LONG LOST FRIEND...

This entry is about a friend of mine, who I have not met for a long time. We parted ways more than a year ago after we got into a fight. I do not want to elaborate the details of our fight here because I know that I have my version of that story and so does he. In my version, obviously I am the good guy (fullstop).

So, let's leave the past in the past and move forward.

Recently, I received an SMS from him saying that we should meet up as he wanted to apologies. I agreed, but we could not find a suitable time to meet because he is currently residing in another state. During Syawal this year, I took the opportunity to meet him at his hometown, which happened to be my hometown as well. I did not know what to expect because it was quite a violent argument we had the last time we spoke. And it has now been more than a year. So, I decided to leave my expectation at home.

All I wanted to do was to re-connect with him because I know that this is one of the Islamic values - Silaturrahim.

So, we finally met near his house and I could immediately see how much he has changed. He is now wearing kopiah every time he goes out of the house and he kept a bit of a gothie and dressed like an ustaz. In short, he looks more religious now. "Alhamdulillah" I said to myself, pleased with the changes I saw in him.

We started talking.

I first updated him about my life journey since the last we met, but I also told him that I have nothing much to update. I am still working in the same company, staying in the same house and following the same daily routine.

Then it was his turn. 

He told me that after our argument, he left KL and went back to stay with his parents. He said that there was nothing left for him there in KL. He lost his job, his marriage was broken, his business went south, he had to declared himself a bankrupt and he has made enemies out of a lot of his friends, including me.

He said that he did that on purpose to 'disappear' from society to give himself time to review his life. And while doing that, he met with this guru, who he said has helped to turn his life around. He learned more about Islam from this guru and learned to control his beastly emotion, which he admits to be the root cause of a lot that has happened to him in the past. 

We continued to exchange updates on our lives, trying to make up for lost times. Such a refreshing conversation. 

But as the conversation continues, it got weirder and weirder...

"Can you recite syahadah for me please, my friend?" he requested at one point.

So I recited "Ash Hadu Allaa Ilaaha Illallah, Wa Ash Hadu Anna Muhammadar Rasulullah"

(Translation: I swear that there is no god but Allah, and I swear that Muhammad is His Messenger")

"Do you know who is 'Muhammad' as referred to in our Syahadah?" He asked.

"Muhammad in our syahadah is obviously referring to our Prophet Muhammad, of course" I replied.

I thought I was stating the obvious, but to my surprise, he said "You are wrong!"

Whatt??

Before I could digest what I just heard, he continued, "Rasulullah means 'Servant of Allah', right?".

I corrected him and said "No. Rasulullah means 'Messenger of Allah' and it is a title bestowed by Allah on only a few Prophets. Not all prophets were given the title of Rasul, let alone mere humans like us.."

"Isn't Messenger of Allah also means Servant of Allah? And Isn't every Muslim a Servant of Allah?" he asked a rhetorical question.

Before I could answer, he continued "As Muslims, we must follow all His commands and leave all His forbids, right? So, all Muslims are Servant of Allah and therefore every Muslim is Muhammad! So, when we recite our Syahadah, we are actually referring to ourselves as Muhammad".

"I am Muhammad, you are Muhammad and every Muslim is Muhammad because we are, and forever will be, the Servant of Allah" he declared, with a sense of satisfaction.

Whatt?? I really could not believe what I am hearing. Did he just called himself Muhammad? And did he also just called ME Muhammad??

If using his logic, then the phrase 'Muhammadar Rasulullah' can also be translated as 'Azmilar Rasulullah'?? - WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY WRONG!!

He further surprised me when he explained that humans are also awarded some of the qualities of Allah - That was, according to him, the reason why when Adam was created, Allah commands all angels to sujud to Adam. All angels did, except Iblis and the rest is history.

So he said it is not wrong to call ourselves Allah!!?

Ya Allah!! What is this that I am hearing?? What has happened to him? Who is this guru that he has been learning about Islam from?? At that point, I choose not to argue any further and let him continue to explain about his beliefs. I wasn't paying much attention after that, but a few things did caught my attention...

One of it is when he said that he has now learned the ability to see the unseen (ghaib)!?

Another was when he said that while Haji is wajib, but is it not necessarily need to be done in Mecca!?

Another was when he said we need to renew our iman by taking the syahadah bath (mandi syahadah)!?

Another was when he said that on certain nights, he will be meeting with his followers (follower??) literally in the sky?!

And a few other things, but I kept quiet and let the conversation ended peacefully. Firstly, because my intention of meeting him that night was really just to reconnect. I don't have the intention of re-opening an old argument or create a new one. Secondly, those topics he brought up are topics relating to fundamental Usulul-fiqh and Tasauf, which I am not qualified to elaborate. But one thing for sure, his explanations are totally against any teachings that I have learned before.

Although he stop short of declaring himself (and myself as well - gulp!) as prophets, but the implied meaning is already tipping on that borderline. This quickly reminds me of some news I heard before about people claiming to be a prophet and claiming to be God. 

In July 2012 - News of a man in Melaka claiming himself a Prophet and claiming himself as Allah.

Click here

In May 2012 - News of a man from South Africa claiming himself as Prophet and has visited all 11 heavens and have met God himself.

Click here

To conclude this entry - let me point out that I did not mention his name because I am not trying to humiliate him nor am I trying to condemn him for what he has explained to me that night. But if this article ever reaches him - here's my prayers, my friend.

"I pray may Allah always gives both of us guidance through our lives so that we never go astray. And may we meet again in Jannah, Insyallah" 

Wallahualam.

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ANTI-HOPPING BILL TO BE HEARD IN PARLIAMENT

For once, I agree with Karpal's effort to table the anti-hopping bill in parliament. 

Karpal Singh

Read more here.

To me as the rakyat, I understand that political parties have different views on things (sometimes on EVERYTHING) and this will translate into policies should they be given the mandate to rule the country. So, they go around spreading their views and plans to convince the people to give them the mandate.

For BN, who is the existing ruling and the only party who have been ruling the country since independence, they rely on their promises kept. They go around telling people that they mean what they say and have not make any big u-turns after any elections. They ask the people to look at their report card and continue to given them the mandate to rule.

For PR, who saw a positive swing in their favor in the last General Election (GE12), they rely on their plans for the future. They have never rule the country, so it is quite difficult for them to show any track record as a ruling party. But they now have at least 1-term report card for those states they currently control. They are going around telling people they can do better than BN and will be able to bring Malaysia to a greater height.

Of course, that is the ideal political scenario. 

But in reality, besides the facts and the figures, some politicians will often resort to slandering, personal attack, threatening, deceiving and bribing in order to gain control. The people's sentiment are often taken for a roller coaster ride, which is a typical atmosphere nearing to GE with both sides of the political divide trying to woe the people.

Now, coming back to the anti-hopping bill and why I support that.

I just described above a typical atmosphere nearing to GE, which normally happens once in every 4 years. And once the people have given the mandate to the party of their choice, the political campaign should stop and everyone should focus on the nation's progress. 

Once election is over, political parties should stop campaigning

But is this happening? No, because Article 10 and 48 of the Federal Constitution allows the elected representative to hop from one party to another. And this hopping sometimes changes entirely the mandate that was given by the people during the poll. I see this Articles as a sweetener to the political parties because they do not have to put any effort to convince the people as they would have to during any election. All they need to do is to convince enough elected representative to hop to their side and change the political power. Simple!

Is this tactic legal? Yes it is, because Article 10 & 48 allows this. 

It this ethical? Absolutely not. The power should remain with the people to elect the party of their choice.

And because of this, the people are always bombarded with none stop political campaign because political parties continuously looking for opportunities to make use of this Article to gain control of the country. In 2008 for example, after GE12, Anwar Ibrahim as the opposition leader has openly declared that they have enough elected representatives, who has given him their commitment to hop to his side and automatically giving his party the mandate to topple the BN government. That captured world wide attention and he continuously gave 16 Sept 2008 as the 'big day'. Although Anwar's 'big day' passes by without any change of government, but it left the people with a realization that their mandate can be made worthless when political parties uses this Article 10 & 48 in the Federal Constitution to entice elected representative to hop.

Anwar Ibrahim said in 2008 "We have the numbers"

And the people are left to wonder, when are these two political sides going to declare a seize fire between them and start building the nation. They can start campaigning again after 4 years, not a problem, but once mandate is given by the people, everyone should respect that and work as one nation.

So, that's why I support the anti-hopping bill.

LGBT IS AGAINST ISLAMIC TEACHING. DON'T GET CONFUSED WITH STATEMENTS FROM PEOPLE WITH POLITICAL AGENDA

Since getting the support from some political figures in our country, LGBT has now been quite bold. They are going around saying that changes is urgently needed in the Malaysian law to recognize the 'right' of this group. People who practices homosexuality are also coming out in the open now to declare themselves. Some of these political figures supporting this hideous group includes those who claims to be promoting Islam.... SAD!

Read my earlier post on LGBT here.

Islam does not and will never recognize Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders. This was specifically the act that Prophet Luth had tried tirelessly asking his people, the Sadoms, to stop. This was specifically the act that got the Sadom people destroyed by Allah SWT.

Prophet Muhammad SAW has warned us of this repeat of history in our time. He said :

"The worse thing I fear happening to my ummah is if they start doing the hideous things the people of Prophet Luth did"

(Narrated by Imam Ahmad)

LGBT are not humanly acts to be claiming for human right. So, stop or you will be stopped. And do not get confused by the statement of people with political agenda.

Earlier - I read with interest, Mazidul Akmal's blog as he made an expose about this gay guy named Tengku Harith. In his FB page, Tengku Harith claims that he is an alumni of Sekolah Menengah Agama Kerajaan Johor (SMAKJ) batch 1998. He mentioned that it was in that religious school that he first experienced homosexuality when he 'fell pray' to a young Ustaz. 

From that first experience with the young Ustaz, Tengku Harith said that he was forever changed to homosexuality - he got addicted! 

Read more on this expose here.

Tengku Harith also claimed that he used to be a 'Pegawai Agama negeri Selangor' (Selangor Religious Officer), but currently working at Kementerian Sumber Asli dan Alam Sekitar. And one of his comment indicated that he was having homosex with his boss.

Questions : 

Was he really an alumni of a religious school?? 

Was he really a Religious officer in Selangor??

Did he really had a homosexual affair with his boss??

Or was this just an attempt to smear Islam and further confuse the public?

After the expose by Mazidul, Tengku Harith's FB page received tremendous attention from the public. In the afternoon, he was reported to have removed the school name and also the Religious Officer in Selangor title from his FB. In the evening, he totally closed his FB page. Bravo, Mazidul!

But I am not sure if we have seen the last of him.. We'll see.

Prophet Insulting video "Innocence of Muslims" is not just a Muslim problem

It's been a while since I blog, but the making of the video 'Innocence of Muslims' have really bothered me. The video was written and directed by this individual named Sam Bacile (Real name - Nakoula Basseley Nakoula), an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian currently living in California, America.

Sam Bacile

After watching the video, I can understand why Muslims around the world are angered by this video. It is a total insult to all Muslims. And for what purpose? Why would anyone want to insult our prophet? 

I can't speak for other religion, but in Islam we are taught to respect others of a different religion. This is clearly stated in the Holy Quran...

Having said that and having a lot of non-Muslim friends, I believe that no religion in this world teaches or allows its people to mock anyone, let alone a prophet of another religion. Although Sam Bacile is a Coptic Christian, I will not be going around and release my anger to all Coptic Christian or Christians generally because I know that Sam Bacile did not make the video based on Christian's teachings. I am very sure of that.

In recent years, I have read of how Muslims and Coptic Christians live harmoniously.

1. A week after the 2010 New Year's eve attack on the Coptic Orthodox Church is the city of Alexandria, thousands of Muslims stood as human shield outside churches to protect their Coptic Christian friends as they attend the Christmas Masses on January 6 & 7, 2011.

2. In the midst of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Coptic Christians were seen to hold hands to provide protective cordon around their Muslim neighbors during solat (Muslim prayers).

If Muslims and Coptic Christian in other places protect each other, why would Sam Bacile want to made that insulting video? What was he hoping for? And he even cheated his actors and actresses into thinking that they were actually making a totally different film called "Desert Warrior", which has no reference whatsoever to any religion. The actors and actresses were shocked when this film was released, but they are powerless to stop it. click here

If there is any Coptic Christian reading this - I would love hear your view on Sam Bacile. But I truly believe that Sam Bacile's action has nothing to do with his religion.

I am blessed to be a Malaysian, where people of different religion and race can live alongside each other harmoniously. I have a lot of non-Muslim friends and I am proud of that. We have always been respectful of each other, especially on matters of religion.

This insulting video is not just a Muslim problem. It has no morale or religious standing. It should be condemn by all humans regardless of religion, race or nationality.