I read about a bunch of teachers from Turkey who are planing to go to Afghanistan: The mission: To make Afghans more liberal in their religious out look. We know the Turks are liberal, as far as their practice of Islam goes. And the Afghans are the opposite. It was this man Kamal al Turturk
who changed Turkey what it is today. But why are the Afghan so different. I have a theory to explain this. I want to describe how a religious dogma changes after many generation
Generation One: You are encouraged to keep a beard
Generation Two: You should keep a beard
Generation Three: You must keep a beard
Generation Four: If you don't have a beard, you are a bad Muslim
Generation Five: We are putting you in jail because you don't keep a beard.
Men of religions make fatwas based on previous fatwas Those Turks could consider themselves lucky if they didn't get a kick in the butt by the Afghans
Sunday, May 18, 2008
For Aida
Awareness of Allah comes at different level to different people. This awareness level can be as low as 2%. I know this mathematical expression is difficult to quantify. Its validity therefore is questionable. May be it would be easier to grasp if we use a different method of assessment. Lets say,on a scale of 1 to 10, a person's awareness level is at 1.5 and this is low. How do you assess you awareness level then?
A person may be aware of Allah all the time but that does not mean his awareness level is at the top. Higher awareness is determined by two factors:
First the duration of awareness whether it is all the time or once in a while.
The intensity of awareness in your conciousness.
High awareness is a beautiful experience because you can feel the presence of Allah. I would like to relate an incident that happened many years ago while I was driving from Dungun to Kuala Terengganu on one moonlit night. It was at about 1.30. I started saying Subhanallah the way Raihan did. Then I became aware of God's presence. Everything turned beautiful. It was as if I was driving in a place I had never been before in spite of the fact that I have been traveling along that road for years and years.
It is not difficult to achieve high awareness because Allah says He would help anybody achieve this awareness of Him, if he or she wants it. All that one has to do is to make a statement before
God that he/she wants this awareness installed into his conciousness.
Allah is real and it is as real as Petronas Twin Towers
Allah is all seeing because He says so. Would you doubt His words? It is like an orbiting sattelite
taking photographs of everything in its path. Allah hears. He hears your prayer and your supplications. He hears the words you utter and the words that you do not utter.He says so. Doubt not His words
Allah is benevolent (caring) He wants everybody to get to heaven. This is the impression I get after reading the Quraan. But one of course has to stick to the rules He prescribed
Many of the blunders I did in my younger days were caused by this absence of this conciousness
of Allah.
A person may be aware of Allah all the time but that does not mean his awareness level is at the top. Higher awareness is determined by two factors:
First the duration of awareness whether it is all the time or once in a while.
The intensity of awareness in your conciousness.
High awareness is a beautiful experience because you can feel the presence of Allah. I would like to relate an incident that happened many years ago while I was driving from Dungun to Kuala Terengganu on one moonlit night. It was at about 1.30. I started saying Subhanallah the way Raihan did. Then I became aware of God's presence. Everything turned beautiful. It was as if I was driving in a place I had never been before in spite of the fact that I have been traveling along that road for years and years.
It is not difficult to achieve high awareness because Allah says He would help anybody achieve this awareness of Him, if he or she wants it. All that one has to do is to make a statement before
God that he/she wants this awareness installed into his conciousness.
Allah is real and it is as real as Petronas Twin Towers
Allah is all seeing because He says so. Would you doubt His words? It is like an orbiting sattelite
taking photographs of everything in its path. Allah hears. He hears your prayer and your supplications. He hears the words you utter and the words that you do not utter.He says so. Doubt not His words
Allah is benevolent (caring) He wants everybody to get to heaven. This is the impression I get after reading the Quraan. But one of course has to stick to the rules He prescribed
Many of the blunders I did in my younger days were caused by this absence of this conciousness
of Allah.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
About Me
I was born in the midst of the Second World War, in a small village, 12 km from Kuala Terengganu. The first ten years of my care free life was spent in the rustic environments of padi fields, water buffaloes , fighting fish and durian plantation. However with the untimely demise of my parents, I was taken to Pahang to be brought up by an uncle there in an alien environment - a town- so unlike the village I was used to. It was a novelty staying in a house with piped water, electricity and even a telephone!
I completed primary education in Pahang, that was in 1956 and in the following year - the merdeka year- I found myself back in Terengganu, not back to my village though, but to the Sultan Sulaiman School Hostel in Batu Buruk. I was there for five years and after completing Form Five, I joined Teacher Training Program in Kelantan and worked there until 1966. In January of the following year, I got a posting to Terengganu, and while serving as a teacher, I tried my best to get a university degree because so many of my former class mates, who were smarter than me, have graduated then. My efforts finally paid off because a few years later the government offered me scholarships to study overseas, first in New Zealand later in United States. With formal qualifications, I was able to get jobs in MRSM and later in KUSZA which became a university after I left the place. All those sojourns in foreign lands have given me a new perspective of life and a wider field of vision one needs to look at the world
I got married in 1969- almost forty years today, and have six grown up children, most of them have traveled abroad either to study or to work.
Now I have retired and pass the time by writing about the old days. I also have a passion for religions
I completed primary education in Pahang, that was in 1956 and in the following year - the merdeka year- I found myself back in Terengganu, not back to my village though, but to the Sultan Sulaiman School Hostel in Batu Buruk. I was there for five years and after completing Form Five, I joined Teacher Training Program in Kelantan and worked there until 1966. In January of the following year, I got a posting to Terengganu, and while serving as a teacher, I tried my best to get a university degree because so many of my former class mates, who were smarter than me, have graduated then. My efforts finally paid off because a few years later the government offered me scholarships to study overseas, first in New Zealand later in United States. With formal qualifications, I was able to get jobs in MRSM and later in KUSZA which became a university after I left the place. All those sojourns in foreign lands have given me a new perspective of life and a wider field of vision one needs to look at the world
I got married in 1969- almost forty years today, and have six grown up children, most of them have traveled abroad either to study or to work.
Now I have retired and pass the time by writing about the old days. I also have a passion for religions
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Folks Remedy
Before Merdeka when medical facilities in the kampung were non-existance, we had to make do with what ever remedy we could lay hands on every time we were taken ill. The following are some examples.
High Temperature: My mother would take a fistful of leaves from the jambu batu tree and soak them in an earthen pot of cold water. The she would wet my face and hair with the water for about a minute and repeated the process every half hour. It worked!!
Asthma: I used to get asthmatic attack once in a while. My breathing became irregular accompanied by wheezing sound from the throat. My grand mother was an expert in treating this ailment. She would apply kapur sireh in the small depression of my throat. There was a burning sensation like a chili api coming in contact with your skin. It lasted for fifteen minutes. Result: cured after a few hours.
Fever and coughing: This was a job for the professional. A bomoh would be called in. He placed his calloused hand on my forehead and started reciting verses from the Quraan. I could make out words like Allah and Muhammad and nothing else. Immediatly after that he called out the name of a jin. He chastised the poor fellow with verses from the Quraan. Then he took a short break and started chewing betel leaves. After that he sprayed the concoction consisting of betel leaves, gambier, areca nut and chalk paste all over my bare chest. Result: Up and kicking the next day
Cuts: I used to get cuts and bruises especially on the legs. You see we didn't have shoes then. I would chew some leaves of a keluduk tree until it turned into pulp, green in color mixed with saliva. I applied the pulp on the cut: Result: cured after a few days.
Mosquitoes: There was a lot of mosquitoes. We didn't have mosquito net or insect repellants. Grand father had an ingenious way of keeping out the insects. We burned dried cattle dropping with coconut husk. There was plenty of those staff because we kept cattle under the house. The ensuing smoke drove the mosquitoes away - sort of fumingation. Mosquito coils of today smell the same. I suspect they use the same staff.
Modern researchers should take a look at these old remedies
High Temperature: My mother would take a fistful of leaves from the jambu batu tree and soak them in an earthen pot of cold water. The she would wet my face and hair with the water for about a minute and repeated the process every half hour. It worked!!
Asthma: I used to get asthmatic attack once in a while. My breathing became irregular accompanied by wheezing sound from the throat. My grand mother was an expert in treating this ailment. She would apply kapur sireh in the small depression of my throat. There was a burning sensation like a chili api coming in contact with your skin. It lasted for fifteen minutes. Result: cured after a few hours.
Fever and coughing: This was a job for the professional. A bomoh would be called in. He placed his calloused hand on my forehead and started reciting verses from the Quraan. I could make out words like Allah and Muhammad and nothing else. Immediatly after that he called out the name of a jin. He chastised the poor fellow with verses from the Quraan. Then he took a short break and started chewing betel leaves. After that he sprayed the concoction consisting of betel leaves, gambier, areca nut and chalk paste all over my bare chest. Result: Up and kicking the next day
Cuts: I used to get cuts and bruises especially on the legs. You see we didn't have shoes then. I would chew some leaves of a keluduk tree until it turned into pulp, green in color mixed with saliva. I applied the pulp on the cut: Result: cured after a few days.
Mosquitoes: There was a lot of mosquitoes. We didn't have mosquito net or insect repellants. Grand father had an ingenious way of keeping out the insects. We burned dried cattle dropping with coconut husk. There was plenty of those staff because we kept cattle under the house. The ensuing smoke drove the mosquitoes away - sort of fumingation. Mosquito coils of today smell the same. I suspect they use the same staff.
Modern researchers should take a look at these old remedies
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Show-Off MPs
Some MPs are show-off. They want to show their constituents what "Great Fighters" they are
by tough talking in parliament. These childish idiots are not fit to represent us
by tough talking in parliament. These childish idiots are not fit to represent us
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
