i wish my exam answers was this long.

disclaimer: this post represents only a certain number of 'wise' Malaysian people and does not represent Malaysians in general. i use the word 'malaysians' just to ease my job of writing this.

if you are a malaysian, you should know that as far as we Malaysians are concerned, we like to discuss matters of absolute no great importance in a lengthy details even the newspapers are doing coverage of these issues. honestly i do not blame you The Stars, Berita Harian and all. the truth is good stories sell. and you want to sell your papers.

it is just that well, since tomorrow is Valentine Day, everybody (especially the Muslims) want to talk how evil and hideous are this celebration. from the Deputy Prime Minister to the commoner (me) wants to talk about it. the difference? one get his opinion published on a national level and one don't. ;)

wait, actually i do not want to talk about how evil and hideous this celebration is. i'll just make one statement about the celebration from Islamic point of views, and that is, the mainstream idea about what Valentine day is all about goes against the teachings of Islam unless you are a married couple. so there you go.

now, let's talk about we Malaysian Muslims, who goes all out to 'educate' and 'remind' the Muslims about how dangerous Valentine day is.

problem 1:

a guy from PAS youth (PAS youth divison is going to 'check and monitor' sinful activities at whatever area they had decided on) claims that valentine day end result is babies getting dumped in the trash bins. but think about it, with or without valentine day, out of wedlock babies are still being dumped in the trash bins, toilets or public places. so i suggest this guys to look into a more serious underlying issues here. why do this strayed souls decided to throw their babies away in the first place? because in Malaysia, the society (Malay Muslims) especially can be very unforgiving. some even denounce their children when they found out about the sins they had done. a strong society, ideally, should support these teenagers (i believe usually it is the teenagers or young adults who dump their newborns away) and help them recover their footings in the society.

in malaysia, raudhatus sakinah is doing a great job helping girls who had to go through these type of situation. the ladies and gentlemen behind the institution have my highest regard for what they are doing.

ok, i am not against the raid if it is done correctly. however, from what i read, it is just not right Islamically. i don't quite understand the reason why our morale police needs to spy on people, waiting behind bushes looking at illicit acts (is that not a sin?) and then when they have appropriate evidence (think hadith about 4 witness and zina) jump on the couples and arrest them. and by the way, how many ladies exactly are on these raid teams? i had heard of girls who got caught in these type of raids being treated immorally by the males. seriously, what the hell?

i agree, this might not be the case all the time, but these type of stories gets into the newspaper. the one about our morale polices breaking a couple before they went too far and giving nasihat to the couple before anything happened rarely find it's way into mainstream media. so what kind of ideas are we giving to our non-muslim friends?

i think as Muslims, we should understand that our most important job is to educate and spread da'wah to others. education is the key. once you have the knowledge, the how should you act on the knowldege should be left to the individual person. the choice is yours. to do or not to do.

what struck me when reading an article about this particular issue was what was said by a SIS rep;

"SIS urged PAS to focus on real issues affecting Muslim women such as backlog of cases in the Syariah courts.

Yasmin said SIS had cases where women waited for five years for their divorce cases, adding: “In the meantime, their husbands did not pay maintenance for them and their children.

There are also many cases where court-ordered nafkah (alimony) for children was not enforced. Men get away scot-free while women are left having to eke a living to feed their children.’’

truly, what happened to our priority? take care of the children first man!

problem 2: the christian celebration or the modern day commercialized celebration?

if you want to talk on the national TV, please, at least realize that whatever you say will be watched and scrutinized by other people, even when you are talking on a show that specifically talks about religion and social issue. when a famous lady figure in Malaysia openly made claims that Christians are the one who celebrate Valentine and Christians are the one commiting all sinful activities at club, you should brace yourself for the after effect. people are cruel and unforgiving, and the dear lady should know better about the history of Valentine day. so once Mr Valentine turned St Valentine got martyred and the people who holds him dear to their heart decided to celebrate his contribution to the society. this was a bazillion years ago. and by the way, it should also be noted that in the christian faith, there are many saints and these saints are usually exclusive to certain areas. the areas where they were once a respected social figure. and one of them happened to be Valentine and so once he was widely celebrated. but after some time, his stories was forgetten (but, no worry, wiki know it all!)

"The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer (famous for the Canterbury Tales, by the way, i hate the creepy story) in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished."

so, it is actually the Chaucer Day. Mr Chaucer turned it all into a lovey dovey thing. and thanks to the media (Chaucer was the media once) and Hollywood (i blame Hollywood for everything), we know the valentine day as what it is today. it has nothing to do with the actual St Valentine, and obviously nothing to do with the Christian faith. the poor man is probably turning in his grave everytime someone think it is his fault for what is happening today. and heck, he might be a good man, i mean, you don't grant sainthood to just anyone right?

by the way, harry valentine is not st valentine ok? he is just a cute guy from my favorite book.

please please please, keep it in your head that the modern valentine day is actually a damn effective marketing strategy to make people feel guilty about not loving their loved ones enough and that means going out to buy expensive (triple price!) flowers and gift to make it up to them. and all that entails after that. nothing to do with christianity.

blame it on hollywood. they really don't care. ;)

by the way, it is not just us Muslims who are against the mainstream idea of what constitute the valentine day, read this article to expand your horizon.

so what do i plan for the Valentine Day? call wani and sing her a 'Allah selamatkan kamu'. happy birthday dearest friend!

the post

pathetic is sipping your nescafe and eating a pack of 'nasi campur' for the glorious fast breaking ceremony in front of your laptop. in front of your laptop, i re-typed. i miss home, i miss my mum, my dad, aiman and the two monkeys. (they are popularly known as my siblings). i'm also missing the luxury of hot shower that you don't get to enjoy in MMU. what else in this kind of weather. cyberjaya is the new(temporary) antarctica before it turns back to being the boring, skin piercing hot saharan desert. i'm exaggerating, as usual.

after a long hiatus, probably due to the fake writer's block i claimed to have, i'm feeling the need write again. hahaha. honestly, i just read something so good, i think i should be able to write something of the equivalent. (???) of what on earth did i read, i'm not planning to share it here. you can im-ed me personally if you think you wants to read it.

first of all, i will like to wish all of my friend, happy ramadhan. not too late, we are only one week through. may this month of 1001 benefits make some of us reflect on our life and make the changes which are necessary, for the better..of course.

two days ago was 31st august, the day that marks the beloved nation of ours turning 52. seriously, i didn't see much optimism about the future of the land from my contemporary peers. one of my close friend(will be later mentioned as the mysterious fb girl) posted something like this 'happy 52nd birthday malaysia! and many more corruption to come!' (i'll re-check later since i'm unable to access her profile now) while for another friend of mine is so optimistic, happy and was singing along to the 1Malaysia songs!! the two are of course, two extreme polar case, but i see more of the first case situation usually. (why am i using the word case, are you both my guinea pig? muahahahahaha) honestly i admit i'm in the same boat with the mysterious facebook girl. this reminds me to what just recently happened in Japan, when the Democratic Party won the general election, replacing the old LDP. if i remember it right, an enlighten political analyst said that the people of Japan are just so sick of LDP that they will vote for any other party that is running against it. regardless of anything. are we not in the exact situation? (last year march 8th, i wonder why anyone should be in shocked)

end of that. let's move on.

i recently bought a book suggested by a friend 'the 4 hour workweek'. first thing first, he should have warn me about the price of the book. lol. secondly, i just have to say, the book is great. the ideas are fresh and inviting. i'm in the opinion that you should read this if you are already reading this post. i can lend it to you if you want.

i am also reading machiavelli's famous work 'the prince' which drag me to me confusion, great quotes and some leadership tips. the book is about how to run a country after all. my favorite so far is 'for man injure either from fear or hatred'. just so right. book owner, i'll return it to you tomorrow. this book really is not for relaxation read.

will write again, when i feel like it again.

p/s : i love my new obsession! haha

making sense

it puzzles me, as why do we need to change the existing road names in the country. i really do not want to say anything about it, until recently the Pakatan Rakyat governed state, Perak, that is where I lived my whole life, propose to rename the Silibin Road to P.Patto Road. And, you might wonder, what or who is this P.Patto? Apparently he was DAP stalwart, according to The Star

Mind you, Silibin Road is not just another road in Ipoh, it is one of the hot spot (not wifi hotspot la) in Ipoh to the residents, or ex-residents like me. There are great food stalls and restaurants in this area, and of course, the much beloved pasar malam too. (Not forgetting my favorite dentist, and no, I don't go to her anymore) I don't find anything to hate in the name Silibin, in fact it is a sexily mysterious name. (god knows what it means)

Apparently a small number of Malaysian love to waste their time, money and love to waste others time and money by changing road names without a purpose.(And why do some lovable Malays, voice their opinions out-oh-so loudly protesting to multilingual road signs? helping tourists who are not Malay language literate to find location apparently make you less of a Malay, I presume)

Petrol to cost RM 2.70 from midnight

Finally, rationality from Pak Lah. Malaysians need to learn how to be financially independent(hello, the government will be in huge debts if they continue with this) sooner or later. And, use public transport people!! Save the environment!! Besides, that will save your precious money too!!!

*meiyuin is going to kill me*

Radicals strike again.

This particular post was inspired from a 'The Star' reader who sms-ed his view about the recent Syariah High Court decision to allow a convert to renounce Islam and revert to her original faith. What exactly sparks my interest was his comment that reads :

"Rapists, robbers, assailants gets jail sentences but wanting 2 revert back 2 own religion can get death? Abdul Hakim Othman, do u even know what u saying?"

Source : The Star

Read what he is referring to here.

So, who is Abdul Hakim Othman, and what was his rights to says that Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah should be punished with death when she never ever practised this faith in the first place? It was an absurd idea, because all this happens when a Muslim chose to put hadith before the Holy Quran.

Now, if you are a Muslim and you are reading this, and you think I'm kuffar because I don't believe 100% in hadith, can you actually quote any verses from the Quran that tell us Muslims to kill any apostate? Just because they no longer have faith in Islam? The answer is : None.

In the Quran, it has been clearly mentioned over 90 times that there is no compulsion in this religion. Yes, Islam fully endorsed the freedom of religion.

Surah al-Baqarah, 2:256, Allah explicitly states: "Let there be no compulsion in religion". This Medinan verse was revealed when some Companions asked the Prophet for permission to compel their relatives to profess Islam. It has been widely interpreted to mean that no one can be compelled to embrace Islam because religion depends upon faith and will, and this would be meaningless if induced by force. Islam itself means submission to the will of God; and the willing submission of the self to faith and belief must be attained through conviction and reason, not through coercion and duress. (Source)

But, of course, radicals like Abdul Hakim Othman will prefer a weak hadith with only one single isnad (one chain of transmission or narration) to Allah Almighty words. Astaghfirullah.

The particular hadith Abdul Hakim Othman mentioned on their website :

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 260:
Narrated Ikrima:
Ali burnt some people and this news reached Ibn 'Abbas, who said, "Had I been in his place I would not have burnt them, as the Prophet said, 'Don't punish (anybody) with Allah's Punishment.' No doubt, I would have killed them, for the Prophet said, 'If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him.'

• First, this hadith is considered a weak hadith with just a single isnad (this means there is only one chain of transmission or narration) and thus according to the rules of Islamic jurisprudence, it is not enough to validate the death penalty.

• Second, this hadith is also considered a general ('amm) hadith in that it is in need of specification (takhsis); for it would otherwise convey a meaning that is not within its purpose. The obvious reading of the hadith would, for example, make liable the death punishment on a Hindu or Christian who converts to Islam. This is obviously not the intention of the hadith. According to the rules of Islamic jurisprudence, when a text is interpreted once, it becomes open to further interpretation and specification. Therefore, many scholars interpret this hadith to apply only to cases of high treason (hirabah), which means declaring war against Islam, the Prophet, or God or the legitimate leadership of the ummah.

• Third, and most importantly, there is no evidence to show that Prophet Muhammad saw or his Companions ever compelled anyone to embrace Islam, nor did they sentence anyone to death solely for renunciation of the faith.

Based on these three reasons and the Qur'anic principle of freedom of religion, prominent ulama (scholars) from the seventh to the twentieth centuries have come out with the position that there can be no death penalty for apostasy. According to Professor Hashim Kamali in his award-winning book, Freedom of Expression in Islam, two leading jurists of the generation succeeding the Companions, Ibrahim al-Naka'I and Sufyan al-Thawri, both held that the apostate should be re-invited to Islam, but should never be condemned to death. The renowned Hanafi jurist, Shams al-Din al-Sarakhsi wrote that even though renunciation of faith is the greatest of offences, it is a matter between man and his Creator, and its punishment is postponed to the Day of Judgement. The Maliki jurist Abul Walid al-Baji and the renowned Hanbali jurist Ibn Taymiyyah have both held that apostasy is a sin which carries no hadd punishment.

In modern times, the celebrated Sheikh of al-Azhar University, the late Mahmud Shaltut who was esteemed for his vast knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence and Qur'anic interpretation, wrote that many ulama are in agreement that hudud cannot be established by a solitary hadith and that unbelief by itself does not call for the death penalty. The current Sheikh of al-Azhar, who was Egypt's former Grand Mufti, Dr Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, also declared that apostasy is not a capital crime.

Many scholars, including Ibn Taymiyyah, Shaltut and Tantawi, said that the death penalty was not meant to apply to a simple change of faith, but to hirabah, that is, when apostasy is accompanied by rebellion against the community and its legitimate leadership.

Source : Sisters In Islam. (Article no longer available online)
Answering Christianity.

So, my only advice to those who think this particular decision is threatening and insulting to the Muslim community, please think again and read the Quran carefully. For Allah is the Al-Hakim who we should fear. (When you disobey His commands)