Body and Mind Type

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I am extremely happy that I waited so early in the mosque. I managed to recite surah al-Haqqah several times and pondering about the facts of the universe. 

Nothing so interesting in Friday sermon today. The preacher only talked about the socio-economical issues such as the role of Federal Territories Islamic Council in  managing endowments, tithe and their achievements in accumulating piles of treasures. However, I would like brothers and sisters to know. I do not believe in their management system. I feel that it is safer for me to manage my property with my own capacity. I wanted to see my donations, tithe and endowment reaching the right places! I had seen how the people in the religious authority behave. This is not an over-generalization because I had came across with them for so many times. I was educated within the religious circle itself. I strongly believe in the practices prescribed in the articles of the path and the articles of faith highlighted in the Hadith al-Qudsi through the question-answers between Muhammad s.a.w and archangel Gabriel a.s. But I cannot accept the people in the authority! I turned to Buddhism-Brahmanism customs last time not because I have problem with Islamic teachings. 

In fact, I always love the God the Highest, Islamic teachings, prophet Muhammad s.a.w, his trustworthy companions, all the noble prophets sent by the God to nations throughout the history as they are the brothers of our noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w and the Ahl Bayt as they form parts of my "self" identity. I have problem with people who call themselves as "Muslims" even until today! I believe in the Justice of the God the Highest and so many people disrespect His Justice to His creatures and the universe!

Mind and Body Type 

I had made some checking on my body and mind type as according to ancient Indian system of sciences. Even I chose Islam as my permanent faith in contrast to those who chose Islam as the faith because their parents are Muslims but I have a strong respect to ancient Indian knowledge and philosophy. It represents the traditions of my paternal grandmothers' heritage since they were from Indian sub-continent. I am grateful to the God the Highest since He directs me to the Path of Islam but I am proud to share some crossed heritage with ancient Indians. I even studied Sanskrit and Pali along with Arabic as our ancestral language though I speak mostly in English, Malay and Chinese.

Some questions that I answered could give me some ideas about my self. I am aware that I have to know about my self before I could eliminate other obstacles in my path. I made notes too about myself. Even I tried to get feedback from friends around about my personality because I was afraid that I hurt their feeling when I deal with them.

Frame

I am thin, lanky and slender with prominent joints and thin muscles.    

Weight

I have low weight. Yeah, this is especially true since I could fly when heavy wind flows me. I guess I am now perhaps 47 kg (103.6 pounds). I always fast since I was five years old and I avoid meat including fish and beef. I took only chicken in small pinches. I prefer to take fresh green vegetables. Nowadays I have to turn everything as pickles as to save the money for other services. I may forget to eat or have a tendency to lose weight. Next week I would have to fast again because I am afraid that the Quran would leave me behind if I exceed the limit and the food nowadays are not so clean as compared to last time. We can find halal foods but not all of those halal foods are "clean". By taking greens in limitation, I could reduce the risk of the meat which came from animals that had been brutalized before being slaughtered or caught with diseases because of antibiotics injection to the chickens. Fishes in the sea are facing extinctions too because of human greed. If others do not care about other creatures, then I do not want to be among them!

Eyes

I have small eyes and active. I wear spectacles and I guess the power of my spectacles' focus is increasing to 1000 +. I love to read and still love to read.    

Skin

My skin is rough, dry and thin. I have olive yellowish skin. I am not white as compared to Northern Arabs or those with the ancestors from Northern Egypt, Syria, Northern Iraq or Lebanon. My old neighbors were North Arab descents, their skin is mostly pale and fair like Middle Eastern Jewish. I think we are yellowish because we have some genetic crossing with Mongoloids. Sometimes people would mistaken me to a Nepali or a Central Asian. Most of Chinese nationals in my university thought that I was from Western China provinces namely Xinjiang (Turkistan) or from the border of China-Pakistan-India. I tried to explain to them and even to Malay compatriots that I am an Arab descent with North-Western Indian grandmothers but we are not recognized with our identity instead being lumped into "Malay" nationality and we are not united because we were too tiny. The same thing which happened to ancient Jewish people in China who were lumped into "Muslim" identity.

Hair

My hair is dry, brittle and frizzy. I think I do not have much hair.

Joints

My joints are thin, prominent and have a tendency to crack.  

Sleep Pattern

I am moderately sound sleeper, usually needing less than eight hours to feel rested. 

Body Temperature

My hands and feet are usually cold. I prefer warm environments. 

Temperament

I am lively and enthusiastic by nature. I like to change. 

Under Stress

I become withdrawn and reclusive. I guess in most of the time. An example for this is when I served only for a week in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) like six months ago before I have to quit. The problems and troubles came at once jumping on my head. 

Firstly, my sisters think that I am a male and I should be responsible for my father who is bedridden or moving with my own feet because they think that only they faced difficulties in their life while I live like a "king" since I am a male. This is fine, but I cannot do that alone. I am the only son in my house with five female siblings. I have no close companions and I hardly make friends with people because I am a loyal type of person. The burden dealing with them is like I am a stranger man who live among the women. I cannot talk or discuss anything with them. They would not listen to me but they only think about their feelings and care only about their life. One of my younger sister accused me that I am a spoiled brat where my mother never ask me to do anything while in fact is that she did not live with me all the time although we are a family. We have different events in our life and we do not know about each others life for real. We seldom communicate because of gender differences and it also lead to the differences of opinions, beliefs and worldviews. They are very judgmental. I could see that in our society here, people tend to believe that all brothers (sons) in a sibling would be a commander and bullying their family based from the news headlines like "a son stabbed a father or kicking a mother for not listening to his material demands" while in fact now I am the one who is bullied and still is bullied because I consider their feelings, giving a high value for their life and respecting all genders or souls. I am a minority at home. After my father is bedridden, I am even more vulnerable! Not everyone is the same! Stop over-generalization!

My sisters do not even know that I went for Buddhist temple and seeking refuge from Buddhist community (Samgha) because of their attitude and I ended up a layman Buddhist boy for five years before being forced by my mother to go for pilgrimage in Holy Mecca and I have to decide my faith myself without any support from Muslim community! 

Secondly, I had no transportation, no support from my own father and my parents are from unsettled families themselves. They would deny it but I am aware about that since I observe the psychological phenomenon. I do not just lay idle but I keep thinking and study. I was not settled yet with my job settlement in the UNHCR and my mother asked me to take emergency leaves just because she wanted to see me walking on the stage taking an empty file for my postgraduate ceremony in Penang. I had to deal with hundreds of refugees file and asylum seekers and in the same time; I had to attend trainings and examinations related to war-field. They gave the time-frame that I should finish everything only in a week! All of these happened in the same time. So, I quit as not to affect other team members in my office and I am holding to working ethics.

Right now, I have to apply again for a secured job and again I have to plan and plan before executing the plans. It is not easy to secure a job nowadays and family members could really be mean to us. Although many people would believe that a family could be supportive to each others, but they could also be mean! The plan would be in other sections. I am sharing this with brothers and sisters out there who also face family conflicts and who are unfortunate. I have no one to speak or to share about anything so I also believe that you are in the same situation with me. Better stay away from your family members if you have problems but try to find other sources to protect yourself from destruction. Just talk with the God the Highest. Nobody gives a shit to our problem if they are occupied with they are full with their ego! We have to deal everything with our own capacity and seeking help from Him!

Score

So, I scored mostly in Vata or Wind element. I have got eight Vata, one Pitta (Fire) and one Kapha (Earth and Water).   

General Characteristics

Mind:               Creative, quick and imaginative

Body:               Thin and light frame 
Skin:                 Dry
Hair:                 Dry
Appetite:          Delicate, spontaneous, often miss meals
Routine:           Spontaneous, variable
Temperament: Welcomes new experiences, friendly, excitable, energetic.
Shopping style: Buy... Buy... Buy... 
Conversation style: Loves to talk.
Stress Response: Questioning myself what did I do wrong? Tendency to blame myself. 

In the part of loves to talk, I did love to talk but I learned that I have to keep everything filtered when I am talking with different levels of people. So, I appear to be a quit person in the public. I asked some Tabligh brothers to come and tell me about their movements in personal because people are of different level of understanding, reception and so on. Because of these, we have hierarchy and social ranks in a society. Society is a very complex creature! It is not like we are studying the machine. The machine would follow what human programs it but human-being and society is a part of the larger universe! I respect all movements but I have my own reasons to avoid religious movements. If I see that it is destructive for unity then I prefer to be known only as a layman Muslim without any title rather than known to public with movements' tag. 

Vata Type

Wind or Vata is a principle of movement and change. People who are naturally dominated by wind element tend to be thin, light and quick in their actions and thought. Change is a constant part of life. When the wind-dominated person is balanced, they are creative, lively and enthusiastic. When imbalanced, they would face insomnia, develop anxiety, dry skin and having irregular digestion. 

I have got to check this in detail too. Would return after the 'Asr prayer service. Need to get ready with purification.

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

Unfortunate Scholars

Assalamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Knowledge is important for human-being. Human-being could be civilized and reaching success through knowledge seeking and sciences. The noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w mentions, "Seeking knowledge is obligatory over each Muslim". Obligatory knowledge here refers to important sciences pertaining the relation of an individual with his Creator such as monotheism, physical and spiritual worship together with the morality. Later, communal sciences pertaining the relations between an individual with his society such as finance, working ethics, matrimonial and criminology.

Definition of Obligatory Knowledge

Ibn al-Qayyim proposes that 'obligatory knowledge' is related to the pillars of the faith, Islamic jurisprudence on legal and illegal matters and the social sciences.

Imam al-Ghazali defines that 'obligatory knowledge' refers to gnosis which is the knowledge about the God the Highest, spiritual worship such as sincerity, devotion and dependency only to the God the Highest and jurisprudence sciences.

Islam emphasizes greatly on knowledge and those who are knowledgeable as what has been mentioned in the Glorious Quran. Says the God the Highest which means, "And among people and moving creatures and grazing livestock are various colors similarly. Only those fear the God the Highest, from among His servants, who have knowledge. Indeed, the God is Exalted in Might and Most Forgiving" (Surah Faathir 35:28).

Division of Unfortunate Scholars

Scholars of religion, the righteous and ascetics are those people who gives their attention to the fullest to knowledge and science since it is the essence of worship and the basis of obedience to devote their life for the God the Highest. However, there are also those who were deflected where Abu Hamid al-Ghazali has divided them into six groups of people......

a) A person who feels that he possess the gnosis which enables him to see the God the Highest with his heart, thus assuming that his self is close to the God the Highest.

While he only knows His attributes and Names which he listens only from the chanting. It could also make them confuse and deviated. With all of these, he thought that he already has the highest knowledge among the nations from the alpha to the omega. He looks down on the religious scholars, jurists, exegesis compilers, hadith researchers and even more, he looks at the public just like looking at the cattle.  

b) A person whose tendency is more to the physical science and avoiding the spiritual science. He is proud with it and think exceedingly that he has a place at Him.

He assumes that he is free from the torment and bitterness of the God the Highest with his one-sided tendency in seeking the knowledge. He believes that he could become a savior to others and his sins will not be retaliated. These are dangerous assumptions that will rise for this type of person.

c) A person who never practice with his knowledge. Knowing everything means nothing if it is not accompanied with practices. There is of no use if one knows a science or method of worship but never practicing it.

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w mentions, "The God the Highest never look at your appearance nor your luxury but He is looking at your deeds and heart".

In the book titled "A Warning to the Negligent" (Ar. Tanbeeh al-Ghafileen), the noble prophet Jesus a.s was quoted as saying, "Anyone who knows (knowledgeable) and later practicing and teaching the knowledge to others, thus he is the person mentioned as the greatest in the realm of angels".

Indeed, noble angels are far of these three things:

1. Evil and hypocrite religious scholar who preaches to others but never practicing what he preaches.

2. Graveyard of treacherous people which is adorned with structures made of bricks and cements.

3. Carving of treacherous people's name on their gravestones.

Abu Amru Abdul Rahman bin Muhammad al-Auza'i of Damascus said, "Whoever perform whatever that he knows, he will achieve the success in whatever he does not know before".

Sufyan al-Thawri says, "Knowledge is in the first, silence. The second, listening and observing. The third, recalling. The fourth, practicing. The fifth, propagating it".

d) A person who spends all his time to clean himself from impurities and too much dwelling in it and he keeps looking for his own flaws looking at the tricks of "self" until it becomes his daily dealings.

He is too meticulous and too ritualistic until he feels that this is shameful. That is hideous and so on. This kind of person is the same with the person in the condition where he always imagine and reckoning that to perform the pilgrimage to Holy Mecca is too dangerous and later he ends up with not performing it at all, na'udhubillahi min dhaalik.

e) A person who thinks that he has already fulfilled the obligation to study by just attending lectures and sciences recital.

He makes this as his common habit and assuming that listening is just enough for him. He is not practicing whatever that he listens in the lectures since he is qualified for the meritorious deeds of listening and attending the lecture ceremonies.

f) A person who study just because he wanted to have the fame, to get the name, position and making fortune out of it.

His knowledge will bring no benefit to him. His dealings will be of no success and he receives no gain. Noble prophet Muhammad s.a.w says, "Whoever studies the knowledge with the intention to compete among the scholars, to show efforts to the ignorant or to get attention of public thus the hell is his place of return!".

Conclusion

I would like to highlight here as a part of our discussion... Well, a discussion with my self because this is a serious warning to my self!! That we have to give the attention to the key words such as, "heart", "feel", "thought", "assume" and "intention". All of these are related to our faculties of mind that manifest from our astral body such as the mind, memory, intellect and ego. These are more to philosophical findings but is still useful to understand one self. Many people still cannot understand these and I tried so hard to tell them even I was almost in conflicts with people around but it is still a failure. So, that is why I choose to stay in silence and observe but not giving up. I am not giving anything which I cannot practice because it is against the principle taught to us.... May the God the Highest forgives us our errors and sins, amin...... Only He knows the best...  

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

Sacrifice

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

 

The sacrifice to the God is a broken heart... The sweet savor pleasant to Him is the heart which glorifies Him that made it...

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

Science of the Quran: Definition of Science

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

We typically always hear in schools that science should means something like physics, chemistry, biology or mathematics. We were told about Ismai'ili Shi'a Muslim achievements such as of Ibnu Sina without being told that he is a Shi'a Muslim and many people do not really like Shi'a Muslims here though they never befriend one.

It is not that I am an opponent to these sciences but I found that last time it was so intense and we as religious studies students were down-graded to the level that we feel like we were not human and we must be another person which was not us as the result to fit in. I became like I am now because of the situation in society that I have to live in. 

Now, let us see what is meant by science according to Quranic knowledge explanations. Actually this is the introduction of a kitāb that I read titled "The Sciences of Quran" written by Ustad Asmawi Eḥsan. I made notes out of what I had read and listened from teachers so it would not be a stiff translation but from what I understood in those things that I had read. It is actually a habit since I was a young kid...

There are many definitions according to fields of specialization such as philosophy, uṣūl, linguistics and religious studies. I wish beloved brother Idris could access this. I am doing this apart of it for brothers and sisters in China and those in areas with less Muslim population. I feel that I did not function well because I refuse to speak about religious studies in front of people of diverse background but that does not mean that we leave behind da'awa mission. It is in our blood and heritage.

Definitions

Philosophers

Defined science as a picture which exists or sparked from the mind of human-being in their assumption of a particular thing, event, situation or anything which he founds or faced. Some philosophers defined it as something which controls the soul and the mind of man-kind in their quest to explore a particular thing.

Uṣūluddin Specialists

They defined the term science as a nature which a human could achieve the highest position in his life and his affairs if he acquires it. Some defined it with a nature which would possibly determine a person to choose and deciding on something without any doubt though it is only through the usage of common-sense.

Materialists

Science is defined by these people as something that would be believed and detected through the senses such as being witnessed by physical eyes. If it is not through this way such as the belief on supernatural matters and things that we listened or sam'iyyat could not be assumed as a science. Why? Because these things could not be touched, tasted, watched or witnessed and achieved by human senses. This is the view that we had been taught in schools in our country. It is intensely being focused by government policy in education in order to be a developed country though I fail to see what kind of development being brought so far. A body or a mass without soul has no value at all. It is not a holistic one. How about others in other parts of the world?

Linguists

Their opinion is that science means the knowledge which is possessed by someone that with it a person could get to know something in the universe.

Religionist

Define the science as the ability of a person in his quest to know His Creator and in the quest to prove His existence, His deeds to His creations and firming it in their heart.

Summary

Basically, these definitions mean that science is an ability on human-being granted by the God which could be used to make assumptions, to discuss and to argue something which has been faced by human-kind in the Earth. In Arabic, it is known as 'Ulūm which is the plural for 'Ilm. It means branches of knowledge since there are many subjects being discussed in the scientific arguments.

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

Knowledge which leads us to the act of worship!

Assalamu'alaikum warahmatullah!

I'll have to present my mini-thesis topic next week's Tuesday in a mock circumstance. I met a lecturer today and I listened to him for about three hours, hehe. It's not just about my thesis but he also talked about few matters including Palestine-Israel issue. 

Well, that issue really makes people around the world go crazy, either in Jews' side or Arabs' side and not to forget the people in our Malaya too. I'm not going to elaborate more about Palestine-Israel issue. It's not my first intention to create this post.

I just want to drag back my attention to Allah 'Azza wa Jalla. I'm still feeling weak and restless. Even I notice that I have veins protruding out of my head. That is not good. The sign of tensity. I better not taking this task too serious and trying to enjoy life without forgetting Allah 'Azza wa Jalla but this is not easy too. I tried many ways including meditating in the musalla (surau). But I guess I might did something wrong until these meditations didn't come to work.

In whatever things that we do in our life. We need to always be confident that Allah 'Azza wa Jalla is monitoring us. He is watching us. Whatever we learn too must reflect remembrance to Allah 'Azz wa Jalla. I somehow feel it is still my fault that I had diverted from my previous destiny. I supposedly to be in religious studies but it turns out to be like I am today. I don't know, it could be written in His tablet too that I will be like this since the who knows except Him. 

I listened to a religious lecture from radio Kedah by an ustad that I can't barely remember his name. That is because I was like between asleep and conscious. I was so tired after my class in the afternoon. Not because I have to walk here and there to different schools but because I feel that I am not fit in the field that I am studying right now.

However I managed to capture some of the ustad's lecture into the paper that I hold in my hand before I fall asleep. I seek forgiveness before Allah, if there are flaws in my notes. The flaws indeed are from my recklessness.  I'm afraid that I'll lose it so I wanted to record it here.

It says, the splendour of knowledge learned should be assured that it brings us to be closer to Allah 'Azza wa Jalla. When we do charity, we are doing charity to ourselves. When we do evil, then evil will come to us. In the summary of surah al-Hujurat verse 17th, Allah says that He has nothing to lose when we do not perform observances to Him. Neither does He gain anything from our observances nor worship. Our observances, our worship are for our own benefit.  The same things goes to knowledge which is His grace toward us.

This quote reminds me of what I learned from Buddhism lectures that I listened and read when I was a Buddhist. I believed almost the same thing. What goes around comes around. Any bad luck that strucked me down is due to my paapa (sins). When I did charity, I accumulated bunniyam (merit) and it helps prolong my life and my future. It's more to Karmma (acts' law). I also believed that our Karmma affects others around us. Sometimes, it is quite confusing for a revert like me. Because these old values still mingling within me and I can't forget it just easily.

Then, in surah al-'Alaq. Allah 'Azza wa Jalla says that He taught human with pen (al-'Alaq vs 4). To learn something we need to have a pen. It means that we need to jot something down from the lecture. Which is what I was doing before falling asleep and lost everything after that. 

We have to realize that wisdoms and knowledge come from Allah 'Azza wa Jalla. The knowledge and wisdom that we have is not ours but they are from Him. And further, He taught human on what they do not know (al-'Alaq vs 5). When we are grateful to Allah 'Azzza wa Jalla, He will surely increasing His blessings to us through the increasing of knowledge and wisdom. When Daud (as) and Sulaiman (as) received knowledge and wisdom from Allah 'Azza wa Jalla, they said : "Glorified be Allah 'Azza wa Jalla for His blessings on us over others."

Last two nights I had sent a phone messages to a Tabligh brother who was in charge to be an Imam in musalla at this hostel where I am living. I am not a member of Tabligh Jama'a anyway. I am just a lay Muslim not of any affiliation. I found that he has a very nice recitation with his vowels are according to the sound approximation in tajweed which is quite nice. But he seems confused in pronouncing alphabet sounds. The ones which came out from the middle of adam's apple and mouth cavity. He had mistaken in pronouncing some parts such as when it should be ع but he pronounced it with ا and also in the opposite way. Also ح and  ه.  I believe that this is one of a problem for most Malay speaking people but for us, we used to recite everything according to Arabic dialect since our childhood. We began our Quranic learning when our mother teaches us the alphabets at home. Later only we went to state's government's evening religious school and learning them again in national school's Islamic knowldge subject. So, when we read the Quran we will put emphasize on the sound first before memorizing anything from the suras.

I was afraid that it is like too fussy and annoying for him but when I saw tajweed books, they are called as lahnun jaali which means the obvious mistake. I'm just reminding him for his own benefit. I have no other intention at all and that is why I just sent him a message and not talking about it in the midst or people or even in the musalla so that he will feel comfortable. I just hope that he thinks out of it positively and never mistook me. It's not like I am in a position to teach anyone because I am also learning. It will always be like that. 

Anyway, I love to see enthusiastic youngsters like this guy who became the imaam. I love listening to his recitation and also to others because I will visualize the alphabets in my mind. I am myself not a good imaam and and not a good example. So they really impress me for their spirit. Usually I will pray to Allah 'Azza wa Jalla for their consistency and may they become good example for me and others. I also hope that my reminders didn't make them feel jaded nor irritated because that will be a sin for me. 

As to say, wisdoms and knowledge in this Universe are His belongings. We have no right to claim them as ours copyright. It should be spread to others for the benefit of our nation in order to be close to Allah 'Azza wa Jalla. Thus, I pray to Allah please keep our creed purified forever, make our life as a worship itself to You, please grant us Mercy and make us grateful servants and slaves o Allah, blessed be prophet Muhammad (saw) and his family, his companions and his faithful followers!