3F: Fear, Freedom and Faith

         Assalamualaikum (Peace be upon you) and hello readers. Lately media have been swarmed by countless news and future events regarding Muslims and Islam. Many irrelevant diatribes, illogical misunderstandings and immoral behaviors bombarded the Muslim community in the USA. Some claimed to be overnight “professionals” in Islam by confidently talking about it. Not less declared to be great “idealists”  by discussing about the idea of terrorists’ triumph if the Islamic Center built near the Ground Zero – the place where the tragedy 9/11 took place in 2001. Unfortunately, all these “professionals” and “idealists” weren’t utterly aware of what had been happening all around the globe. They just had the sudden urge to speak and took so-called leadership to further make the world confused about the already confusing views on Islam. So every one of them came with the best bets they had in hand. That was how the words - fear, freedom and faith – came into the landscape of current discussion. Come on!!! Who are we kidding? Fifth graders? I guess the fifth graders are by far smarter than most of us. Sigh!

         First let me discuss about FEAR and see what is really happening in the dark where no one sees it. Years after the attack of the 9/11, people were still perplexed and clueless about what Islam is, especially in the United States. Out of the bewilderment, they just concluded that Islam is terrorism and abandoned the impulse to understand the religion. Then the word Islamophobia emerged in the American society in the early 21^st century. Islamophobia existed because people are afraid of Islam due to a lack of apprehension about it. (Really? We were already in the 21th century when this thing was happening? How come a self proclaimed well-educated society like Americans becomes so close-minded about a religion?) The misinterpretation about Islam had been continuing until people started to reach the dawn of comprehending Islam. Yet, some politicians wittily manipulated the sensational events for their advantages and shamefully placed their opponents in difficult position. Advocating the Americans rights, condemning/praising the religion and its adherents have been burgeoning up till today. This hot-potato topic really picked up some moment to the stage of reaching to the point of no return. As usual, many huge figures unexpectedly expressed their 5-cent concerns to get cheap publicity without really putting things into action. Read here for more.

         In the meanwhile, FREEDOM also plays a major part in the interreligious debate. The United States has been taking pride in her “sincere” freedom over practically anything we can imagine. Americans always boast about their active participations in setting the world free from any “abusive” dependence according to their eyes. Hence they devise freedom of speech in the First Amendment in the United States Constitution. This freedom is not specifically meant to tackle the speech alone but also to be extended to generally anything unlimited by barriers/boundaries. That’s good but the problem is, the hypocrites take the liberty to bend the rule as they like and try to hide the truth from the uneducated and cynical. So a perfect storm occurs when freedom of speech meets head-to-head with freedom of religion. Hate-mongers and peace-makers look alike and true information stay buried in the crusade. This is what the US Constitution obviously fails to tackle and contain. See what Americans say about the Quran burning event here.

       In the midst of ups and downs of world’s religious troubles, the educated take a brilliant step by staying put and let the turbulence to recede before executing any honest, healing duty. They persist to have a FAITH in mankind. They are the actual advocates who genuinely understand the gravity of the situations. For understanding non-Muslims, they still believe in harmony and try to stay optimistic in this difficult times. Hopefully faithful Muslims take a high road and keep living their Islamic way of life. I think this knucklehead’s programs are not long to stay in the picture. Enlighten about the current event of building a mosque near Ground Zero here.

        In the nutshell, let’s be more critical in judging what is really happening around us. Be more observant and take time in gathering right information, conquering personal fears and getting ready to face tomorrow’s greater challenges. The truth will prevail. Insyaallah (God willing). 

Ramadhan:Leaving or being left?

       Subahanallah (Glory be to Allah), we have reached the last 10 days of holy Ramadhan. Everything passes so swiftly without realizing that we are almost finished with Ramadhan. I hope Muslims have been appreciating this month the way it deserves. Like a norm during this last section of Ramadhan, many Muslims find themselves preoccupied with Eid Fitr preparations as the event is approaching fast. This is a bitter-sweet situation in the Muslim society. We are so obsessed with celebrations, events, and festivals and we forget something more important which is increasing our Ibadah to Allah, especially during this last 10 days of Ramadhan. It is being reported frequently that the Lailatul Qadr most likely to fall on one of the nights in this last 10 days of Ramadhan. The truth behind it stays hidden and no one actually knows when it is. I guess the silver lining behind it is, just do your Ibadah every night in Ramadhan.

       In this phase of Ramadhan as a Muslim from Malaysia, my society and I have our own tradition in celebrating the upcoming festival, Eid Fitr. Most housewives and moms are super-duper busy with their recipes of crunchy cookies and delectable cakes. It’s like a competition on who can make the most delicious cookies and cakes ever. Don’t get me wrong. I like those treats and I am really looking forward for those. Who doesn’t like Malaysian cookies and cakes, right? The problem is, is it worth it to abandon the call to increase your Ibadah just for the sake of food and treats? If we analyze the reality behind it, it is about the trade-off and we really have to choose somewhere in between. Like a quote that we always hear, “Work like you live forever, do Ibadah like you die tomorrow.” Who says we have to leave the worldly activities and just do Ibadah all day long? So remember, it is about the trade-off.

      Islam is beautiful in every way if we take it as a whole, not just parts of it. That’s why many Islamic scholars promote Islam as a way of life instead of just a religion. It is so inclusive that it starts from the very moment we wake up in the morning to the second we go to bed at night, from the very moment we are born to the second we are buried in the grave. Everything has been delicately and beautifully outlined in the orderly manner.

      Right now I am trying to measure how much different I am as a person before, during and soon after Ramadhan. Am I just the same person that I used to be? If the answer is yes, I am missing the opportunities in bettering myself. If the answer is no, I have to be more than anxious of the answer. Whatever the answer is, it is not too late for me to take this last section of Ramadhan as seriously as I possibly can to further improve myself as a person in general and as a Muslim in particular. For others, let’s decorate this Ramadhan with Quran recitals, prayers, and charity and continue doing those for the rest of our lives. That’s the real teaching behind Ramadhan which is transforming Muslims to be better Khalifahs in the world.  Insyaallah (God will).

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"Ramadan is the (month) in which the Quran was sent down, as a guide to mankind and a clear guidance and judgment (so that mankind will distinguish from right and wrong).." (Q 2:183)

Celebrating 53rd Independence Day of Malaysia: How Far We’ve Come…

       The Independence Day celebration of 2010 was no less when compared to the previous ones that we had had in the past. Everything was extravagant, loud and vibrant. That is Malaysia. We are proud of who we are and we really want to keep it that way. (At least I want it to be that way). We take pride of every bit and every little difference we have and transform it into a greater thing – more than the sum of individual parts. That makes Malaysia special and unique. It is so special and so unique that I would say no countries in the world are like her. So here I am, proclaiming that I am officially proud to be a Malaysian.

       In Malaysia, we have many different yet amicable races – Malays, Chinese, Indians and aborigines. No one can deny our colorful and harmonious interrelationships between these races. So it is very synonymous to use “Malaysia, Truly Asia” as our slogan to promote Malaysia to the world because we do offer that full package. People from the outside always envy our harmony and say “it is too good to be true”. Yeah… that’s right. It is so because they don’t know how much we have to compromise among us to make it happen. And that’s where our true strength lies.

       Even though it has been 53 years we achieved the independence from England. The real independence is still not fully achieved. The fights and struggles are still far from over. Like the 4^th Prime Minister of Malaysia said “Getting the independence is hard, and it is much harder to fulfill the meaning of it”. Yes I have to agree with him. Many don’t realize how difficult it is to fulfill the independence with a meaningful progress to show that Malaysia is worth of her independence.

      When I look back on what we have and what we do to fulfill the independence, I feel something is missing, something is not right, something is just not that good enough. I keep asking myself what it is, what is the missing jigsaw puzzle in the big picture? Unfortunately it comes to my realization that it is about true independence in us all - how much we’ve grown up not just grown old, and how mature we are in tackling the current turbulences in politics, economy and social.

      Currently we are confronting with a handful of unprecedented troubles - religious feuds, racial incitement, economic instability and political reformations. This train of challenging situations is just a starting point to test whether we are ready to face them up front or not. I hope we really learned from the history. If we can face these problems and rise from the ashes, we can be a lot stronger and more united in tackling any future challenges. Believe it or not, this is just the very first bite of responsibility of having independence. I know it is difficult and please don’t get panicked. Let’s take our time to sort things out. Happy Independence Day, Malaysia. May Allah bless Malaysia with harmony and prosperity.

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely  ~Auguste Rodin~

My Heart starts racing again…

          Sigh! I am here to talk about the same old story about my studies. As of now, my studies are not going so well. I guess it is about the feelings of exhaustion, fed up, under pressure and burned-out.  I believe these feelings have been tormenting all grad students throughout the ages, because I have read a lot of complaints in the internet over the “suck”ness of grad studies. Lately the feelings are so overwhelmed and they start to affect my life so much in every way I can possibly imagine.

          I asked a friend of mine about my problems. Thank god, he is the same shoes I am in - doing his PhD (permanent head damage, as I like to call it). He suggested me to return to God and religion and I am doing it right now. It does help a lot; but now I am worried about different things. About what I actually did for the last 12 months since I entered the program. Is my progress substantial? Are my efforts significant? Personally, I like to believe that they are just OK. To be honest, they are utterly not. I don’t really have much of a progress lately. My performance is diminishing. Obviously if I take a diagnostic test I would probably downright FAIL.

          My recent situation is kind of unprecedented to me. I am juggling with a million issues at once.  To make the matter worse, I start confronting with my emotional struggles. Qualifying exams, textbooks, classes, research, supervisor, journals - they are just raining on me with no signs of stopping soon. My control over the matters is deteriorating. My performance is plummeting. I am physically exhausted and mentally jaded. I really need a plan, a very good schedule and stick with them. The only thing I can do right now is to hope that the situation is not getting any worse.

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Turning your dreams to shames...

     This time I want to talk about thing that we don’t like to hear but it is happening everywhere and many people who listen to it just let that thing haunts them forever. Don’t worry. Let us put a BIG PERIOD to it. It is about people who like to turn other people’s dreams to shames. Yes, you heard me. There is a kind of people who live just to do this because their lives are just miserable and they want other people feel miserable too.

     All these years, I let this kind of people to take control of my life and me. I always play a passive role in my own life. Now, guess what? It is so over. I am taking charge. I don’t care what kind of crap you talk about, what kind of garbage you force into my mind. I am not going to accept them anymore. Sorry Mr. Miserable, you are so not welcome. So friends, let me tell you what kind of people they are. Give me some time to walk you down aisle by aisle. Listen carefully.

• Firstly, they try to be your friends and, of course, friends with benefits. At this very young state you feel you may have found the “bestest” friends in life.

• Next, they can’t help but to know your lifestyle. Not to label them but they are creative and will learn it by heart.

• Then, their greedy fingers get nosy into your life. They pretend to be your friends yet they are just your life-destroyers.

• In no time, you feel comfortable their existence around you. They make sure you feel that you need them. On the contrary, they need you in order to be parasites.

• Now, their little yet working scheme is infecting you. They ask you to do things you don’t want to do, or, things you shouldn't do.

• It is easy to deduce. Their existence is just to see whether you are strong or weak. If you are strong, you rise burning above the ashes. If you are weak, they pull you down into rabbit holes where misery and darkness are the only companions you have.

Then when you talk about dreams, hopes and aspirations to them they laugh. They mock you. They push you flat on the ground. When you get agitated and upset, they get angry at you and say you can’t take jokes. When you say “stop it”, they say you are a MORON. That is a world that you are living in right now. To dream-breakers, the world doesn’t need you.