Audio: Adhan

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I am not really good in adhan but I would love to hail it once in the mosque or musalla. I wish I could do it even if it is once. The Muadhin is among the people who are protected by the God with His mercy. I wish to be one among those people....

The Lord is testing me and I am aware. I must be aware all the time that He never leaves His friends. I have no human friends and alone traveling in this Earth. So, I only have the God the Highest as my friend. Think of how father Abraham a.s who was alone when he was chased out from his hometown in the City of Ur, South of Iraq. Maybe the God willed for me to finish my Quran memorization so this is the arrangement. I should take this golden opportunity despite of being tainted with bad words from people around. Just recite praises be upon the God the Lord of the universe. May I achieve the taqwa and the pleasure of the God which no one could ever imagine that a loser in this worldly plane could achieve. Indeed patience is beautiful :)

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

Pillars of Islam

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Definition of Islam

I know many people had already talk about this. This is just a formality when introducing our Divine Path. Basically it refers to the submission and obedience toward the teachings of the God the Highest with all of our heart. This is word is mentioned in our scripture to describe ourselves. As for my personal experience, I am voluntarily a Muslim. I am not forced by my parents though they are Muslims. 

My parents just taught me on basic things like how to perform salat services, learning the Arabic alphabets to recite the simple Quranic verses. They sent me to mosque and also to religious schools, so I was taught about Islam and its practices by teachers in classes with classmates. After that, I also learned other religious traditions in depth including practices and step by step turning to them when I experienced life pressures as a little child who has no one to turn to for e.g friends, relatives as we live far from them nor siblings because my siblings are all sisters. It means that I did not only listening to people telling others about this religion is like this or like that. I recited their prayers, listening their sermon and sincerely learned their religious traditions. That is why I know what are their technical terminologies and I know their self disciplines... The same thing also happened when I return to my ancestral path which is this Divine Path. I don't know why I was not interested to be baptized as a Christian last time though I heard they offer money as some kind of tithe for newly convert into their popular "religions", but instead turning to the Sakya ascetic who offered me nothing except that I could only be initiated as a bald beggar with a beluam who may wander in deep forests if I choose to leave all the attachments as the tradition that I learned has to do with forest hermitage, hehe...

The evidence where the God used the word which is derived for the words Islam or Muslim to describe Himself is in the Surat al-Hashr verse 59:23 which means... "He is the God who is no one except Him, the King, the Holiest, the Bestower of Peace, the Bestower of Faith, the Overseer, the Most Exalted in Might, the Compeller, the Supreme. Exalted the God from whatever they associate Him with!". So, the word Islam was derived from one of the Glorious Attributes of the God. Further, it is described by the God in the Glorious Quran as the Divine Path which had also been passed by our patriarch, Abraham a.s in Surat al-Baqarat which means..."When the God said to Abraham a.s, submit yourself! And he answered, "I have submitted myself to the Lord of the Universe 131 And he passed down with this speech sons and down to Jacob. Ibrahim passed down his will, "O my children, indeed the God has chosen for you the Divine Law, so never die unless if you are Muslims" 132 Were you present when Jacob was closer to the death when he asked his children, "What will you worship after I am gone?". They answered, "We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Isma'el, and Isaac. The Only God and we are Muslims 133".

Some people who only hold the Quran as the source of religion perhaps would ask what is the need for one to recite the testimony because maybe they studied too deep until they could not see simple things. The testimony of faith in the God and noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w as the slave and messenger of the God was mentioned by prophet Muhammad s.a.w himself in the Hadith Qudsi. It indicates that he is the universal prophet of this closing epoch and a sign of His Mercy in the form of the seal. Muhammad s.a.w is referred as the seal of prophethood in term of direct revelation through the emissary of the Archangel Gabriel a.s. The Archangel Gabriel a.s is of the highest ranking angel in the angelic hierarchy...

When we recite the testimony, it also means that we conclude our faith in all of the previous prophets and messengers of the God, mentioned in the Glorious Quran or those who are not clearly mentioned. Never be boastful with ourselves lest we will be trapped in Satan's wicked tricks... Humble down ourselves...

Pillars of Islam

Islam in one self is built with these five matters in the form of binding practices... They are self disciplines in the form of various penance acts or worship prescribed to develop both spiritual and physical strength. Normally, these five are just the minimal ones while one may add anything optional as according to both Quran and valid traditions... The matters are....

1. Testimonial of faith in the God and the prophethood of Muhammad s.a.w.

2. Daily five times prayer services.

3. Tithe

4. Fasting which is an obligation for a whole Ramadhan lunar month.

5. Pilgrimage in the month of Dzulhijja for those who are able to perform it.

1. Testimonial of Faith

This one is already mentioned in the Portal of the Divine Path section. This is the proclamation on the prophethood of prophet Muhammad s.a.w an also a testimony that we accept him as an appointed messenger of the God to transmit the Path of Abraham a.s. This part is an integral part in our daily salat services be they obligatory salats or optional salats. We recite these proclamations in the first and second tashahuds of salats.

2. Daily Five Times Prayer Services

This is a kind of worship act where literally means that we are in contact with the Creator. For us Muslims, we perform the salat services with the prescribed manners and prescribed times. Salat service combines chanting of litanies and glorification directed to the Lord of the universe, chanting of holy verses, meditation in the form of tranquility for moments, sitting, standing straight, bowing, prostration and several other worship acts which connects one self who perform it with awareness to his Creator. It is an act of worship which involves our speeches, verbal acts, mental and heart.

We begin the salat service with intention where we ask His permission to be connected to Him and then we would say our exaltation in respect to the Lord. It ends with salutation of peace to fellow human-being and other unseen beings such as angels. The time where we perform the obligatory salat services are known as Fajr, Dzuhr, 'Asr, Maghreb and 'Isha'. Time length and grid differ according to regions.

Anyway it does not take us long and is very flexible. If we could not perform this commandment in the mosque together with congregations, say if we are extremely busy; we still can perform it in our offices, maybe behind the walls, pillars and other clean places. Our direction of prayer around the world is the grand mosque in the Holy Mecca as it is mentioned in the scripture. The longest one when I perform when I am alone is around 15 minutes. Mostly it takes only 10 minutes and after that we can do our daily chores or go back to our works. Many people who think that it is difficult because they never perform it. For non-Muslims who wanted to understand the way Muslim meditate, why not consider to perform it and recite the words of salat services in your languages maybe alone at home. Maybe it could be an alternative for your mental training who knows. Just be positive.

3. Tithe

In Arabic, we call this as Zakat which means the purification. In our property, there are some portions that we actually had unintentionally grabbed from those unfortunate ones. So, we purify our properties with this act of paying the tithe to the unfortunate ones.

In some countries with Muslim majority, they have the council or a board to manage the tithe. We can also pay it directly to those unfortunate ones provided that we know how to calculate the portions and who can accept the tithe. I learned that in 17th century Catholic countries like France for e.g, they also practiced tithe but the priests had took opportunity to use the tithe for their own luxurious life.

The Islam that I understood urges a sane Muslim to know almost everything about his religion or at least the basis of the Path. The religion is not a monopoly of priestly groups or clerics. We have the responsibility to seek the knowledge because this is our Way of Life. Our Divine Path where we perform every acts with its guidance... Because of this, we know that tithe is an obligation for a Muslim who are fortunate and able to be paid with particular terms and conditions and only to certain people. Tithe is divided into two sub-divisions which are the fitrah tithe and the property tithe.

The fitrah tithe is in the form of staple foods according to regions with the specific measurement to those who are rightful to accept it. This is an obligation only in Ramadhan lunar month beginning from its first day towards the evening before 'Eid al-Fitri. 

The property tithe refers to the spending of ones property with specific calculation and certain conditions only to certain people. It could be paid annually or as according to the calculation on how long that certain property lay idle in our account or in the form of gold. Some that one needs to spend for others in the form of tithe are...

1. Staple foods as according to region, maybe wheat, barley, oat or rice for land lord.
2. Fruits such as dates, vines and others for those who possess farms.
3. Livestock for e.g cattle, sheep, camel or goat.
4. Business profits and those from estates.

Those who should accept the tithe are....

1. Extremely poor people.
2. Poor people.
3. The collectors of the tithe.
4. Freed slaves if there are any in this modern world.
5. The newly revert people.
6. Debtors.
7. People who serves the Lord and His Divine Path.
8. Stranded travelers.

There are also the notion of khums but it is omitted within mainstream four schools of jurisprudence as it is counted as obsolete. It is defined only as the spoils of war by four schools of jurisprudence. This is a custom of Muhammad s.a.w clan which was introduced by Abdul Mutallib who is an uncle of Muhammad s.a.w. In the Ja'afari jurisprudence which is prominent among the Shi'a Muslim brothers be they of Twelver or of Sevener, it also applies to the business profits. I guess around one fifth of seven listed matters being contributed to poor descendants of Fatima r.a or the Sayyids and Sharifs. There are terms and conditions for this too for these people to be eligible for the Khums as according to Ja'afari school of jurisprudence.

Usually for us and what I had been taught, we cannot touch anything whether from the Zakat or from Khums as there is no Khums anymore in our Shafi'ie school of jurisprudence. We can only accept whatever is donated by our people but since we're scattered everywhere and some had even feel ashamed of their origin so we just try to survive amidst the pressure of life. Some even leaving behind the Divine Path and forget everything about their ancestors, on the other hand turning to be non-Muslims... As for Zaydi tariqa Shi'a Muslim brothers, I am not sure what they say about Khums.

4. Fasting in Ramadan

It is an act of worship in the form of holding ones desire from eating, drinking, from sexual desires and others that invalidate one's fast beginning after the morning prayer service call with a specific intention and we can live like normal people after the call for evening prayer service which is at the time of Maghrib. This act of worship is an obligation for all sane Muslims who reached their puberty only in the lunar month of Ramadan. Many people would tell various stories about how they spend their Ramadan month, some are cooking special dishes, some are going to the mosque for each night to seize the opportunity in performing more penance, some believe that it is a spiritual training and not only a training for their mental and physical and others. It depends on individual but everyone knows this is an obligation. Discussions about this topic is very broad too and not explained only in this single sub-topic as this a brief introduction.

5. Pilgrimage in the Holy Mecca

At least once in our life time, we must perform the pilgrimage in our holy city, Mecca which is now a territory in Saudi Arabia. It is performed when we reach certain ability only in certain times and with certain conditions. The greater pilgrimage is performed during the Dzulhijja lunar month which is around November or December.

What we mean by reaching certain ability is:

1. Financially able to go for Mecca, to support the life while staying there for about a month as to perform acts of worship and to return to home.

2. Leaving sufficient financial support for family at home.

3. Certain that the journey is safe or making sure that it is safe for them to stay in Mecca while performing the pilgrimage.

The greater pilgrimage is known as Hajj, while the lesser one is known as 'Omra. 'Omra can be performed any time whenever ones feel comfortable. It is not as complicated as the greater pilgrimage.

As to say, these are the basis our Divine Path. All of these are the roots in all of our practices in daily life. They contain their own philosophies where only the God can perfectly conclude them for us. We have different books discussing these topics as well as various lectures explaining on the steps or the meanings behind these. Some people also experience differences when performing this whether it is of their first time or for many times in their life. Some people just performing all of these because everyone does these. Or because it is a norm in their countries. As for me, these are my identities. They are my roots and my souls. They possess their own significance once we learn them by experience because we are learning until our soul leaves our physical body. 
        
Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!

Introduction to Our Creed

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Ramadan 1433 H

I am just posting some information about our creed which is known as the Ahl Sunna wal Jama'a and the orthodox standard of our creed as compared to the Mu'tazila and Shi'a Muslim creed. Since I am officially of Hanbali school now because I received the kitabs from Saudi da'awa departments when I went for Mecca to "revert" and also perform pilgrimage with my mother who is a loyal Shafi'ie jurisprudence follower. I would like brothers and sisters to know that there were tasawwuf practitioners amongst the orthodox Hanbali jurisprudence adherents and they were not as hostile to other Muslims of difference jurisprudence schools as the Wahhabi movement followers. I am just pasting the standard one and not of my country's definition yet because the majority of my country men are the Shafi'ie jurisprudence followers while some of Indian descent are of Hanafi jurisprudence.

Our country also has Shari'a court in parallel with Civil court. Maybe brothers and sisters in other parts of the world are interested to see the challenges, prospects or opportunities for Shari'a applications in policy and decision-making because it can be observed in parallel or in co-operation with the Civil ones when Muslims live among the non-Muslims. Just to clear the confusion about Sharia as an uncivilized system. It is a divinely revealed system of life and nature. I am sure those who are involved in the legal field would understand this because my lecturer for European law subject and thesis supervisor who was a civil attorney also mentioned about the divine law. She is not religious anyway but a feminist researcher. When I discussed this with a Jew friend, he also mentioned about the same thing based from Ibnu Maimun (Spanish Jew teacher) exegesis of their scriptures regarding the part of Genesis on the Noach covenant with the God and this is passed orally to his children and descents of human-being.  

The explanation about the creed is given by Dr. Sulayman b. Qaasim al-Eid regarding on the meaning of the Sunnah. Sunnah has many meanings. In my personal understanding, the Sunnah generally refers to traditions of prophets and messengers of Allah. Specifically, it refers to the traditions inherited from our noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w. So, this is my personal understanding. I am not a teacher as I always strongly emphasize in some of the posts for brothers and sisters to please avoid spreading anything out of here without consulting your "qualified and certified" teachers as I was also a non-Islamic "philosophical" studies student which is not really a beneficial field of study. However, I could detect the origin of some "weird" practices by others through those experiences, hehe. Let us see what is the standard one by academic level of Shari'a studies about the Sunnah. 

Sunnah

Linguistically, the Sunnah refers to clarification, way or road and a normal custom. In Islamic sciences Sunnah has few terminological or technical meanings too for example: 

1. In Fiqh (Jurisprudence), it refers to something preferred or if performed, the person is rewarded but if left, it is not sinful. I guess in jurisprudence, everyone should acknowledge this and why there are differences in schools of jurisprudence is because they follow different kinds or angles of Sunnah which was practiced by people during the Medina period.

2. For Usul al-Fiqh, Sunnah refers to one of the agreed upon portions of proof used in Islamic jurisprudence. There are also two kinds of Sunnah as for example in salat services of worshiping component.           

3. In Hadith, Sunnah means anything which is connected to the prophet Muhammad s.a.w in terms of his statements, actions, his silence and things he accepted because he is our greatest teacher and prophet.

4. In Aqidah (creed), Sunnah refers to matters which opposed innovation. This is the practice of the Hanbalis or the Salaf followers. Regarding on innovations, there are discussions about this and I am sure there would be polemics about certain things such as the special events among those who follows the neo-Salafi movements and the Wahhabi movements or with those who are not attached with any movements but simply identify their selves with Islam and only as the Ahl Sunna wal Jama'a. Also conflicts with followers of other schools of jurisprudence because the Hanbali muqallidin actually could not exercise his own legal decision-making unless if he knows at least 5000 traditions. 

Al-Jama'a

What does al-Jama'a means? This noun could be divided into four meanings:

1. Al-Ijtimaa' which means the opposite to separation and a collective assembly.

2. Al-Jama' means the name of a group of people.

3. Al-Ijma'a referring to agreement upon a ruling.

4. Al-Jama'a refers to a large number of people.   

What does Islamic meanings for al-Jama'a?

1. The companions of prophet Muhammad s.a.w.

2. The scholars of guidance.

3. A group upon the truth, without separating.

4. The group of Muslims, the Sawaad al-'Azam.

5. The Muslim rulers and those who they place in charge of the affairs.

6. A group from amongst the people who agreed upon something example the congregation of a mosque.

Ahl Sunna wal Jama'a

Ahl Sunna wal Jama'a in this note refers to:

1. The companions of the prophet Muhammad s.a.w and those who follow them in term of guidance.

2. The specialists and practitioners of hadiths.

3. The people of narrations or athari, usually among the Hanbalis who refuse to interpret anything about the God mentions about Himself from Quranic texts nor trying to fit any philosophical meanings to it if there is no evidence in the Sunnah but simply leaving it just like that and this is used in "debate" by others to accuse the Hanbalis as "imagining" the God resembles His creatures with "mass". In this part, I believe that if the God says that He is as that or as this in the Quran, then it is it! No more interpretation no more long-winding "philosophical" talk whether the God is in form of spirit or mass. He is only the God or Allah. I don't know if I am also in the category of mujassim by having such a believe, lol. I asked some people who accused us about the God with the "mass" and they answered me that the God exists as spirit. I just asked myself is this what the God tells about Himself in the Quran and in the Sunnah? I read what the honorable Sheikh Muhammad Metwalli Sha'arawi wrote in the "Miracle of the Quran" that the God is not framed in the time and in the space. Spirit is still framed within time and space and those of "philosophical" studies were developed from theories which is of no base from our scripture, namely the Quran and the Sunnah of prophet Muhammad s.a.w. How dare these people said things which Allah never ascribe to Himself yet accuse others with what others never imagine about Him...  

4. The righteous predecessors.

5. The saved creed and victorious group of people.     

Rules Regarding the Method of the Ahl Sunna wal Jama'a Understanding the Issues of Creed

1. The Quran and Sunnah is the sources in which to turn back to.

2. Neglecting to enter into rhetoric or philosophy, and being sufficed with the Quran and Sunnah.

a. The Salaf were careful as to only gain beneficial knowledge.

b. The Salaf followers forbid every type of innovation.

c. The Salaf followers wrote refutations against the innovators

3. The Sunnah is a proof, including reports with only one route (khabr ahad).

4. Relying on the understanding of the Companions and those who followed after them.

5. Submission for that which comes from the revelations. While believing it is completely acceptable to the mind (al-'Aql).

6. The negation of putting forward the understanding of innovators, or the mind before the texts.

7. In order to understand the texts, we must look at all the texts. Don't single one out without seeing others to explain it.

8. Understanding the Motashabeh verses with the Mohkam verses. It must come from the Quran itself and not from other works. 

I can't stop listening to simple Surat al-Baqara recitation by Sheikh al-Kaadouli until I did not sleep this whole night, hehe.  I also listened to recitations of Mr. Bousenna Abdel Monaim from St. Etienne Mosque in France. I am envious to see them memorizing the Quran and I only could memorize some parts of it which makes me hate myself. Have a nice week end and wishing brothers and sisters beneficial holy days. We can fast optional fast too before the 10th of Dzulhijja and if we had already substituted the past Ramadan fasting that we had left then it is mustahab to fast. Learn as much as possible the meanings of Qurban in the near coming 'Aidul Adha in order to seek closeness to the God. I am praying for the increasing faith in our heart and may Allah protect us from deviation. Allahumma salli 'alaa Muhammad wa 'alaa aali Muhammad. Walking for the musalla salaat al-Fajr at the first point, alhamdulillah : )  

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

Indian Muslim Scholar: Nuruddin Al-Raniri

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

 Introduction

This is a little bit history especially in the South East Asia because my father has a copy of his book and manuscript known as Bustan al-Salatin apart of his rivals poems and works in form of parchments. He is known as Nuruddin Muhammad Jailani bin 'Ali bin Hassan Ji bin Muhammad Hamid al-Qurashi. He is from the al-Rifa'i circle while his school of jurisprudence is of the Shafi'ie. He was born in Ranir port, Gujarat of a Yemeni-Hadrami father while his mother is a native Acheen lady. 

Education

He was believed to begin his early education in Ranir port in Gujarat. In 1030 H (1621), he went for Mecca and Medina to further his studies. In Mecca, he met teachers such as Sheikh Abu Hafs Umar Abdallah Bashayban al-Tarimi al-Hadrami who was also known as Sayyid Umar al-Aydrus. He studied under the supervision of this teacher and hold his loyalty with the Rifa'ie order. Other than that, he also had practiced the practices of the Qadiri order and learned other orders' such as Shadzili, Suhrwardi and Aydrusi. Though he learned many practices of the orders but he was only appointed with the leadership of the Rifa'ie by his teacher, Bashayban.  

Teachers

It is not known on how many teachers he has. He only mentions about his order teacher known as Sheikh Abu Hafs 'Umar who passed away in Gujarat around 1066 H (1656). His also had studied under the supervision of his uncle who had also once lived in Acheh before the arrival of Sheikh Muhammad Jailani bin Hassan bin Hamid who had passed him the usage of the title sheikh. Other than that, he also mentions that he studied under the guidance of Sheikh Muhammad Yamin of Mecca who were the adherents of orthodox teachings of Ahl al-Sunna. He taught the doctrine of wahdat al-shuhud which is the anti-thesis of wahdat al-wujud.   

Arrival in Acheh Sultanate

He arrived in the Acheh Sultanate of northern Sumatera in nowadays Indonesian territory in 6th Muharram 1047 H (31 May 1637) after a year of the reign of Sultan Iskandar Tani. He finished his studies in the holy Mecca and before sailing for the Sultanate of Acheh, he first went to Pahang which is now in the central of Malaysian Peninsula. Pahang at that time was a vassal state of Acheh Dar al-Salam. There were many scholars residing in Acheh such as Shamsuddin the Sumateranese, Abdul Ra'of al-Fansuri of Singkil and Hamza al-Fansur. They were prominent Muslim scholars in Acheh before the arrival of al-Raniri. Besides of academicians, Acheh of 17th century was also a popular center for trade, politics, Muslim culture and Islamic studies. 

Debates with Ismai'li Shi'a Teachers

Those scholars of Islam before the arrival of al-Raniri were the teachers of Ismai'li order of Shi'a Muslim lineage. They propagated the teachings of wahdat al-wujud but the teaching is not suitable and dangerous for mere lay men creed since it is confusing and controversial. The arrival of al-Raniri to Acheh with new opinions and ideas was not easy to be accepted by locals because they were long being taught with the belief which was more to philosophical rather than orthodox standard ones. Since al-Raniri was of a salaf jurisprudence school and a practitioner of the Abdul Qadir Jailani lineage teachings, he feels responsible to reject the doctrine taught by those existed teachers. The Sultan of Acheh agreed to organize an open debate in the court for al-Raniri to contest the teachers who taught the wahdat al-wujud teachings. Those teacher were not so concrete when they face al-Raniri thus they lost the words.

The result of their lost is quite extreme, many of those Isma'ili order teachers were sentenced to death as according to medieval period court rulings and he received the court patronage to propagate teachings. Many of the works by Hamza Fansuri and other teachers were also burn to ashes and it was also recorded in the literature of Nuruddin al-Raniri himself known as Fath al-Mubin.

Students

While in Pahang, he has many students from South East Asian islands but not all of them are known to people around since the system of education at that time has no complete record or proper classes. They just studied and propagated their lessons. One who was widely known, Yusuf Taj al-Khalwati (1629-1699) came from Makassar in Sulawesi island. Some people mentioned that Yusuf studied under al-Raniri in Acheh while other mentioned that he went to India for the teacher.    

The other is the royal member of Acheh court which was the queen herself, Taj al-'Alam Safiat al-Din who assumed the throne after the death of her husband. She assumed the throne from 1641-1679. She studied under al-Raniri supervision since she was seven years old. She is the one who uphold the dignity and the position of women in her kingdom. She urged and ordered her women citizen to acquire knowledge in order for them to succeed in their life and living with dignity. Many women were appointed by her to serve the kingdom in administration, government councils and also involved in military.     

His Return to India and Death

After seven years serving the Acheh court, writing academic literature and propagating the Ahl Sunna wal Jama'a doctrine, he suddenly tried to leave Acheh in 1644 and stayed in India for a while. He wrote two books while in Ranir. In some record, it was mentioned that al-Raniri encountered another Ismaili Shi'a teacher from southwest of Sumatera known as Sayf al-Rijal who had just returned from his studies in India. It was believed that it has something to do with patronage of the court and the Queen sided more to the teachings of previous teachers and the arguments of Sayf al-Rijal. So, Sayf al-Rijal was granted permission to propagate mission according to his lineage. Most of researchers agreed that al-Raniri died in 22nd of Zulhijja 1069 (21 Sept 1658) but many disagreements about where was the location of his death among historians. Some believed that he was kidnapped and murdered in the capital of Acheh which is Banda. Some believed that he passed away in India.      

Works

Many of his works were written in Malay language in Arabic script since it was like English today in the region of South East Asian islands. I found that most of classical literature and books in Malay usually have Arabic title. The reason these people use Malay was for da'awa purpose as it would easily reaching the educated natives who could also understand Malay. He also has references for his books. Some of his books:

1. هداية الحبيب في الترغيب or ترحيب الفوائد البهية في الحديث النبوية about hadiths which consists of 810 hadiths and this is the first hadith book in Malay and in South East Asia.

2. بستان السلاطين which is a book that we keep in our closet about the history of local sultanate in Acheh kingdom and some points of the history of Malayan Peninsula especially the Pahang state and its sultanate lineage. It has seven chapters and each chapter has few topics.  

3. تبيان في المعرفات الأديان which means the Explanation on the Knowledge of Religions. This book is a comparative religion themed book written in Malay. It is the first book written in Malay about comparative religion in South East Asia. It has two chapters. The first talks about the religion of the world since Adam a.s down to Jesus a.s. The second talks about developments of groups and movements in Islam. Generally this book discussed the conflicts or debates between the doctrine which is embraced by al-Raniri and those of Isma'ili Shi'a who propagated the philosophical wahdat al-wujud ideology during the reign of Iskandar II.

4. Jurisprudence

i. السراط المستقيم written in Malay about worship such as salat services, fasting, tithe, pilgrimage, rulings on sacrificial ritual, hunting and rulings for legal and illegal foods and beverages. It was written beginning 1044 H (1634) and finished in 1054 H (1644). This classical work could be found printed at the side of the book known as سبيل المهتدين written by Muhammad Arshad of Banjar.

ii. كيفية الصلاة on the method of performing salat. This book discussed in how to perform the salat according to the manhaj of sunna according to imam al-Shafi'ie with the conditions of complete acts of salat. This book was actually quoted from the السراط المستقيم highlighting the salat rituals.    

iii. تنبيه العوام في تحقيق الكلام والنوافل talks about the optional salats for public and recitations in the services. 

5. Tawheed Creed and Tasawwuf

i. درة الفرائد بشرح العقائد which means Precious Jewel in Expounding the Creed. It was adapted from Arabic book شرح العقائد النسفية known as written by Imam Sa'duddin al-Taftanzani written around 1045 H (1635). 

ii. نبضة في الدعوات الظل مع صاحبه or Short Explanations on The Claimants of Shadow and Its Possessor. This book is written in Arabic in form of question and answers about the errors of the wahdat al-wujud teachings propagated by his rivals according to orthodox standards.  

iii. أسرار ألأنسان في معرفة الروح والرحمان or Secrets of Human in Understanding the Soul and the God. This is translated from Arabic into Malay by al-Raniri. It talks about human especially on the characteristics and the knowledge of the soul. It has two chapters. First chapter is divided into six portions and second is with five portions.

iv. لطائف الأسرار or Discreetness of Secrets.

v. أخبار الأخرة في أحوال القيمة News of the Hereafter about the Situations during the Resurrection.

vi. حل الظل Explaining the Term Shadow.

vii. ماء الحية لأهل الممات which means the Water of Life for the Death.

xiii. جواهر العلوم في كشف المعلوم or the Jewels of Sciences in Exposing Its Targets.

ix. اين العالم قبل أن يخلق Where was the Universe before It was Created.

x. شفاء القلوب Medicine for the Heart.

xi. حجة الصديق لدفع الزنديق Arguments of the Righteous Rejecting the Creed of the Atheists. 

xii. فتح المبين على الملحدين Clear Victory on the Atheists.

xiii. اللمعان في تكفيرمن قال بخلق القرآن Shining Light on Excommunicating People who Claimed that the Quran is a Creature.

xiv. صوارم الصديق لقطع الزنديق Blade for the Righteous to Cut the Atheists.

xv. رحيق محمدية في طريق الصفية The Drinks for Nations of Muhammad in the Way of the Sufis.

xvi. هداية الأيمان في فضل المنان Guidance of the Faith Granted by the God.

xvii. علقة الله بالعالم The Relationship of the God with the Universe.

xviii. عقائد الصفية الموحدين The Creed of Monotheist Sufis.

xix. اين الوجود في بيان وحدة الوجود Where is the Existence in Explanations of Panentheism.

xx. بدء خلق السماوات والأرض Beginning of Creation of Heavens and Earth.

xxi. فتح الودود في بيان وحدة الوجود Victory of Conveying the Virtue in Explanation of the Panentheism.

Almost all of these books were written in Classical Malay of 16th century. If brothers and sisters are reading them perhaps it would be like reading some kind of Indian lingo style of Malay because this ulama is an Indian national. He is ethnically an Arab but he lived in India and later in South East Asia. I refer him as Indian because he was born in India. Regarding the doctrine or the understanding of al-Raniri about the particular philosophy, there are many discussions, criticisms and thesis about this by scholars for example by Syed Naguib al-Attas and I am not going to put it here. What I could say, al-Raniri, Fansuri or Sumatrani are just human-being no matter how knowledgeable they are. They are not angels.

Close

This is just an introduction about a Muslim scholar of Classical South East Asian period. Internet is not the "real" source of knowledge. Bring the kitabs in front of teachers and learn from them step by step from the basis. The reason why I hate kids in Tekun musalla talked about tasawwuf with me because I could smell that they thought it has something to do with magic flying on the wind, exorcism halau setan or mysticism bercakap dengan jin like Tamar Jalis novels. What is the need to talk about those things if they were not educated with basic kitabs? As far as I know they were students of science streams and not of shari'a streams. I don't receive revelation but I am quite sensitive with language style, tone and the way people write things (because writing comes from the head). I am a translation and interpretation student and apart of that I had started doing contemplation since I can't remember so I could basically detect the mood of people around which is retaliated with their "heart and intention". I prefer not to talk so much especially if it is related to religion but I just practice on what I had learned. Kita sembang tinggi-tinggi mawlana sana sini pun tiada guna jika kita tidak ikhlas untuk Allah sesungguh hatinya. Cuma nya mahu tunjuk kita tinggi daripada orang lain sahaja katanya kita merangkumi dunia mau pun akhirat walaupun kita tiada asas untuk yang satu itu. 

I am sorry if people are afraid of me because their feeling might be flawed and I actually never look down on others. I just would never keep my silence if I see or listen things which sounds wrong to what I believe. Most of all, I actually feel low-self esteem to Science stream students because of that Ibnu Sina kind of stuffs, lol. Just start study from the basic and everyone could afford that. No need to be in circles' lineage but being an ordinary guy is much better than we feel that Allah loves us until we forgot that we're falling into the trap of "satan". That feel means what? Perasaan or perasan?        

There are many kind of Shi'a Muslims too. It is not only those that we see in Iran or Syria who were known as the factions of Twelver Imami and Nusayri Alawites groups. Many of the Mu'tazilite groups could be founded in Shi'a Muslim lineage for example Ibnu Sina who is an Ismai'li-Nizari Shi'a Muslim. They were free thinkers among Muslims and their lineage has no established chain of creed like the Ahl Sunna wal Jama'a who accepted the narration of traditions from all righteous prophet companions. That is among the reasons why they relied on philosophies to explain their creed.   

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