Selamat Menyambut 1430H

Selamat menyambut Tahun Baru Hijri 1430H.

Or do we deserve to congratulate each other on this occasion? Did we achieve much as an ummah? As we enter year 1430H, our fellow Muslims in Palestine are being slaughtered mercilessly by Jews leaving 300 Palestinians dead. That was only the result of 2 days air raid, and the ground invasion will start soon.

What a new year gift by Bush to all Muslims, and what a welcoming act by Obama, who considers Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

No point of celebrating 1430H. Time to look 60 years back to 1948, where Youm alNaqbah started.

Let's compare photos on the left with those on the right hand side. There are very much similar after 60 years.





'And do not be of broken hearts and do not grieve; you will win if you are firm believers'.
-Ali Imran 3:139

Ketika Alam Berbicara......

Mengingati kembali 26 Disember 2004 di mana bumi Nanggroe Aceh Darus Salaam telah ditimpa bencana tsunami paling besar dalam sejarah. Diperturunkan satu sajak 'impromptu' oleh penyair besar Indonesia, Taufiq Ismail untuk dihayati kembali.

MEMBACA TANDA-TANDA - Taufiq Ismail

Dapatkah kita bayangkan

dalam masa lima menit

Seluruh harta benda kita lenyap dihanyutkan air pasang tsunami?

Dapatkah kita bayangkan dalam waktu setengah jam
Seluruh pemukiman kita digoyang gempa dan hancur berantakan

Dapatkah kita bayangkan dalam tiga jam masanya
Anggota keluarga berpisah untuk selama-lamanya?

Dapatkah kita bayangkan dalam waktu setengah hari
Di sungai di jalan raya, lumpur-kayu-bangkai kendaraan
bertumpuk tinggi?

Dapatkah kita bayangkan dalam tiga perempat hari masanya
Rumah-rumah sakit dipadati pasien berpuluh, beratus jumlahnya?

Dapatkah kita bayangkan dua puluh empat jam waktunya
Berpuluh, beratus, beribu mayat bergelimpangan
di tepi dan di tengah jalan raya

bertumpukan di bawah puing-puing
bergelantungan di pohon-pohon
ditutupi koran, spanduk, bendera, plastik dan dedaunan?

Dapatkah kita bayangkan air lautan berpacu luar biasa kencang
Setinggi tiang listrik, semua dia terjang, semua dia habisi?

Dapatkah kita bayangkan tangisan yang keluar dari tenggorokan,
Ratapan naik ke awan, jeritan menjalar ke seluruh kepulauan,
Mencekam sebuah bangsa keseluruhan?

Ada sesuatu yang rasanya mulai lepas dari tangan
Dan meluncur lewat sela-sela jari kita

Ada sesuatu yang sejak dulu tak begitu jelas
Dan sebagai pertanyaan, kini bersuara demikian keras

Kita saksikan udara Aceh penuh mendung abu-abu warnanya
Kita saksikan burung-burung kecil tak lagi berkicau pagi hari
Kita saksikan puluhan mayat, ratusan mayat, ribuan mayat
Kita saksikan puing, lumpur, potongan kayu, besi, bangkai
kendaraan

Kita saksikan gempa lautan membawa tsunami
Tsunami membawa banjir air
Air mata

Air mata mengantarkan sedu sedan

Sedu sedan mengantarkan tangisan
Tangisan mengantarkan jeritan

Jeritan anak yang kehilangan ayah

Jeritan ayah yang kehilangan anak
Jeritan istri yang kematian suami

Jeritan suami yang kematian istri
Jeritan keluarga yang kehilangan semuanya

Jeritan bangsa yang kehabisan segalanya

Maadza arada Llaahu bi haadza mathala?
Apa gerangan yang Dikau kehendaki dari ini umpama?
Bilakah gerangan kami mampu membaca tanda-tanda?

Tetapi di mata kami yang ditabiri hijab jenazah bergelimpangan
Dengan panorama kiamat luar biasa pedihnya pemandangan
Benarkah demikian?

Di mata kami yang diselaputi lapisan bayi-bayi mati penuh
penderitaan

Para ibu tenggelam dalam cuka melumuri kesedihan

Benarkah demikian?

Bilakah tersingkap hijab sehingga yang tampak adalah barisan
ribuan syuhada
Yang gembira diantar malaikat berbondong-bondong ke Jannatu
Na’im
Dan bayi-bayi Aceh itu berlari-larian lincah ke gerbangnya

Di sana

Mereka tunggu orangtua mereka yang sedih di dunia
"Jangan sedih begitu, ayah dan ibu, susul anakmu
Di pintu agung Taman Firdaus anakmu menunggu."
Benarkah begitu?

Allah

Telah kami rasakan gempa di daratan
Telah kami deritakan gempa di lautan
Telah kami alami letusan gunung api
Telah kami alami banjir tsunami besar-besaran
Telah kami rasa dadakan ribuan kematian
Beri kami kemampuan membaca tanda-tanda

Allah

Luar biasa bertumpuk dosa kami

Kurniai kami keampunan

Luar biasa banyak kelemahan kami
Beri kami kekuatan

Untuk bangkit kembali

Beri kami kekuatan
Untuk membantu
Saudara-saudara sebangsa
Dalam musibah
Terbesar dalam sejarah

Amin.

Down Memory Lane - Sekolah Majlis (1)

Sekolah Agama Majlis was a primary religious school in Kota Bharu which was founded in 1917 by Tok Kenali rahimahullah, a renowned ulamak after he returned from his 22-year study in Mekah. Before shifting to the present Maahad Muhammadi buildings, this school operated from the old Majlis Agama Islam Kelantan's building near Masjid Muhammadi in Kota Bharu.

When I started my primary education in this school, it was in the process of being closed down, and it was permanently closed in 1974 when I began my secondary education at Maahad Muhammadi, making me the last batch of students from Sekolah Majlis. This school was the only primary religious school in Kelantan and its closure was a loss to overall religious education from primary level. I think my father's decision to enroll all his children in this school was a bold move since at that time, parents were more inclined to send their children to Sekolah Inggeris Islah. My father's moves were always unconventional and bold, just like his decision to leave Takbai, where he was the Tok Guru and was treated (according to him) like a 'king' to go back to Kota Bharu just for the sake of his children's education.


My beloved father, a far-sighted man, on his bed due to old age. How I wish I could be on his side at this moment, and how I wish I could follow his way of educating his children.





The system that we followed under this school was very much different from government-owned primary schools. We did not have Ujian Penilaian, we went to school as usual on the Chinese New Year, and we learned English Language only from Standard 3 (using Standard 1 book). The emphasis was more on Arabic, which was always our forte. Sometimes I felt quite inferior for having undergone a totally different system of education from my friends in the same kampung, but looking back, I feel extremely proud of the system, which managed to mould us to become not so jahil on Islam and are proficient in all three languages (but personally I think my siblings are very talented in languages, be it French, German, Japanese etc).

Thanks to my far-sighted father, and thanks to all my teachers in Sekolah Majlis, Cikgu Ibrahim, Cikgu Lah, Cikgu Wan Hasmah, Cikgu Wan Ali etc. Semoga cikgu semua dimasukkan dalam golongan 'illiyyiin.





Bilik darjah di mana aku mula belajar tulis, baca, kira,
Di mana aku mula mengenal alif ba ta, 1 2 3











Tempat aku belajar I my me mine
Anta antuma antum












Tempat aku mula mengenal ta'bir, mahfuzaat, akhlaq, tauhid, feqah dan qawaa'id

Tempat aku mula belajar tentang kehidupan
Tempat aku diasuh dididik oleh guru-guru yang ikhlas

Dirgahayu untuk semua guru-guru yang cekal mendidik

Extracting Groundwater - Think Again, Sir

When Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik announced in August last year that a water-filled underground cavern the size of Singapore has been discovered in Batang Padang area and can be tapped, I just smiled thinking that the statement was just a bargaining strategy with Pahang for the proposed Interstate Water Transfer Tunnel between Pahang to Selangor, which has been long overdue.

But after reading this article from the Star, I realise that they are really serious on this issue. Are we really desperate to extract groundwater for our consumption? Extracting underground water means further destabilising the ground, and might create major settlement and sinkholes around the area. The experience of Mexico (specifically Mexico City), a sinking city where extraction of groundwater has been taking place for quite sometime, should be studied and learnt. In KL, I've seen sinkholes appeared even 1km away from the site where we carried out dewatering of groundwater for the construction of some underground structures, damaging surrounding properties. And here we are talking about potentially dewatering an underground cavern the size of Singapore!

Efforts should be taken to put 'life' back into our rivers again and making the water fit for consumption, and the success story of UK in rehabilitating Thames River which had been polluted due to many years of Industrial Revolution is a good lesson to be learned. Do not further destabilise the environment and the Earth by taking out its water. The Earth has spoken many times, and we have to listen.

Think again, Sirs.

salaam.

BaarakAllaahu Lakuma, Izzah dan Razi

بَارَكَ اللهُ لَكَ وَبَارَكَ عَلَيْكَ وَجَمَعَ بَيْكَمُاَ فِيْ خَيْرٍ"



وَمِنۡ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦۤ أَنۡ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنۡ أَنفُسِكُمۡ أَزۡوَٲجً۬ا لِّتَسۡكُنُوٓاْ إِلَيۡهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيۡنَڪُم مَّوَدَّةً۬ وَرَحۡمَةً
'Dan di antara tanda kekuasaanNya ialah Dia menjadikan untuk kamu dari diri kamu sendiri pasangan-pasangan untuk kamu memenangkan diri kamu kepadanya, dan Dia menjadikan antara kamu perasaan kasih sayang dan kasihan belas'.
(ArRuum 21)


Doa dan ayat di atas ditujukan kepada anak saudara yang baru melangsungkan walimah, Izzatul Afifah dan Md Razi minggu lepas. Teringat lagi masa Ayah La tinggal semasa bujang di rumah Izzah lebih 20 tahun lepas di mana Izzah masih seorang anak manja yang begitu senang dipangku ke mana saja. Now you have grown up to a sweet petite young lady who smile more than you speak.

Doa di atas dan ayat dari surah arRuum itu adalah merupakan intipati kepada satu perkahwinan; barakah, kebaikan, mawaddah dan rahmah. I think all those ingredients are there in your walimah. The big families on both sides of your parents wholly participated in making your walimah a success, from recitation of doa from one of your uncles to overall preparation to cooking for the kenduri, which was prepared very diligently and efficiently, but very quietly.



That's where the barakah is, where all your uncles and aunties will give their best and indirectly make their doa for you. I'm sure that the walimah was blessed with 'barakah' and 'khair' to the finish.

Ayat di atas menyarankan bahawa mawaddah dan rahmah itu adalah pemberian Allah dan bukannya sesuatu yang manusia sendiri boleh ada-adakan. Pemberian Allah itu hanya akan diberikan jika semua yang dibuat adalah berlandaskan prinsip-prinsip Islam dan di bawah keredhaan Allah serta di bawah payung malaikat. Mawaddah dan rahmah itulah yang akan mengikat hati suami isteri sampai bila-bila pun (ada mufassirin berpendapat 'rahmah' akan lebih berperanan bila pasangan itu meningkat usianya). Semuga Izzah dan Razi dapat merasakan mawaddah dan 'rahmah' antara satu sama lain sepanjang masa, dan semuga 'sakeenah' (ketenangan) akan diperolehi dari satu sama lain.

Mabruk also to my sister and brother-in-law for a job well done. We are waiting for the next task.

This posting is also directed to all my nieces and nephews and also my children, all of whom are grandchildren of a Tok Guru Pondok.

So, next...........

Mother Earth - Have We Gone Too Far?

These few days have been very sad days for our country with three major incidents of landslides in one week. First with the collapse of a bungalow in Ulu Yam resulting in 2 deaths, followed 5 days later with the collapse of a retaining wall in Jalan Semantan damaging 11 cars, and the latest was the tragedy at Bukit Antarabangsa causing 4 (5?) deaths. The latest incident is the 12th landslide that occurred at Ampang hillside.

Have we gone too far in abusing our Mother Earth? I'm afraid that the answer is on the affirmative. We have been polluting seas, poisoning rivers and destroying hills rampantly in the name of development. We have been damaging God's creations that have been providing us with all our necessities for our survival without giving any respect to them.

From an Islamic perspective, we the mankind are wholly responsible in causing all damages on this earth and all the 'fasads' as mentioned in alQuran.
'Corruption doth appear on land and sea because of (the evil) which men's hands have done, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they may return'. (30/41)

Hills and mountains were created by Allah to perform their specific functions as stated in alQuran:
'And the earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereupon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of thing in due balance'. (15/19).

Therefore by destroying hills and mountains, we are inviting our own destruction and this principle was well understood by our forefathers and neglected by modern men. The wisdom expressed by the Red Indian leader, Chief Seattle on the necessity to protect the earth when the then US President made an offer to buy a large area of Red Indian land was described as the most beautiful and profound statement on the environment. Among others he wrote that 'the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth' and 'if we sell you our land, love it as we've loved it; care for it as we've cared for it'. The essence of it was that we have to love and care for our Mother Earth.


Technically speaking, by building structures we have been creating instability at the hillside area by disrupting groundwater movement. In designing the slope protection methods, engineers would take factor of safety (usually less than 2) as normally done on any design works. Sadly in Malaysia, there are many factors that also affect the whole quality of works, such as poor workmanship by contractors who tend to cut corners to maximise profits, unskilled labourers (who are mostly foreigners) who have no appreciation of quality aspects and also corrupt local authorities. Considering the above negative factors, the so-called factor of safety is only left on the design submission by the consulting engineers. Maybe it is time to apply Hammurabi's Code of Law which specified that:

• If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
• If it kills the son of the owner, the son of that builder shall be put to death.
• If it kills a slave of the owner, then he shall pay, slave for slave, to the owner of the house.
• If it ruins goods, he shall make compensation for all that has been ruined, and inasmuch as he did not construct properly this house which he built and it fell, he shall re-erect the house from his own means.
• If a builder builds a house for someone, even though he has not yet completed it; if then the walls seem toppling, the builder must make the walls solid from his own means

But one thing I am quite sure of these incidents is that earth-movers and excavators will start operating again if nothing happens within the next 3 months, further damaging the hillslopes. Our system is very wrong and our politicians do not have enough political wills to change the situation. Very sad, and the number of death due to landslides will be just another statistic.

salaam.

Somchai Wongsawat - Sochai Terakhir Thaksin?

Akhirnya kerajaan Thai di bawah pimpinan Somchai Wongsawat, adik ipar Thaksin Shinawatra tumbang selepas Constitutional Court negara itu memutuskan bahawa parti yang memerintah telah terlibat dalam penipuan dalam pilihanraya 2007.

Dengan tumbangnya PM ini, kita berharap agar tiada lagi 'sochai' yang akan menjadi PM Thailand yang bagi golongan menengah Thai hanyalah 'puppet' kepada Thaksin Shinawatra. 'Sochai' pertama bagi Thaksin ialah Samak Sundaravej, seorang PM yang lebih cenderung menjadi chef dan menjadi host rancangan memasak.

Such are the qualities of the last two Thai PMs, and it was clear who actually ruled Thailand. As Kelantanese, we are very concerned about these developments since the Malays there are considered part of our people-Kelantanese speaking Malays. I myself have relatives there and my father opened a 'sekolah pondok' in Tak Bai during the 1950s. As long as Thaksin and his 'sochais' (puppets) are ruling Thailand, I do not think the fate of our people in the Southern Thailand would change much. His hands are still wet with the bloods of our youngsters that he spilled during the Tak Bai Massacre of October 25, 2004, and the massacre was nothing short of a humiliation on a race and an ummah (especially his comment that the detained Muslims died because 'they are fasting'). Hopefully the 'misgoverned' Southern Thailand will have a better future after the fall of Thaksin and his proxies and all the suffering of the Muslims there (5 million people) and the unnecessary killings would stop.

InsyaAllah.


Satu Hari Di Sempadan Ini

Melihat bumi Tak Bai dari sebelah sini
Tempat seorang ayahanda pernah menabur bakti
Mengingatkan aku kepada satu perjuangan berterusan
Kepada satu penghinaan ummah yang berpanjangan
Kepada satu jihad melawan satu kemulhidan

Thaksin
Ingin ku khabarkan kepadamu
Tentang satu bangsa ini
Bumi itu adalah milik kami
Tanahnya dibajai peluh dan darah leluhur kami
Dan roh iman telah menyuburi wilayah itu
Sejak berdekad lamanya

Thaksin
Ingin juga ku katakan padamu
Anak-anak muda yang darahnya kau tumpahkan di atas bumi Takbai

Tanggal 25 Oktober penuh noda itu
Adalah saudara-saudara kami
Anak-anak yang kehilangan bapa di hari itu
Adalah juga anak-anak kami
Ibu yang kehilangan anak-anak itu
Adalah juga ibu-ibu kami
Kerana mereka adalah benteng satu ummah di bumi ini

Perjuangan panjang di hujung Semenanjung ini
Adalah tantangan satu bangsa berdekad lamanya
Ke atas segala makar dari Menam Chao Phraya
Bagi meracun akar aqidah bangsa ini
Oleh Chulalongkorn dengan dasar Thesaphibannya
Dan Pibul Songram dengan Rathaniyomnya
Dan sekarang kau dengan bahasa apimu
Menumpahkan darah anak muda kami di masjid Grisek
Menyembelih anak bangsa kami di Che He
Membunuh para ulama tanpa henti di bumi Pattani itu

Thaksin
Perlu juga kau tahu
Jasad anak-anak muda yang dipijak ditendang
Pada pagi berdarah itu
Dan darah mereka yang kau limpahkan
Di bulan mulia di tepi sungai itu
Juga anak-anak muda yang dicampakkan dalam trak soldadumu
Adalah lambang kehormatan satu ummah
Adalah lambang maruah satu bangsa merdeka
Adalah lambang warisan satu perjuangan
Sultan Abdul Kadir Kamaruddin yang tewas dalam satu tipudaya hina
Tengku Mahmud Mahyiddin yang gigih menyambung perjuangan
Tuan Guru Haji Sulong yang mayatnya dibuang entah di mana
Adalah tanda kesinambungan satu perjuangan
Adalah bukti akar tunjang aqidah yang tak mungkin padam
Adalah perjuangan menentang kemulhidan yang tetap berterusan