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i think, me myself has lost it all .. just in a blink of an eye .. i lost everything that i most hold true to .. many things that i wanted to let out from my heart and mind, but i seems can't manage to do it .. i really do not understand why is it so .. it hurt so much just to even come to think of it, and its not even taken into action yet .. i'm mumbling, scribbling jibberish, can't even think straight .. i'm not asking for sympathy or pittance .. i have got no one to talk to .. that is why i wrote this rubbish out ..

M.I.A

wow !!.. i've been missing for a long long while .. since my bestest buddy passed away last year Oct, me hardly post anything online .. Sighh .. and lately I've been busy wid my new toy .. Apple 3G 8GB cellphone .. will update more once i have the spare time ..

Between belief and reality

As Kofi Annan said in his speech to the United Nations, “We are all children of Abraham.” Yes, if the Jews, Christians and Muslims understand this then they will also understand that our religion is the religion of Abraham.

My articles on Islam always produce the same results. Those not of the Islamic faith will clap and cheer and urge me on. Those of the Islamic faith will declare I am doing Islam a great injustice and disservice. Actually, what I say is not ‘news’ to most people. What I write is something they already believe. They only needed someone else to say it so that they can jump on the bandwagon and join the cheering squad. It really does not matter what I say and whether I say it or not. Their minds had already been made up long ago anyway.

Muslims will react negatively to any adverse or unfavourable comments about the way Islam is being practiced or about the deplorable conduct of Muslims as if Prophet Muhammad himself is being criticised. To Muslims there is no such as constructive criticism. Such things do not exist. Criticism is destructive, never constructive, never mind if the criticism is founded. Criticism, in fact, must be met with violence and bloodshed.

Muslims have to understand one thing. Religion is something personal between you and God. Most people are quite prepared to leave it at that. But when religion is imposed upon others, or their lives are affected by religion, then religion is no longer personal. You have just dragged religion into the public domain so it now has to suffer public scrutiny. If you want others to stay out of your religion, then your religion has to stay out of their lives as well.

Muslims have this impression that since Islam is the official religion of this country, then Islam can dominate the lives of every citizen. How would Muslims react if Christianity is declared the official religion of Australia and therefore Christianity is allowed to dominate the lives of everyone who resides in Australia? Would not Australian Muslims become outraged?

You are free to wear a headscarf if you so believe that your religion makes it mandatory to wear one. You certainly can’t force others to wear a headscarf as much as the government can’t force you to not wear one. Ironically, a ‘Christian’ country like England (or is it France?) allows the Muslim policewomen to wear a headscarf while a Muslim country like Turkey bans the use of the headscarf. You can see lovely Muslim women in police uniforms walking around in a headscarf while Muslim students in Turkey have to remove their headscarf just before they enter the gate of their university. One Muslim lady Member of Parliament was evicted from the building because she insisted on entering Turkey’s Parliament wearing a headscarf.

Watch television. All day and all night long, everyone talks about Islam. They talk about Islamic hub, Islamic food production, Islamic banking, Islamic financing, Islamic insurance, Islamic investments, Islamic laws, and whatnot. They talk about forcing people to pray five times a day, arresting Muslims who don’t fast, arresting Muslims who drink and gamble, arresting Muslims who indulge in extramarital sex, and much more. They want separate swimming pools and checkout counters for men and women. They want to ban lipstick, high heels and bareback clothes.

But that is all they talk about. They talk about form. They do not talk about substance. They talk about the Shariah of Islam. They ignore the Akidah of Islam. They talk about the Hadith saying this and that. They refuse to touch on what the Quran says. They focus on what Islam should look like. However, what Islam should be like escapes their attention.

Sure, we don’t speak Arabic, so we can’t read the Quran since it is in Arabic. And we are not allowed to read the Quran in English since it is a mere translation and we should not read translations since translations may not be accurate and may be full of errors. How do we read the Quran then? Well, we first have to learn Arabic. But 99% of Malays don’t speak Arabic. So what do we do? Well, then we go look for a guru who will explain the Quran to us.

Okay, I can buy that. But will the guru explain the Quran in its ‘correct’ language, Arabic, or will he explain it in the language we understand, English? Of course the guru will explain the Quran in English (or Bahasa Malaysia as the case may be).

Is not, then, the guru explaining a translated version of the Quran -- English or Bahasa Malaysia -- and not in its original language? What’s the difference then? Are we not receiving a translated explanation of the Quran? Since the guru is speaking to us in English or Bahasa Malaysia, is this not also a translated version of the Quran?

Okay, the guru speaks both Arabic and English (or Bahasa Malaysia), so he knows what he is talking. Hello…..the chap who translated the Quran into English (or Bahasa Malaysia) also speaks Arabic. Why is the English translation of the Quran not accurate whilst the guru who is speaking to us in a non-Arabic language accurate?

Take the Hadith as another example. The original Hadith are also in Arabic. But we are allowed to read the English or Bahasa Malaysia translation of the Hadith. That is okay. That is accurate. But not the English or Bahasa Malaysia translation of the Quran. That is not on. That is not accurate. Why are we allowed to read the Hadith in a language we understand but we can’t do the same thing when it comes to the Quran? When it comes to the Quran we must go seek the help of a guru to translate it for us. Yes, it is still a translation since the guru is not speaking to us in Arabic.

Let us now go to the word ‘Islam’. What is Islam? What is the religion of Islam? Islam merely means to submit. So what then is the religion or system or way of life that we are asked to submit to? The Quran has already made this point very clear and it is actually very simple but Muslims prefer to make it complex. The Quran says very clearly that all those who follow the religion of Abraham are the true submitters, be they followers of Moses or Jesus. Note this point. The true submitters are those of the faith of Moses and Jesus who subscribe to the religion of Abraham. Do you see Muhammad’s name mentioned anywhere in that doctrine?

Prophet Muhammad himself declared that he is not inventing a new religion but merely reminding the Arabs to revert to the correct religion before this. And this was exactly the same message brought by Moses and Jesus. Jesus, in fact, was a Jew and he died a Jew. As much as Christians may whack me for this, I have to say it because I believe this to be so and it is my duty to say what I believe, not to say what will make people love me.

Jesus did not ask his followers to invent a new religion and neither did Muhammad. And Moses before that also wanted his followers to do the same thing. And what the three great Prophets of the people of the book asked of us was exactly the same thing, to revert to the religion of Abraham.

That is the Akidah of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. And these three great Prophets are united on this doctrine. The rest that divide us is the Shariah. Each religion has its own Shariah. And the Shariah is translated into rituals.

In fact, the Shariah has also divided the three religions to the point they are embroiled in internal conflicts. Yes, the rituals or Shariah have badly divided us -- inter- and intra-religion. And these same rituals or Shariah that have divided us have made us forget that we are united in Akidah.

Go back to the Akidah of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. It is there in the Quran. And the Quran explains that this Akidah is the Akidah of Abraham. As Kofi Annan said in his speech to the United Nations, “We are all children of Abraham.” Yes, if the Jews, Christians and Muslims can only understand this then they will also understand that our religion is the religion of Abraham. And this is what the Quran says. And this is what Muhammad said. And Kofi Annan understood this. But the Jews, Christians and Muslims do not. And that is why we are at war with each other.

by ..

Raja Petra Kamarudin

NIKON D60

Teaching of peace ..

The sermons of hate from my childhood have been silenced

Dr Khalid Salem Al-Yabhouni

One of my earliest memories from boyhood is being taken to the mosque by my father to attend Friday prayers and hear the sermon. Friday, to the Islamic faith, is of great importance for it's symbolic significance - the first mosque was built on Friday - and for the Quranic injunction that instructs Muslims to attend the mosque and heed their prayers:

"O ye who believe! When the call is proclaimed to prayer on Friday (the Day of Assembly), hasten earnestly to the Remembrance of Allah, and leave off business (and traffic): That is best for you if ye but knew," - Holy Quran 62:9

The Friday sermons, so I was taught in my Islamic studies classes at school, should be a kind of forum where an informed Muslim can enlighten the people from the pulpit about the concerns of life and the afterlife. The issues that the sermons address could be religious, political, social, economic or personal if need be. And they should follow the Prophet's example and last from 15 to 20 minutes.

That's what we were taught at school, certainly. But what I remember from attending those mosque sermons with my father was very different. The sermons we used to listen to then almost always dealt with political issues, and only very rarely with others matters such as religious rites, or moral issues. I suppose it is true that all the political sermons we heard led children like myself to begin thinking about political affairs early on in life - which in itself is no bad thing. No, the problem was not the subject matter but the tone that the imams invariably used: they were always angry.

The usual style of delivery would be for the imam to begin quietly and then progress, getting louder and louder until he was screaming into the microphone. The blaring voice of the imam would shake not just the foundations of the mosque but the foundations of all the listeners, too. At the very top of his voice, he would invariably threaten fire and brimstone, impending punishment and distant reward for all the worshippers. Finally, his voice hoarse from the shouting, the imam would conclude by cursing the enemies of Islam - as defined by his own personal criteria. It was impossible for anyone, young or old, not to be deeply affected by such a performance.

For the first 20 or so years of my life, sermons of this type were my weekly religious staple, until I left Abu Dhabi to study abroad. My first stop was Kalamazoo, a small town in the state of Michigan in the United States, where I went to study at Western Michigan University. My subjects were comparative politics and comparative religions - which gave me the opportunity to understand my own religion and the religions of the world in a more academic manner.

I began visiting churches and other religious centres, and went to services to learn about the different faiths at first hand. In none of them, regardless of denomination, did I hear the preacher cursing others and praying for their destruction. In none of them did I hear the preacher shouting at the top of his voice into a heavily-amplified microphone. The religious ceremonies that I attended were quiet and peaceful, the priests and preachers serious but calm in their demeanour - and all were most welcoming.

I did find, however, that the mosque in Kalamazoo was just like those I had left behind in Abu Dhabi. The imam would curse and scream and promise punishment and impending doom. My most embarrassing experience was when some American students wanted to come with me to listen to the sermon at Friday prayers. The imam, in his usual manner, cursed them roundly in Arabic and I had to translate what was being said to my fellow students.

After completing the introductory courses on the major religions of the world, such as Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism, I began an intensive study of the Islamic faith in all its subdivisions so that I could begin to understand my own religion more fully. Eight years have passed since then and my studies continue, but I now believe that the manner in which the sermons were made when I was a boy and in America does not conform to what the Islamic faith preaches.

Ever since the September 11 attacks of 2001, the mosques in the United Arab Emirates have been brought under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Islamic Endowments and Religious Affairs and under the direction of enlightened religious leaders. Now, the sermons are considerably more humane and deal with issues that are of immediate concern to the worshippers. Where, in the past, politics took precedence in the mosque, today, religious, social, and humanitarian matters have a significantly greater importance. Political issues are still discussed, but only if there is religious clarification needed on them. Today, the ending of the sermons are also vastly different. Now, they always finish with prayers for the well-being of all mankind and to ease the hardships of all.

I am happy that my sons and the sons of my sisters and brothers living in the more enlightened UAE of today will not be exposed to the angry, vengeful face of the imams I remember from my childhood. Instead, they will discover the humane and tender face of the Islamic ideal that was lost but has now found its place again.


Dr Khalid Salem Al-Yabhouni is a political analyst and researcher

Baby Drummer