to respect Him. Then walk again to the masjid.

I just wanted to pray to the God for the better future which also includes my future in the hereafter. Also praying for other brothers and sisters either Muslims or non-Muslims for their life to be blessed. So, I don't care about the rain and I never try to get any help from others in term of borrowing their transportation. I am not really close with people here anyway because I always feel afraid to say goodbye to friends. I regard friends the same as blood brothers and sisters. When I was a first degree student, brother Mijie and brother Duwe had also offered me their motorcycle but I just politely refused their offer. I feel bad to burden them though they don't mind. I just want to make sure that my heart and intention is purely for Him. We can strive hard to get certificates for better job or better life improvement but to sacrifice ourselves for Him is hard? He never asks us to give Him money, kill ourselves for blood nor anything. Just surrender to Him, our heart because He is the Most Compassionate full of Love and Mercy : )

The masjid people had also recited Yaasin Surah and the supplication to end the year and beginning the new cycle of year 1433 H. At home, parents and second sister would also go for masjid and pray there. I did that to respect my parents though I am in the distance of 400-500 km from home. I am aware about acts mentioned in valid Sunnah. I keep hadith books as well as Quran with me where I had immediately get them while performing hajj and I memorize some parts of 40 hadiths. Still in the process and this annoying political administration studies had also delayed my memorization. 

I also try to translate some important books into other languages when I am free for example Chinese for Malaysian Muslim Chinese compatriots but it hasn't finish yet because I need to check terminologies used and record them as not to commit mistakes of Orientalists. Second problem is that I am just using pen and paper because I don't know how to install Chinese application in this lousy computer, hahaha. We must be fair to Oriental brothers and sisters. They're all equal brothers and sisters. I intend to send them to some non-Muslim Chinese friends and pay them to type. Then just print them out and distribute them for people's personal use without sending them to religious departments but first I need to neatly check it as to make sure it is a right translation. I had already tried to access federal religious department but so far nothing in response and I know they have few Muslim Chinese translators too. I just observed that, Sunnah Islamic books' translation into Eastern languages is so limited except in the languages where the people are in majority Muslim. If it is not legal, then I would silently send them out maybe to Taiwan, Hong Kong or to Japan pleading help from friends out there to send them to masjids and Muslim families. Doing everything alone is actually very exhaustive but what to do. We have no choice.

Basically it is a good way to recite any surah of the Glorious Quran together because we could listen to others' recitation and we could also recite aloud without feeling shy because nobody care about our voice when we recite together. Usually some fellows who listened to Muhammad Abdul Wahhab followers' lectures would be harsh to their parents but I choose not to be harsh because I don't like to be a blind followers. I read Muhammad Abdul Wahhab however I am not his devotee. I am a devotee of Allah 'Azza wa Jalla and I sincerely proclaim my testimony on Muhammad s.a.w prophethood. I respect all the Salaf as-Saaleeheen and all the guided teachers including the ahlul bayt.

After Maghrib Prayer Service

I didn't get the first unit of Maghrib prayer service because I had already been late. I regret myself so much for that. Then, people listened to a lecture delivered by the religious officer of Kedah state Islamic Guidance Department, Ustad Muhammad Isa Abdul Rahman. It revolves around Hijrah and it went on for about half an hour. I just sat at the pillar and trying to hide from people because I don't want to be spotted recording notes because it is shameful, hahaha. But I was busted by an old resident of my hostel now. He was a Geophysics student. His name is Sayful and is now working in Bayan Lepas. I don't know how he recognized me. Because I hardly talk with people nor noticing people because I hate to show my face to people. Already experienced many things and the recent one in my current hostel last semester. So, I don't feel any importance to be tied to people around or knowing so many people. My name is also not important.    

Lecture Notes

It mentions that Hijriyyah calender is very important thought it was designated by Umar al-Khattab r.a. It was marked by the event of migration by Muslims after the prophethood of Muhammad s.a.w into Medina al-Munawwara. It is based from lunar calculation unlike the Gregorian calender which uses solar calculation. When we record important events such as matrimonial, birth, death, and everything related to life and death, we use Hijriyyah calender. An example, a divorcee sister may count her 'iddah (period after divorce) with Hijriyyah calender before she get marry again with the man of her choice. 

We must take heed on the importance of the terms used in the Glorious Quran. Hijrah or hegira signifies the migration from evil to goodness. From hideous traits to good traits. We do not want to associate Quranic terms with filthy or non-related matters. The Islamic Guidance Department of Kedah for example had issued a ruling for the term used in Islamic rituals should not be used in others' rituals. For example the term Qubur had been differentiated to Jeerat. Qubur and Jeerat both means cemetery but Qubur is Muslim cemetery while Jeerat is the term for non-Muslim cemetery. I remember that my dad had once scolded me because using the term Qubur to refer to non-Muslim cemetery because they are very particular with terminologies and language used. The term tahallel for example is used for Muslim supplications and the Buddhist should use the term phra paritt for their specific ritual because they indeed chant phra paritt during the ritual and not tahallel. As to say, hijrah means the migration where we transfer from evil to goodness.

Other example is the term of ulama' which generally means scholar. But there lies a hidden meaning of it where a scholar is a scholar who fear the God so he never distort the teachings for himself nor practicing out of what he preaches. A person with a knowledge is different from 'ulama. A person who learn Islamic knowledge but has no fear to the God is not an 'ulama (scholar) but just a person who had accessed the information. They could do whatever they want with the information that they have but they are not scholars. A very nice explanation by the ustad : )  

The lecture emphasizes the importance of terminologies and meanings of the word. The ustad also brought the quotes from Ibnu Katsir exegesis. The prophet Muhammad s.a.w mentioned that there is no more physical migration after the re-opening of Mecca to the Light of Revelation. But a person who live with the discipline like in Ramadan though he or she is not fasting because it is not Ramadan could still get the merit as equal as the merit of Ramadan. He or she eats only physically and spiritually clean food but leaving doubted and illegal foods. So do the migration event. It never happen anymore but the concept of migration is still there.  

Regarding illegal things like the ketum or kratom leaves or biak leaves in Kedah, it is advised for public to stay away from it. Kratom (Mytragyna Speciosa) is a kind of leaf which is used as a drug to cure fever but could be harmful if used excessively. Ustad said that don't misuse the drug and turning it into a crack. It is illegal or haram especially they soak it with the cow dung. Cow dung is not a kind of food.

Migration to study, spreading, and sharing Mercy and Love to others is counted as a migration. The person who migrates for these courses will be classified as muhajir (immigrants). While those who receive them are the ansar (the helpers). The honorable Imam al-Ghazali mentions that a dangerous friend is an ignorant friend. Because an ignorant friend loves his friends but he is ignorant and does not know about what is legal and what is illegal. Ustad explains in Kedah people tradition to serve guests with raw salads, rice, and other food stuffs. Raw salads is very important in Kedah people cuisine where they would dip them with sauces such as sambal belachan (shrimp paste sauce). He explained that the ignorant friend might pluck leaves at trees on others' lands to prepare food for his friend and it is spiritually illegal.     

The right on Guidance is the right of the God. It is not the right of human-being. When He is Willing and Pleased to open up the heart of a person into His Light, then it is His Will. For example the person will strive to seek knowledge and he will be released and entered into the Abode of Peace. We take opportunity on the teachings. If we've got little, then little we benefit. If we've got a lot, then a lot we've got. Perhaps from the little thing that we've listened could help us in the future or giving us some understandings. The ustad mentioned about his experience where Muslims in Singapore had accepted the ruling by the Guidelines from the mufti of Singapore that they could perform rituals with the recycled water as Singapore has no fresh water supply. The mufti has to think on the consequences of the nations in his supervision. 

Says the member of wisdom, Luqman al-Hakeem, a knowledgeable person who fears the God will be blessed with extra knowledge. Luqman al-Hakeem lives in the time of prophet David a.s the ruler of Judah. He was granted with a vision and dream by the God where he was asked to choose to be a prophet of the God or a member of wisdom? Luqman al-Hakeem had chosen to be a member of wisdom and not a prophet of the God. Luqman al-Hakeem had passed 20 advices to virgin girls. 

There is a merit for an immigrant who migrates from the chaotic land to a peaceful land. There are few matters related to immigration which is accompanied by merits and they are: 

1. Migration to protect his or her faith when being tyrannized by rulers

2. Migration to seek knowledge

3. Migration for da'awa and spreading love, amity and mercy

4. Migration from evil to goodness, from vice to charity and chastity, leaving illegal for legal matters

5. Migration to the way of the prophet s.a.w in performing shariat (way of conducting life)

6. Migration to protect one's dignity

It is not easy for someone to leave his or her land when we had already feel accustomed with the environment around. However as Muslims, our life principles is always revolving around the God. The God is always with us. Even if everybody had left us alone, the God is still with us. It is also not easy to migrate from bad habit to good habit. This event of hijrah by the prophet Muhammad s.a.w and Muslims in Meccan era into Abyssinia and Medinah signifies both physical and spiritual matters. In the matter of protecting one's faith, faith is not something which can be bought nor could be sold. It is in the heart and only the God has the Power to turn it upside down. Protecting faith has the merit as the merit of migration from the tyranny of old days.

The condition of repentance had also has something to do with migration. A person have to migrate from a place which leads him or her to vices and illegal acts. For example a drug addict must migrate from his old place to the new one which will lead him or her to goodness. The ustad had mentioned that he had tried to write and distribute the sermon about the danger of smoking but many of imams in the masjid in Kedah had refused to read the sermon but reading other sermon because imams also have the habit of smoking. So, migration from bad habit really need perseverance and strong will. It is not an easy matter.    

The event of Isra' and Mi'raj of prophet Muhammad s.a.w was actually the event which tests the strength of the faith of those who would later perform migration to Medina al-Munawwara. It means that a person who wants to perform migration needs a strong-will, determination, and strong faith. When we try to please the God, even if it is only a common act of worship, that should be ok in order to migrate to a better situation.

When we preach da'awa, we try to find person who wants to listen to us. No matter who listens to us, the person who listens to us actually is a person who is honored by the God. The God had mentioned about honorable companion of prophet Muhammad s.a.w who is so determined to learn the teachings of the God though he was just a poor blind man, which is Abdullah bin Maktum. He was honored by the God in surah 'Abasa. Teach to people who are willing to listen and those who are not willing just leave them once we remind them. Medium of da'awa today could vary according to technology that we have. We could also use text message system to message friends.  

I did texting messages and calling some friends though some of them (my Kedah and Kelantan compatriots) had humiliated me but never mind. We should never take people seriously but forgive everyone as the God forgives us our sins. How did the ustad knows this??? Maybe lots of people are using the same way, recycling messages, hahaha. I just typed what I feel to friends and I love to wish people around well-being because I was unfortunate when I was a school kid and nobody really cares about me. Usually the wishings come right away from my heart though sometimes I feel shy to tell them but I just send it without thinking about my self anymore. Let people be happy and enjoy and I would also feel happy for them : ) I don't like recycled messages.

Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah had once stated that: "When a human was born, he is crying while people are laughing to receive him. But let people cry when the human is dead but he is smiling because of the goodness that he had left for everyone around to share." 

Ustad mentioned also about the figure of Libya, Umar Mukhtar who was illegally hanged to death in front of public by Italian imperial power in 1913 at the age of 70 years old. Umar Mukhtar was an 'ulama of Libya. Umar Mukhtar had said (with his faith) before he was hanged that let people hang him. People who hanged him will never be known after they hang him, but he (his soul) will smile because he had united his people and his resistance to Italians was that because the Italians had did wrong by plundering people lands. A righteous person never even pluck leaves from others people land which thrust into the fence of his house.

Now, Italy is a member state of European Union and death sentence is not according to human rights but what these countries in the Union would do regarding the people who were killed by the governments before the establishment of the Union or before their ascension into the Union? Where are apologies and confession from civilized nations? I lose respect to these countries and nation-states. I am so sorry.

Closing

They prepared some refreshments for congregations which are some breads and beef dhalcha mixed with eggplant and potatoes. Urmm, I don't really like beef but it has no smell in the dhalcha so I think it is ok and I'm not a Buddhist anymore so what beef has to do with me? There is also a guy who currently live in Aman hostel which was my previous hostel and despite of his eyesight problem, he still come to congregational prayers and attending the event in the masjid. I am so amazed with his spirit and wishing him a good future may he be blessed too. This is another dimension of migration despite of what is understood in the West. Western world had claimed Christianity as their tradition but they never implement the morality of the Christ where the Christ had once said blessed be the meek. But Western world are craving for comfort, materialism and tyrannizing others in the name of 'civilization.' I don't believe any Christ followers exist in Western world when they talked about it in their discussions for example the discussion of Geert Wilders. He's not a Christ followers but a stinky politician. My advise to fellow Muslims in Europe, respect locals and maintain your faith. No need to show off to people nor looking down on others.

Allahumma salli 'alaa Muhammad, wa 'alaa aali Muhammad. Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love for nations, amin!      

Jurisprudence : What is Fiqh or Jurisprudence?

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

This is the Chinese or perhaps Sino-Japanese depiction of King Yama. Buddhists always talk about him when it is regarding punishment that a person will get as a way to cleanse up one's karmma. Usually elders will threaten youngers that King Yama will cut our tongue if we tell lies to others as lying will also bring bad karmma. King Yama is a judge and the guardian of hell. Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms in South East Asia also had used Brahminical texts such as Tharmmasastram to derive code of conduct and legislation provisions in the kingdom or anachakra ruled by a king or chakravarttin. One of the law practiced in ancient Buddhist kingdoms such as of ancient Malay kingdoms are like Sulo or impalement to execute a woman who commit adultery or treason against the king.

We have many branches of knowledge and sciences in the studies of religion after the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w who is our seal of prophethood had returned to His Mercy. One of them is called as Fiqh. 

So, straight to the point, what is Fiqh brethren? Roughly it is a science related to the Islamic jurisprudence. It is an expansion of the code of conduct where we call it as Shariah and expounded from the glorious Quran. Shariah usually is supplemented by the tradition of prophets and we call tradition as Sunnah of prophets. Sunnah of prophets were re-introduced again by the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w and some came from him according to the period where he live. Shariah which consists of the conducts of life from the sources of Quran and Sunnah then will be implemented through rulings and interpretations of jurists whom we call as Qadhi. 

Sometimes I would also refer to Jesus Christ as a future Qadhi. I will always wait for his arrival and rulings if I do not die yet. It actually signifies the end of the world : ) We already have our own guidelines and we do not need others to teach us especially in our own countries. The God is teaching us with basic rulings and the observance of morality is considered as apart of the prevention of evil and crimes. We don't need secularism or French concepts of looking at this world. French are just human-being and human-being are imperfect. We also don't need Karl Marx to teach us or whatever ideology proposed by these people. Those ideologies are anathematized and not natural. I would translate the word anathematize for my Malaysian compatriots as dilaknat.  We refuse to accept their ideas as they also refused to accept others' ideas. If they perceive others as barbarians, we also perceive them as barbarians. 

我詛咒歐鬼的思想... 他們多數人不接收啟示然後他們學的事沒有天的指導和聖靈... 別人都可以說出來他們的偏見對我們的道,我們的聖人和穆斯林所以我也想嘗試看感覺是怎樣,哈哈哈... 我感覺很蠢...  

Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam. For Orthodox Sunnah Muslims, we have four schools of Fiqh established by four honorable imams which are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'ie and Hanbali. Our Shi'a Muslim brothers have two major schools of Fiqh inherited from Ja'afar as-Sadiq and Isma'ili Fatimiyya. Those who are trained in this science will be called as Fuqaha' (sing. Faqih). I am following and learning the method of Hanbali and most of brothers in Saudi Arabia are also following Hanbali methods. My brothers in Malaysia, Yemen, Lower Myanmar, Indonesia, and Southern Thailand are following Shafi'ie methods. My brothers in China and India are following Hanafi and those in Northern Africa in general are following Maliki methods. 

Definitions of Jurisprudence

Fiqh literally means the science of something in order to understand something, common sense in it, and the thought for the honor of the science of law as the quote from the glorious Quran where the God mentioned again what the people of Sho'ayb (Jethro) said to Sho'ayb a.s : "They said, o Sho'ayb! We do not understand many of what you had said and we indeed only see you as a weak person in front of us. If not because of your family, we would have thrown you with stones. And you are not respected for us." (Surah Huud verse 91). And the word understand in the verse signifies anything which lead people to think and ponder.

Terminologically, Fiqh means the science on the rulings of the way of leading life, practices, benefits, based from valid and accurate proofs in accordance to the origin of the fiqh or understanding.  

So, basically when newspapers wanted to tell everyone about this, they should also check the books and sources regarding this from the root source and not just from internet googling or by reading something at the surface. Reporters today are just as ignorant and irresponsible as the mat rempits who illegally racing on the road and later banging young bitchy girls if they won the illegal race. Orientalists, they went to study these too but they were also bias. The same thing also happen to some Muslims who just google up this and that about other system of belief or faith or reading certain blog related to some nonsense conspiracy theories which denies the Wisdom of the God the Most Highest. 

My past experience as a "deviant Muslim" boy for few years in my life had also helped me to understand many things and I found that bashing others are just making people mind restless and later it affects the environment around. These kind of people would put some information in their sites or books and they later including their opinions based from their hatred to others, irrationality, unstable emotion or based from their perception game. Nothing is better than whatever they think because the thing which they prefer will eventually come to their favor. They could not propagate anything without telling that others are less better than them. Later others who had never read root sources and sharing the same hatred would also use the points from that and spread it worldwide. Again, these sick people no matter Muslims or non-Muslims need heart and soul purification. They would also easily being affected by diseases and die early I could assure this because not only glorious Quran talked about people who bite their fingers because of baseless anger but also the teachings that I had followed for some times which was Buddhism : )

Regarding science in religion, Ibnu Khaldun in his book Muqaddima (Introduction) had divided science into two branches :

I. Rational ones which have been generated by human intellect. Another one is revelational which is received through revelation and transmitted to others such as what happened to prophets for example the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w who had received knowledge through revelation and not from studying it in school and he then transmitted it orally to his companions, contemporary, people around him, and later generations.

II. Excludes the use of intellect as far as its reception, reporting, and transmission are concerned. It relates to injunctions of secondary report, derived from usool or origin, calls it into play one's intellect and ability to exercise analogical reasoning. Fiqh is included in this second category. It is a product of later generations since companions of prophet Muhammad s.a.w do not need its formulation into a new branch of science as the law-submitter or the prophet and messenger of the God was still around with them. They may straight away ask the prophet s.a.w for clarification or looking at how he acts when they are not clear on something.

Sources for Legislation Reference

Many people can understand about British Common Law on how the decisions were derived. Whether from past cases as examples for rulings of court or from the jurists decision like some raping cases in the United States. I do watched American short series but I can't remember all of them. Some scene, I still could remember. 

I also learned legal language which involved the Common Law and Tort Law during our translation and interpretation class where one of our lecturer is a Sikh lawyer whose name is Harpal Singh. Well, many students especially girls love him and he is a single guy in the middle age. For me, he is a generous guy who donated a lot to students in order to make class more lively and interactive. I gave all of the food that I get from his class to my roommate, brother Zaydi simply because his father name is Hussein and I want him to be my imam in prayer services in our room. I think he must thought that I was crazy, hahaha. I was also fasting to calm down my mind at that time but I could not waste the food so I just offer them to my roommate and sometimes if I have vegetarian meals I would also offer them to some Hindu friends neighboring my room. At least my acquaintance and friends are healthy and they could save their money, I would be very happy : ) I treated brother Zaydi badly in the beginning simply because he is a Kelantanese and I was also influenced by bad talks of people around. It has to do with misconception and generalization too that we become racist, no? We never have any contact with majority of certain people that we don't really like so we created some negative image for something that we had never experienced. Just get a life and do beneficial things like enhancing amity among human, environment, and animals instead of spreading hatred just because of differences and misconception...

From what I had also learned in our masjids and school for final exam for the course of Islamic Rulings and Legislation, our sources for rulings and details must be obviously come from :  

1. The Glorious Quran.

2. Sunnah or the prophetic traditions and Orthodox Sunnah Muslim have four major methods.

3. Ijma' (agreement) between jurists and ulamas.

4. Qiyyas or common sense for matters which had never happened during prophetic era like smoking which kills others because of the smoke is harmful for human health and environment or rulings regarding the selling of harmful drugs or cracks. It needs human intellectual consideration and jurists need to think or using their head. It also needs researches and evidences.

5. Sources of rulings and legislation from the Ahlul Bayt.     

The Root of Fiqh

What is the root of Fiqh? It refers to methods which had been implied within the derivation of the development of legal provisions of the way from detailed and discreet proofs. On the other hand, the root of Fiqh which places the root or basic methods to develop jurisdiction and legal provisions according to clear Divine guidance and guidelines. The relevance of Fiqh is for jurists to derive legal provisions and rulings with clear evidence in order to implement the execution of nature laws from it.

While for the root of Fiqh, its motive is to to find clear evidence from where emerged the object of evidence on the legal provisions. And each that had been stated from the agreement and consideration based on common sense which falls under the name (of legal opinion) which includes :

1. Plaudits : It is reversing the jurisdiction of the way for example on the provisions on what had been perceived to face is stronger and reversing the jurists.

2. Sent Interests : The meanings or the matters which are linked to the jurisdiction and developed upon it and causing damage or harmful to human society however yet it is always being discussed. 

3. Known to people : It means legal opinions which is based on customs and norms. Custom or norms which is known to people, whatever had been in the character of speech, verbal, their way of thinking, and whatever is accepted and not accepted by the norms of society being repeated until it is accepted by the jurists and there are also other sources to derive opinion on jurisdiction between trained jurists in addition to whatever had already existed in agreement of jurists and various of considerations whether the past or through any other methods proposed by jurists. Sometimes those in India or Pakistan also seeking Brahmin priests to derive law and the effect is that, we can see people without nose or ears because those priests are using Tharmmasastram and Puranas in the derivation of customary law. Media then capture the pics and showing it to lazy people or those who has no feet to come to talk with real people asking this and that.

Cure for the Heart : First Section on Eyes

continue...

Says the God in surah Ghaafir verse 19 : "He knows the betrayal of eyes and and whatever hidden in the chest (heart)." It means that the God knows that our eyes are trying to see or watch something illegal while nobody sees us. The God knows whatever we think and have in our heart either the vision to commit evil or do charities.

Said the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w : "Indeed gazing at parts of women (and men) which could stimulate is like poisonous arrows from the arrows of Devil as it is greatly destructive. Those who leave it (the act) behind due to the fear to the God the Most Highest will be granted the feeling of enjoyment in acts of worship and devotion to Him." The hadith is narrated by al-Hakim reported from Hudzaifa r.a. The source of the hadith is valid.

Said the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w : "For every sons of Adam some parts of adultery. Eyes are committing adultery, and adultery happens when a person looks at things which he or she should not see. Hands are committing adultery, and adultery of hands happens when they touched or slapping something which is illegal. Legs are committing adultery when they walk to illegal places. Mouth committing adultery when it holds something which is illegal and 'heart and soul' is the place where all of illegal things related to adultery happens." Hadith is narrated by Abu Hurairah r.a and it explains that beginning adultery of genital is from the eyes as the portal to the illegal act.

Use your eyes only for necessary things such as when you do your work, your studies, and protect your body parts from stains of the world. Do things which is longed by those body parts. If you're doing a big work, then the responsibility to protect the parts of body is also big. Hands are longing to pluck fruits of the paradise and holding the drinks in the paradise. The eyes are longing to see the God from the paradise and it is not the same as seeing new or created "things." The grace of seeing the God appearance is incomparable to other graces in the world or in the hereafter. So, it is the responsibility of the body to protect the eyes and fulfilling their ambition for they are longing to see the God. Protect eyes with noble things for them to see Noble appearance and do not pollute them with obscene and dirty matters.

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

Arabian Chronicles : Relationship Between Arabs and Others

Peace and blessings be upon everyone

The Gate of Yemen

We are still in the topic of the Arabian Chronicles. I would alternately post any notes that I have with me or in my mind, His Will. In the previous post, we now know a little bit about the lineages of the Arabs in the Arabian Peninsula. Many narrators are also not responsible on the validity of the lineages of those Arabs. However, the lineage of prophet Muhammad s.a.w is very clear as a descent of Abraham a.s through the line of Ismael a.s as they never marry people outside of their tribe since the time of their ancestor Ismael a.s and 'Adnan.

Ustad Ahmad Amin from the Fuad I University in his book, the Dawn of Islam mentioned that many Arab elders put the emphasize and importance of their lineages. They memorized everything including branches of tribes and families. They also write books about their lineages but not all of those lineage could be valid in their accuracy.

Our honorable Imam Malik r.a while listened to a man talked about his lineage could be traced until prophet Adam a.s had expressed his disgust. He spontaneously said to the man : "From who did he know this?" When another man said that he can trace his lineage to Ismael a.s, he also asked : "Who told you this?"

The inhabitants of Southern and Northern Arabian Peninsula have few differences including in their language features and appearances.

Urban Arabs

There is no pure blood Arabs today. If they live in urban areas, then they will also mingle with other races and ethnics as well. Pure blood people are called as Bedouins who wander at the desert. Arabs had mingled with Phoenicians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Ethiopians, Africans and others according to their geography or where they had been.

Arab tribes had been moving around since they were called as Bedouins. Some live close to other areas and will attack others or being attacked by others. This is also a reason of the change for the identification of a certain ethnic in human history. After the noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w was raised, Arabs had also mingled with other nations outside of Arabian Peninsula and entered other provinces or new states which had been opened, explored or subdued. They married natives and issued new people or hybrid descents. 

Other than that, pilgrimage is the reason of Arabs mingled with other nations. People around the world performing pilgrimage in the Holy Mecca and get to know each other although different in nationality. They share the same Path and the God. Assyrians, Egyptians, Indian, Chinese, African, Northern African, South East Asian and others get to know each other in Mecca. By the time of early 19th C, around 79% of Meccan population is of mixed population from around the world. Even when I was there around 2005, it was hard to find local Meccan.

Intermingling among people may vary from a city to a city. Nowadays, the attitude and civilization of Arabs had been different in Arabian Peninsula. They also have different appearances and tones of skin. Meccan Arabs are yellow. Najd Arabs a little bit dark in complexion. Omanite Arabs most of them are chubby. Yemenite are mostly short and small. Those in Syria and Morocco are fair amongst all. Egyptian Arabs are dark, having sweet and pleasant look and their body is bigger. Those Egyptian Arab who live in urban area are yellow since there was Turks who administrate the country. Those Arabs in Southern Spain are Caucasian in looking because their mothers were Spaniard. Iraqi Arabs are tough. The Arabs in South East Asia all taking the form of local look. Even last time, people could only know they were Arabs with their white skull caps especially those in Borneo Island. Nowadays other nations also wear skull caps. There are also some Arabs who were married to Chinese like in Penang Island or married to Thai and Burmese in Southern Thailand. Some were from India especially Gujarat and Northern Malabar coastal area. Most of them had lose their ancestral language which is Arabic but speaking native languages or at least languages common to natives.

Bedouin Arabs

Bedouin Arabs are those Arabs who live far from urban area. They hardly mix with outsiders. Nothing much changed in their life. In the Old Testament, it has also mentioned about Bedouins who live far from urban area and they are looking down their counterparts in cities. In our third standard (9 years old) textbooks for school kid Islamic Education class, we learned about the division of Arab into Urban and Bedouin. How about history curriculum in Britain, European Union, the States or other countries? Share it with us what you had learned. In A-Level examination, we were also required to read about India and China. 

I do not know about kids nowadays because not all of them know about these even if we were taught these in schools. I mean this to kids in our country. After that, they grow up and become racists, bigots, close-minded and others while their parents asked them to go to school to be properly educated. When people prevent them from education, they would complaint to human rights organizations or NGO's saying that their rights had been uprooted. Human are never grateful to their Lord and never satisfied with what they have. Now I had shared this here, my responsibility as a fellow human is done if people stumbled by. 

British Muslim brethren may use this as additional material for your child home-schooling. I am also doing a thesis about you people and your government. Trying to understand what happened there from afar for this degree. This is actually a checked article with other references. I am trying not to make it too long with references as many sources were translated from various notes. Make sure to make cross check on everything. Don't just rely only on one source and MadTV is a disaster. Check in libraries, archives and other places.

Bedouins never went to school or being educated. No development reached them. They have no history to be researched by scholars. Many of people suggested that Bedouins still maintained their lifestyle of 4000 years ago. Each tribe has its own Sheikh or Amir. 

Their life was characterized with war, battle, knighthood, and they rear livestock such as camel, sheep, or goat. They hated to be attached to any power nor to anyone. That is the reason why they hate urban people. They believe that too much civilization will prevent their independence. They never been colonized by any power such as Greeks or Roman colonization, their mind is also free from colonization. The Hebrews were also colonized by Greeks and Romans. Just read Old Testament, we may grab some picture.

Gustav Le Bonn mentioned that Arabian Peninsula Bedouins have the custom that prohibit them from agricultural activity. Planting wheat and tress is illegal for them. They never build proper house for themselves and living nomadic lifestyle. House is believed to contain their independence and making them attached to a certain place.

This lifestyle made them attacking and robbing urban people. Urban Arabs were afraid of Bedouin Arabs. During the administration Shareef Hussein in Mecca, the road between Mecca and Medina was not actually safe for travelers. Bedouins will rob and attack those who were passing through there. Urban people might say they robbed people, but Bedouins believe they were making a living from such an act. 

Gustav Le Bonn in his book "the History of Arabian Civilization mentioned : "Bedouin's behavior robbing urban tribes who passed through their ways actually not much different to European attack and subduing other kingdoms in the world, later plundering local products of the kingdoms subdued and taking them back to their country. The different is just Bedouins attacking civilized nations while Europeans attacking Bedouins."  

This is what I personally think. I do not really agree with Le Bonn. Europeans like British had colonized countries and kingdoms that had actually established for thousand of years through legal language. Europeans like France and British had used Siam for example as buffer state to suppress other independent kingdoms. People of my beloved state have their own chronicles which are related to history of South East Asian region, the advent of Buddhism and Islam in South East Asia. They are the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa and Tarikh Salasilah Negeri Kedah. Through archeology excavations too, we found many proves of civilization in our state. And yet British had made us a total vassal state to the Kingdom of Siam and later being absorbed as a protectorate under the Great Britain empire. So, I guess Europeans had gone beyond Bedouins' behavior. Not trying to blacken others' but you only know when you receive the impacts, right?  

If we have time, we may elaborate more and look at 'scholars' opinions about Arab nations, inshaallah. Most of them are Europeans but not to forget Asians ourselves. There are negative opinions and also positive opinions. This world must consist of this two. We can't expect everything to be prefect right? Only the God is Perfect.

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