Sunday, August 31, 2008

Ramadhan Mubarak & Pantun Cari Ganti

Been a while since the previous entry. I would like to take this rare opportunity to wish the Muslim readers "Ramadhan Mubarak" (blessed Ramadhan). Let's all pray that Allah will make us one step closer in knowing Him by the end of this holy month. I also would like to remind myself and my dear readers that Ramadhan is the season of ibadah for the Muslims. Not to say that we don't have to do ibadah in the other months, but to bolster ourselves to amplify and improve the quality of our ibadah.

I recently read this interesting pantun by Ustaz Dr. Mohd Asri Zainal Abidin and I would like to share it here before I go offline.

"Pantun Cari Ganti"

Kota sarat disimpan tempayan
Zahir berlian di sunyi hari
Harta rakyat dijadi taruhan
Akhir kebencian menjadi api

Gula dan santan diuli roti
Kelapa diparut dimakan sama
Bila kebencian menjadi api
Apa dihasut ditelan semua

Anak singa di Pulau Teberau
Anak tebuan seekor lari
Jika negara sudah kacau
Eloklah tuan mengundur diri

Pergilah mandi di Titi Tinggi
Jalan tersepak tali pencuci
Carilah ganti berbudi tinggi
Bukan perompak ganti pencuri

wAllahu 'alam

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

You're Ineffiecient, You Dumb-A**

Hell, I am annoyed by some people who have an absurdly narrow view on what attitude means. These people focus attitude on mistakes others made. They simply characterize a person based on mistakes, even worse a slight mistake, that person makes. And I recently had been a victim of this unfit idea of what attitude covers.

I missed a few days of the orientation program because I needed to repeat my JPJ test. And for that, I got labelled by the group of people I mentioned above as "lacking in attitude" and "inefficient". There were a few others who did not attend the program too for a sets of different reasons.
On the first day of class, we were gathered to meet with the deans. Of course we were asked to provide our reasons for absence during the meeting. I for sure felt like it was a big crime to miss the program. And this is how the dialogue between one of the deans and me went:

Him: "Harith Fakhrudin."

Me: "I didn't come for the registration. I had a two-hour driving lesson on that day and a JPJ test on the next."

Him: "So, when did you get back here?"

Me: "On Saturday, around Maghrib. I attended the Qiam and kuliah Subuh on Sunday morning."

Him: "Did you inform anybody about your situation?"

Me: "I informed kak Ida, and a few of the facilitators knew about my situation."

Him: "What I see here is a problem with attitude. If you really want to be with us, you would have headed straight back here after you JPJ test."

Me: "Prof, my parents are both working."

Here come the stupidest question of the year.

Him: "Why didn't you drive here yourself?"

Me: "My parents don't trust me with the car yet."

Him: "Can we trust you to be a doctor?"

Me: (I didn't really answer because I seriously felt that this fellow had lost his mind. For anybody in the whole Malaysia, your license is due to you after at least 3 working days after you pass the exam. And he expected me to jeopardize my in-process license or even worse getting involved in traffic accident just to join the orientation program.)

I was asked to write a letter explaining my case to him, and surprisingly the letter matters not. Because a week after the meeting, he held an apology session in which these "criminals" are compelled to apologize before their colleagues. This is another symptom of absurdity that seems to grow in this college. What is our fault to our fellow colleagues? We can only be faulty against our colleagues if only the orientation program had been a disastrous program and they had to bear "kebosanan yang membunuh" (I like this phrase) and we were happy out there slipping away from the sufferings.

I still hope there is a wisdom to this and I pray to Allahu 'Alim to reveal it to me.

wAllahu 'alam

Monday, August 4, 2008

Kembara ke Kelantan: Pictures

I know these pictures should have been here a couple weeks ago. However, due to lack of internet connection around, I only manage to upload them up today. I still need some time to do photo editing for pictures taken at SMK Dato' Shamsuddin Nain, Rantau. What I can conclude is that it's been a great holiday. Alhamdulillah!!

Here is where we stayed as soon as we arrived in Kota Bharu.

Our pondok

Beca!!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Isra' Mikraj: Menghayati Satu Mukjizat

Maha suci Allah daripada segala kekurangan, kebiasaan, dan kebutuhan kepada sesuatu. Aku ingin mengajak para pembaca sekalian untuk melihat mukjizat Isra' Mikraj ini dengan satu pendekatan yang lain daripada yang biasa. Saban tahun kita dihidangkan dengan ceramah berbentuk penceritaan sejarah peristiwa yang menjadi tanda kekuasaan dan keagungan Tuhan. Tetapi "approach" yang mengarah kepada penghayatan dan penyuburan iman masih kurang kita lihat.

"Maha Suci Allah yang telah menjalankan hambaNya (Muhammad) pada malam hari dari Masjidilharam (di Mekah) ke Masjid Al-Aqsa (di Palestin), yang Kami berkati sekelilingnya, untuk memperlihatkan kepadanya tanda-tanda (kekuasaan dan kebesaran) Kami. Sesungguhnya Allah jualah Yang Maha Mendengar, lagi Maha Mengetahui." (Al-Isra': 1)

Apabila kita berbicara tentang Isra' dan Mikraj, kita perlu sentiasa sedar akan bahawa hakikat peristiwa ini ialah suatu mukjizat. Mukjizat secara definisi mudah ialah sesuatu perkara yang luar biasa. Begitulah yang terjadi dalam peristiwa ini, perjalanan yang mengambil masa sebulan dengan unta, hanya ditempuhi dalam masa sebahagian daripada malam oleh pesuruh Allah, Muhammad S.A.W.. Mukjizat ini berlaku di tahun yang dipanggil Tahun Berduka--tahun di mana Siti Khadijah R.A. dan Abu Talib meninggalkan Nabi S.A.W. untuk kembali ke alam yang lebih kekal. Ada ulama' yang berpendapat perbuatan Allah mengangkat pesuruh-Nya ke langit untuk bertemunya mempunyai nilai motivasi peransang semangat untuk hamba-Nya yang dimuliakan itu.

Tetapi aku lebih berminat untuk menggarap mukjizat ini sebagai satu tanda dan bukti bahawa Allah S.W.T. akan tetap selalu bersama dengan pejuang-pejuang agama-Nya. Mengingati peristiwa ini sepatutnya menjadikan kita lebih yakin dan berani untuk mempromosikan agama yang benar di sisi Tuhan pencipta langit dan bumi. Yakinlah sahabat-sahabat dan pembaca-pembaca yang ku muliakan, bahawa kita bukanlah mempromosikan "barang" kita, tetapi "barang" Tuhan yang Maha Agung dan Kaya dari segala kecacatan.

Penjual tiket bus di terminal-terminal terpekik siang dan malam memanggil orang-orang yang lalu lalang rasa segan dan malu untuk menjual tiket mereka. Jurucakap produk-produk kecantikan menghabiskan air liur mereka saban hari menceritakan kehebatan barangan mereka kepada pelanggan-pelanggan yang datang ke pusat kecantikan. Para pemikir ke merata-rata seminar dan konvensyen menghujahkan ideologi-ideologi mereka hingga tegang dan kering kerongkong. Masing-masing berhempas pulas menjual barangan masing-masing. Tetapi mengapakah kita malu, takut, malas, atau ragu-ragu untuk menjual sesuatu yang datang dari Allah S.W.T.? Sesuatu yang lebih sempurna daripada segalan barangan yang lain.

wAllahu 'alam