11th International FIMA Camp, 2009

Alhamdulillah, today is the last day of the 11th International FIMA Camp. But, half of my brothers had already gone yesterday. I hate yesterday. I hate today too. Thank God, facebook is around.

Because of logistic work, I had no chance to participate in any lecture, workshop, or any other activity throughout the camp. However, it was this logistics that bonds me with my dear Muslim brothers. Praise be to Allah, for letting me be around with my brothers from various places in the world and taste the bits of ukhuwwah with them.

I started writing this post only a few hours after this camp ended. But, I took a pause because I felt there were too many things to be shared with others. I needed to get things in order before I continued writing this entry. And of course some other things happened, interfering with my thinking and holding me from continuing writing. Finally, I got the motivation on the 5th night of Ramadhan to continue on with this post.

The lessons

Below is the list of the lessons I've learnt from the camp. I've arranged according to their importance in life.

1) Ukhuwwah cannot flourish with the presence of judgmental attitude. Iman will prevent us from being judgmental because, people of Iman believe that only Taqwa is the key determinant of your place in this world (and in fact in the hereafter). Hence, my conclusion is ukhuwwah must begin with Iman.

2) We have disregarded the Sunnah of honoring and respecting the Ulama'. This is obvious in our young Malay Muslim generation today. We are probably so reveled in our pursuit of "liberty", "equality", "freedom of speech", etc. that we are now crossing over the lines of religion.
3) Malaysian Muslims lack tarbiyyah. Proof: we don't care much about Fajr prayer.

The plan of action

I spoke about the above issues with a few friends and we've drafted a plan of action. We will learn more Makkiyah verses from the Quran to be better Mukmin. We will also search for Hadiths on descriptions of Mukmin behavior. We haven't got a better idea to solve the second issue besides showing good examples. For the last matter, dakwah is the key. And for the dakwah to be successful, it must be free from fanaticism, which will be discussed in the next entry insha Allah.

Hopefully, it won't take too long before I write again.

wAllahu 'alam

Good and evil are always objective

Good and evil are always objective and constant. Their nature does not change because of circumstances or ignorance. But we are taught to believe in the other way. When asked about what is good or what is bad, the best answer that we can give is "good is what's morally correct, and bad is what's morally wrong." Morality is very subjective. It depends on what people think. And what people think changes all the time. This only makes it difficult for us to define the good and the evil.

Pre-marital sex = ZINA

The way the Western civilization names certain things has contributed much in shaping the view of good and evil into a very subjective and circumstancial manner. Let's take one example. Pre-marital sex simply means zina. However, nowadays we talk about zina but use the term 'pre-marital sex' by which we will create the view that zina can be right in certain circumstances; while zina has always been wrong since the time of the Prophet Adam A.S..

Another good example is paranoia, which simply means to have 'buruk sangka'. All western-trained psychologist will tell you that paranoia can sometimes be good and bad at some other time. Just imagine how disharmony a family will be if only one of its member is being paranoid about the other family member.

wAllahu 'alam

Irony

IRONY
"Throughout the 20th century, I see people leaving two religions: Christianity and Islam. One group was peaking and the other was going nowhere but downhill. The former were the Christians."


BERAKHIRNYA
"Akhir nanti, manusia akan tergolong kepada empat jenis golongan:
1) satu golongan miskin di dunia, miskin juga di akhirat,
2) satu lagi miskin di dunia, tetapi kaya di akhirat,
3) satu golongan lagi kaya di dunia, tetapi miskin di akhirat,
4) dan golongan yang terakhir kaya di dunia, juga kaya di akhirat.

Golongan yang pertama dimonopoli oleh ummat Islam yang hidup dalam abad ke-20, Rabi'atul Adawiyyah tergolong dalam golongan kedua, golongan yang ketiga dikepalai oleh pemimpin-pemimpin masyarakat kapitalis sekular, dan golongan yang terakhir disinari dengan keberadaan Saidina Uthman bin 'Affan R.A. dan Saidina Abdul Rahman bin 'Auf R.A. di kalangan mereka."

wAllahu 'alam

PPSMI: Jangan salah nilai

Sebelum berangkat ke Putrajaya malam Ahad yang lepas, sempat saya tonton perbincangan tentang PPSMI yang disiarkan secara langsung menerusi TV1. Tiga ahli panel dijemput - 1 wakil daripada Kementerian Pelajaran, 1 wakil GAPENA, dan seorang pakar bahasa. Tidak banyak percanggahan pendapat antara ahli panel jemputan. Masing-masing secara amnya bersetuju dengan pemansuhan PPSMI.

False reasoning

Yang menarik perhatian saya dan yang ingin saya kongsikan dalam penulisan kali ini ialah masalah false reasoning yang terbit daripada perbincangan pada malam itu. Saya agak terkilan kerana kegagalan logika pemikiran itu diperlihatkan oleh seorang doktor pakar pediatrik. Doktor wanita yang juga mengajar pelajar perubatan secara sambilan itu dengan bangganya memulakan bicara dengan memperkenalkan title-nya sebagai seorang doktor pakar yang dilatih di luar negara.

Dia tidak bersetuju dengan keputusan kerajaan untuk menamatkan PPSMI. Pakar pediatrik tersebut memulakan hujahnya dengan hadith ar-Rasul S.A.W. yang menyuruh supaya menuntut ilmu hatta ke negeri China. Dia cuba menafsirkan hadith tersebut, walaupun saya yakin dia tidak punyai asas Bahasa Arab yang kukuh, dengan menyatakan bahawa Rasulullah S.A.W. sendiri menggalakkan ummatnya untuk menuntut ilmu dalam bahasa asing.

Jahil sirah

Doktor ini jahil sirah rasanya. Kalau diimbas kembali, berapa ramai sahaja sahabat-sahabat nabi yang mulia yang mengembara ke negeri China. Tidak sampai ratus orang pun. Dan bagaimana transaksi ilmu berlaku antara Khilafah Islam dan negeri China? Ilmu dibawa pulang ke negeri masing-masing dan diajar dalam bahasa tempatan.

Perkara yang sama berlaku tatkala agama Islam yang tinggi datang dan didakwahkan di Tanah Melayu. Du'at dari Tanah Arab mengajarkan agama kepada beberapa orang tempatan yang akhirnya menjadi ulama' Tanah Melayu. Kemudiannya, ulama' ini menyampaikan ilmu Islam kepada rakyat jelata dalam bahasa tempatan. Mana-mana pakar bahasa tidak mungkin menidakkan kenyataan bahawa sesuatu penyampaian dan pemahaman sesuatu ilmu itu hanya dapat mencapai tahap tertinggi apabila disampaikan dalam bahasa pertama sesuatu kaum itu.

Indahnya Islam

Begitulah keindahan Islam, dakwah datang dalam masyarakat tanpa meletakkan ancaman terhadap adat, budaya, dan bahasa tempatan. Orang Melayu boleh terus menjadi orang Melayu setelah menerima Islam. Begitu juga dengan masyarakat bangsa lain. Tidak perlu belajar untuk menjadi orang Arab. Kerana sesungguhnya yang mulia di sisi Tuhan bukan orang yang berbangsa itu atau ini, tetapi mereka yang tertinggi taqwanya.

Akhir kata, saya ingin kongsikan pandangan seorang sahabat saya tentang isu PPSMI ini. Dia bertanyakan kepada saya secara rhetorik mungkinkan ada sesuatu yang lebih besar daripada isu bahasa di sebalik pergolakan PPSMI? Mungkin isu kebejatan kepimpinan?

wAllahu 'alam