Can you?

Can you fall in love by hearing his name and some of his attributes?

Yes you can. Strange thing that can happen in life. Is there any genius philosopher can explain this?

*******

The Other - My Dreams

I write all my dreams here, to tell myself that I'm daring myself to dream again. I will write the reasons too, with God wills.

• I want to own digital camera that complete enough to capture beautiful scenery, portrait, event, and emotion.
• Travel around the world, to begin the tour will be Turkey - Europe - Palestine (Aqsa Mosque), and set foot in every soil in this world - of course Trans Siberia Route.
• Should I, (I should) start to collect all soils around the world, label and write their description. Then, if I can access a good laboratory to record its chemical and mineral characteristic, log it, and make it as my own log.
• I will use my pen name now, without any hesitation (Asal Turabiy) so I can remember my task to collect soil around the world.
• Come back again to Mecca and Madinah, not to visit but to perform pilgrimage again and again.  
• Understand the best knowledge is to experience with senses, physically, mentally and emotion - like what Dr. Rem said.
• Complete my education to the highest level.
• Share my possession (family, time, material gain, etc.) with those who are less fortunate. 
• Write and share with passion and love.
• Yeah, of course you, if God still allowing me to spare you.

Reasons:

• My dreams is to manifest that I believe and have faith.
• To glorify God, to speak only with His name, to feel with His beautiful attributes, to hear and see His creation
• To set the same journey that previous scholar have done.
• He is so Rich, the Richest of all, so I don't need to hesitate to ask.
• Yes, to bring you along, if and only if, God's not forbid.
• To be alive again, and again, and again.

 God please guide me, and grant my dreams. Amen.

  

The Other - Dream

I wonder when was the last time I dare to dream. It was long ago. There is one tradition in my culture; the title is Angan-angan Mat Jenin. This is the most sadist tradition that I ever recalled. The story is quite simple, one young man, Mat Jenin sett off his feet to go to work. He climbs coconut tree to pick up coconuts. While he is on the tree trunk, he starts to dream of his future; his bright future to be. The saddest part is he dies at the end of the story. He was drift with his day dreams, and forgets that he is on the coconut tree. He forgets to cling on, so he felt and die.   

I can’t recall when was the last time I’m brave enough to dream. To be sincere I don’t dream anymore, and to make things worst, I just don’t dare.

But I’m grateful that I have friends that keep their entire dream close to their heart. These kinds of friends are alive when ever I meet them, every time. I can see fire in their eyes. They make future happen in their head, mind and heart before it really happen.

I want to dream. I have all the reasons to dream. I want to see my future that is no limit. They say, we create our own story, don’t ever let others to take that from you.

I see you in my dreams. Don’t ever let me go. Guide me, whisper to my ears that this path is the path of truth. Strengthen my heart and faith. I don’t have anyone else.

Let me see the world. Let me write and capture the earth beauty. Let me see people and their live that are simple; yet promising. Let me tell stories. Let me dream again, and fulfill my dream.   

The Other : Learning by Heart

If people ask me for an advice, I will tell them to be grateful. No matter the life that you live in, whether it is happy or sad, just be thankful. Although you are surrounded with a lot of people or alone, be thankful. The thing that matter is you still alive, which mean you are given, chance to change things. Though you can’t change anything, at least you have time, space and chance to repent.

I’m grateful of many things. The first and foremost is my family. They support me with the most precious thing in this world which is unconditional love.

The second is my teachers, all of them. They set good exemplar for me, so that I can follow them. They are the people of virtues and actions, so it is easier for me to verify rights and wrongs. No doubt, they also love me so that I’m blessed along the way. O God, bless them here and hereafter.

The third is my friends. Most of the time they act both like my family and teachers. Some of them are so wonderful that I can’t describe by using words.

This is the month of Ramadhan, and I can’t stop thinking about them. My friends know me as person that always depends on intellectual to make abstraction. Only then I can reason and make logical points so that I can contemplate for good virtues. Yes, I’m a person of senses, science and analytical thinking. But this Ramadhan is special, my friend shows me the other path that I can acquired knowledge. That is from the heart.

I do not know how to describe, this one special friend of mine. We are acquaintances actually, we don’t even attach as much. But God always find His way so that we can have the time of our own. We’ve been friend to each other for 7 years, but believe me; I can count how many time we actually met.  

Every time I got the opportunity to meet her, we can sit there all day long for a cup of coffee or tea. The topics of our discussion vary, deep and always inspired, no doubt. She always left me with things that I need to ponder for month sometime years.

Now, as years goes by, the only medium that I can ‘see’ her is through email which will only came once in a while.

Even so, the attachment is so strong because I can feel her present most of the time, including my important journey (i.e: my pilgrimage). She too feels the same.

One day she wrote, “Sometimes I feel that you are like part of me, the part that strengthen my hope, pray and dream. Maybe because we are used to put good words, good ways, exchange of good ideas and encourage good deeds that nourish our heart and soul.”

Weird, that is the same things that I think of her.

Now I involve with Teach for the Needs (TFTN), the non-profit education activism which have started on March. She supports me without question even I still don’t have time to bring her along to participate in our activities. The thing that brings me to tears was she donated a lot of money to support our course without asking anything at all.

I told her, “You’re too generous.”

Then she replied, “actually not that generous, trying to believe that the best sadakah is when we have few to give.”

She had few, but then again she donates a lots! I can’t comprehend till now.

She taught me other way to gain knowledge, which is by using our own heart. She is not just saying, but act; the lesson that I have long forget.  

*The heart can shows you two ways of learning. The first is the things that you can reflect from senses, but there is no action yet to be involved. In Arabic this experience is called istiqra’ or inductive of a posteriori reasoning in the parlance of logic.

The second is when action is already involved, it is called experiment and experience (Arabic: tajribah).

She taught me both. Istiqra’ helps me to understand hyphothetical or speculative value, and tajribah has affirmative or demonstrative value. This is the highest order of seeing beauty in all of things, for that I thank God for everything.

Then I read Surah Al Shams 91: 1-10

God Himself swears by using this Ayat, “By the soul’s and Him who fashioned it, and inspired it with its virtues and vices. One who purifies it is felicitous, and one who betrays it fails.”

I’m very much grateful to God who give me this lesson and at the same time model to follow. I pray she will be given Equilibrium Soul, of course all of us. 

Thank God for everything and guide us to purify our soul.

*Notes taken from book.

The Other - Names

It is quite sometime I think about the story of Prophet Adam (as).  In Islamic teaching, Adam is regard as the first Man and the ancestor of all human races in this world. The story that puzzles me is the advantage that God gives to Adam. He was given the ability of to know names.

'And He taught Adam the Names, all of them; then presented them to the angels and said, “Tell Me the names of these, if you are truthful.” (Al Baqarah, 2:31)'

My questions are:

1.         Why having the ability to know Names makes Adam superior than angels?

2.         What are the important lessons that we need to know?

The misconception of Adam story is long and destructive. We tend to read from Christian and Jews, in our terminology we called it as Israeliyyat. One of the misconceptions is regarding the fruit that Adam and Eve ate. We were told that was the Fruit of Knowledge. Some story said, the Fruit of Immortality. The sad part we tend to believe. Make it more convincing when we read and watch Da Vincci code. The fallen of human is because we were restrained to gain knowledge.  Is it true?

Let me put it in my point of view.

The important part in modern scientific world is taxonomy. This is the science to name things. Why we need to name things? The reasons is to classify, clusters, group, associate with particular behaviour, identification with its physical outlook, predict uncertainties, know its historical formation, know the origin and elements consist in that things, and thousand more reasons. If I need to list it all, it will be lengthy and time consuming.

This is the evidence that shows Prophet Adam (as) had been equipped with unlimited knowledge. “He taught Adam the Names, all of them.”

The lesson that I need to learn from this narrative that human being will be given sufficient knowledge to maintain at correct path. This knowledge will help him to determine his worldview, then from that ideology. Both of this strong foundation (worldview + ideology) requires us to act. The fruit is the trial we need to pass. Either we understand the knowledge and we act on it, or we lead Devil to win and we ourselves fail.

When we decided to act according to our understanding, knowledge, set of believe, be sure Devil will be there to tempt us.

Of course we believe that we are weak, because of that we need to cling closely to Al Quran. Believe in His Words. Although we are weak, read this what stated in the Quran, “Those who strive in Our way, verily We will guide them to the right paths.”

In this blessed month of Ramadhan, let us pray. "Oo Allah, guide us don't let us astray."

The Other - Stigmatization

Salam Ramadhan.

Atas sebab-sebab tertentu, The Other Series akan ditulis dalam dwi-bahasa. 

7 Ramadhan yang lalu, sangat mengujakan. Rahmat Tuhan yang dilimpahkan dengan mempertemukan kami dengan orang-orang hebat seperti Dr Maszlee Malik (UIA) dan keluarga, Wardina Safiyyah, Sasha Saidin, Xifu Nasir (UIA), J Sze, Joey, Alex dan lebih daripada itu Mrs. Middleton (mummy Shasha Saidin). Tempat pertemuan kami di rumah yang dimuliakan, rumah Dr. Maszlee Malik untuk jamuan iftar. Bukan sekadar jamuan iftar, kami mendapat sepenuh manfaat dari pertemuan singkat tersebut seperti ini:

Iftar + Solat Maghrib berjemaah + Sharing Projects (2 presentations dari TfTN dan Xifu Nasir (projek Abu Talib dan Najasyi) + Solat Isya' dan Terawih berjemaah + berjumpa kenalan baru + sambutan harijadi + sembang realiti semasa. 

Untuk saya paling mengujakan adalah bertemu dengan Mrs. Middleton, ibu kepada Sasha dan Zain Saidin (Oh My English). Sudah berusia 66 tahun tetapi penuh pengalaman dan ilmu. Meski sudah berumur, saya masih lihat beliau mempunyai pesona yang memukau kerana tutur bicaranya yang sarat ilmu dan hikmah membuatkan malam iftar 7 Ramadhan panjang walaupun hanya sebentar. Ini yang saya namakan sebagai benturan masa (bending time), masa itu sebenarnya bukan perlu dikira dalam konteks saat, minit dan jam. Masa itu dikira bagaimana kita manfaatkannya. Tuhan akan menjadikannya panjang tanpa kita sedar Dia sedang mempanjangkannya untuk kita.

The Other Series bertujuan untuk membincangkan tentang budaya pemikiran kritis dan ilmu yang bukan menjadi budaya Melayu. Tetapi sudah menjadi trend semasa anak-anak muda yang sudah bosan dibentuk untuk menerima tetapi tidak untuk bertanya. Termasuk artis-artis yang ingin keluar dari stereotype masyarakat yang dilabel kepada mereka. They are more than that, good peoples, hanya kita tidak mengenal di balik tabir mereka.

Mereka ialah kelompok yang berfikir secara kritis, saya sendiri rasa teruja dengan keluasan ilmu dan menawarkan sudut pandang berbeza. Menjadikan kelompok kecil kami malam itu disorot dari pelbagai aspek, tentu menjadikan saya belajar lebih banyak. 

Satu persoalan penting yang diajukan malam itu ialah, "kenapa ramai Ustaz dan Ustazah dalam ceramah-ceramah mereka terlalu bersikap menghukum. Seolah-olah mereka mendapat bicara dari Tuhan."

Baik, saya sediakan sedikit latar belakangnya.

Soalan itu diajukan apabila menceritakan tentang kecenderungan Ustaz dan Ustazah dalam program TV atau ceramah yang mengundang audien yang besar terlalu bersikap menghukum. Halal, haram, masuk syurga, masuk neraka. Satu pandangan mengatakan mereka dengan yakin bercerita pada khalayak, sesiapa yang bukan Islam bakal masuk neraka. 

Tanpa prejudis saya menerima, tinggal lagi ia perlu penjelasan supaya orang tidak salah faham.

Apa maksud salah faham di sini? Bila kenyataan begitu disebarkan Ustaz dan Ustazah kepada masyarakat, setiap daripada kita akan memandang mereka yang bukan Islam sebagai calon masuk neraka. Tanpa ada sekelumit rasa, mereka juga adalah calon berpotensi untuk mengenal Tuhan yang sebenar dan akhirnya menerima Islam dengan sedar.

Perasaan memandang mereka sebagai calon masuk neraka adalah sangat salah. Apa yang disebut oleh golongan agamawan ini disebut sebagai stigmatization. Impak sangat besar kerana mereka orang berpengaruh, tepat rujukan dan sandaran, orang percaya cakap mereka tanpa soal. Kerosakkan akibat kenyataan yang ringkas ini sangat besar dan tidak membantu orang lain untuk mengenal Islam.

Begitu, begitu yang dirasakan oleh Mrs. Middleton, Sasha, Wardina, J Sze, Joey dan Alex.

Saya terpukul, kerana itu persepsi mereka terhadap kaum yang sama kulit dengan saya. Saya ceritakan kisah perkongsian J Sze di sini (dengan olahan semula):

J Sze bercerita, "sebenarnya saya sangat berminat untuk tahu mengenai Islam. Dari sekolah lagi saya mula bertanya kawan-kawan tentang Islam. Bila saya cuba belajar, kawan-kawan mempunyai satu pandangan yang menyebabkan saya rasa sangat kecil dan kerdil. Pandangan yang sampai sekarang saya ingat dan itu yang membuat saya berhenti untuk tahu mengenai Islam. Sehinggalah saya bertemu Xifu Nasir."

Mrs. Middleton mendengar hal ini memberi respon. "Sebenarnya kawan-kawan awak bukan dengan niat untuk memperkecilkan. Hakikatnya, mereka sendiri tidak tahu tentang Islam, walau mereka Islam. Tetapi tidak mahu dilihat begitu jahil dihadapan awak sebab itu tindakan mereka begitu."

Rakan artis pula menyambung, "J Sze, jangan risau. Pandangan yang awak dapat itu bukan berlaku pada awak sahaja, ia juga berlaku pada kami. Kami juga dipandang dengan pandangan yang sama."

Semasa sesi perkongsian ini, saya ada banyak soalan:

1. Adakah masyarakat Melayu Islam memang begitu perangainya?
2. Adakah benar assumption Mrs. Middleton?
3. Memang Ustaz Ustazah cenderung begitu, tetapi adakah mereka tidak sedar impak yang disebarkan sangat merugikan?
4. Berapa ramai orang bukan Islam di luar sana mahu belajar, tetapi mematikan hasrat mereka hanya kerana layanan yang diterima mereka?
5. Kenapa mereka lebih rajin belajar untuk tahu daripada masyarakat Islam yang sudah selesa? Adakah kita merasa jaminan syurga itu telah ada?

Maafkan saya mempunyai pemikiran seperti ini, tetapi penting untuk saya faham realiti semasa.

Observasi awal dalam perkongsian ini ialah, di Malaysia kita telah menampakkan bahawa Islam itu milik Melayu bukan sebagai agama universal. Bila agama assosiate dengan bangsa, yang akan dikehadapankan ialah semua tingkah laku, sikap, budaya, sosio-ekonomi, mentaliti dan sebagainya. Untuk apa yang ada milik umat Melayu Malaysia masa kini, ia tidak memenangkan Islam dari mana-mana aspek sekalipun.

Turutan berita dari media tabloid yang lebih mementingkan berita sensasi dari mendidik masyarakat, kemudian mengeluar statistiknya yang banyak dari orang Melayu, lagi memburukkan keadaan. Menjadikan mereka yang cenderung untuk menjadi penyampai kebenaran mempunyai dua rintangan:

1. Membaiki persepsi
2. Menyampaikan mesej

Imej, kita ketinggalan dari segi imej dan diburukkan dengan stigmatization. Tetapi punca yang menyebabkan kita tidak dapat berkongsi adalah kerana kita tidak mempunyai ilmu, itu yang Mrs. Middleton rasa.

Saya pernah mengajukan satu soalan crucial kepada kawan saya yang dalam pengajian agama. Sekian banyak suruhan agama dalam Al Quran yang kemudian membawa kepada pertimbangan dosa dan pahala. Tetapi kenapa sikap kita berbeza terhadap seruan Al Quran dan wahyu pertama yang diterima Nabi iaitu, "Bacalah! dengan nama Tuhanmu yang menjadikan."

Saya tidak pernah mendengar hukum dosa dan pahala untuk perintah Baca ini. Dan saya percaya bahawa perintah ini bukan setakat perlu difahami secara literal (setakat membaca sahaja), tetapi dengan maksud dengan pemikiran kritis dan aktif. Bukan setakat baca teks, tetapi juga alam dan sejarah. Apa-apa sahaja yang boleh difahamkan dengan aktiviti intelektual.

Dengan maksud, Al Quran adalah kitab yang menyeru untuk menggunakan secara maksimum penggunaan akal, dengan panduan Tuhan. Kerana itu setiap kali pun kita membaca perlu diiringi dengan nama Tuhan yang menjadikan.

Bagaimana boleh mengubah stigmatization? Kerosakkan telah banyak dibuat, ramai orang telah berkecil hati. Mereka merasakan bagaimana mereka boleh direndahkan sebegitu rupa sedangkan yang memilik hari pengadilan nanti hanya Tuhan Penguasa sekalian alam (Alhamdulillahi rabbil a'lamin).

Saya menyeru diri saya yang pertama, iaitu menjiwai seruan baca ini sehingga crystallize dalam roh. InsyaAllah. Saya juga mengajak kawan-kawan dan pembaca yang dihormati juga, memulakan langkah yang sama.

Buang stigmatization. Sepertimana saya juga mempunyai sikap yang sama, tontonlah YouTube bahawa dunia ini luas. Tidak terhad dengan apa yang ada di sekeliling kita sahaja. Tontoni J Sze dan pengalaman berpuasa seperti link.



Moreh kami sangat klasik. Berkeliling dengan makanan ringkas seperti kuih muih iftar, buah mata kucing dan air teh. Mrs. Middleton tidak minum teh, dia hanya minum air kosong. Kami berbincang banyak perkara, tentang harapan, negara UK, budaya Malaysia, realiti masyarakat. Masing-masing tidak kekok untuk menyampaikan idea dan menceritakan pengalaman. Dan saya terlongo dengan jiwa kebajikan Mrs. Middleton dan betapa seriusnya beliau dengan agama Islam, meski dia berasal dari agama Kristian.

Saya diberi nikmat dapat mengucup kedua belah pipi Mrs. Middleton. Momen ini menjadi pesanan berharga untuk saya. Jika sudah mencapai umur lanjut, saya harap dapat menjadi wanita pesona yang penuh ilmu dan pengalaman. Dan mengharapkan keamanan pada diri, masyarakat dan dunia seluruhnya.

The Other

One thing that is missing in my culture is we never critically discuss about anything. Because we have the tendency to accept whatever stated. And a big sin is to ask why we cannot ask why?

It is quite a doctrinaire society right?

One can escape from this rigidity with reading and embracing critical thinking circle.

If you agree to it, be prepare to be criticized.

I look on criticism as a good thing. If you’re positive, the critic will be opportunity to change and expand. But make sure you’re equip with knowledge first, then your judgment will be sound.

To look beyond the box, not just outside and inside the box is a natural human capacity only if you brave enough to go further. The sky is not the limit, the will that is what limits you.

Dare to ask? This is The Other series will explore.