Saturday 7 May 2011

Come on girls! let's raise our standards.

If you read my previous article, you would understand where I'm coming from...I want to form a campaign! a call for all the Muslim women/girls in this country to raise their standards. We will demand to be treated with respect according to what the Prophet (saw) said, 'Girls are models of affection and sympathy and a blessing to the family. If a person has one daughter, God will screen him from the fire of hell owing to his daughter; if he has two daughters, God will admit him to Paradise; if he has three, God will exempt him from the obligations of charity and Jihad. (Kanz al-Ummal). Also, the Prophet (saw) said :The whole world is a provision and the best provision is a pious wife."

So, let's change the rules...we demand that the men know and fulfil their Islamic function as the head of the family. We demand to be treated with respect, NOT FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF EQUALITY, WESTERN FEMINISM OR WOMEN'S RIGHTS but from the viewpoint of Islamic rights given to women by the Creator, Allah who created men and women. Allah has created women as partners to men, she is given roles and responsibilities just as men are given roles and responsibilities.

We will not compromise. You do not touch us without being married to us. You do not get to go out with us without fulfilling the akad nikaah. We do not care with your 'threats' that you will no longer love us if we do not give in because we know that even if you do not love us, Allah swt will love us and Allah's love is priceless compared to yours. Your love means nothing to us except a love that is blessed by Allah, the Almighty creator through marriage.

You do not get to look down on us because we will be educated and we will demand that you discuss with us about islam and issues of the world because we know about our deen and what is happening in the world; and if you don't, you will look like a fool in our eyes.

And if you think that if you do not marry us, we will become old spinters and we will be frustrated. Well...how wrong can you be because Allah is the one who gives the rizk and He will find the right man for us, one who is obedient to Allah be whoever he is, from whichever part of the world...but he will be a true believer, a mukmin and that is all that matters to us.

Believe me when I say sisters, there are many good practising brothers out there all over the world looking for good pious wives; many times I've been asked by my husband to look for a Malaysian wife for a practising brother...but so far my husband and I have not been able to fulfil those brothers dreams...so, do not despair, find love in Allah and He will show you a better way.

I have no doubt that if the women set a higher standard...the men will have to follow like one of my friend quoted "A woman should be so engrossed in her love of Allah that the man will have to find Him to get to her..."

Trip to Taman Tasik Titiwangsa and the harsh reality of the youth

Today I went to Taman Tasik Titiwangsa. The last time I went there was about 4 years ago before My Luqy was born, the time when they had the 'Malaysian eye'...I thought the lake looked bigger then. I remembered going to Taman Tasik Titiwangsa when I was in secondary school, we went there for a hiking trip or 'orienteering' as they called it. At that time, I remembered the Taman Tasik was surrounded by jungle and we were doing some trekking in the jungle. There's no more jungle now....

I wish they hadn't chopped off all of the trees to make new settlements. I wish they had kept more forest reserves. KL is now so congested and for what?

Anyway, I was chatting to some of the secondary girls hanging around at the park.I enjoyed talking to them and finding out the opinions of the youth. What they told me was quite depressing...they told me that the boys in their school do not respect the girls. They would sometimes purposefully touch girls and when the girl gets angry, it seems to excite them even more...I asked these girls if the boys are Muslim, and they said 'yes'. I wasn't so shocked as I've read these things in the newspaper but I was feeling sad...

It is sad to hear how many of the Muslim youth has totally lost their way, it is as though they are simply empty shells walking around completely dictated by their desires...they are like cattles or worse...

It is bad because their behaviour is completely devoid of Islam. Islam honours the women, puts her in a highest status, to be respected, to be protected and not to be harassed. Yet, the behaviours of these boys are like apes. One of the girls informed me that the boys in her school are sex-crazed.

The other bad thing is that they are simply wasting their lives away...they have no Islam and they have no real objective in this life either...they do not focus on studying or seeking education; they are simply folloiwng their desires and will end up suffering for the rest of their lives. Even if they were to repent when they grow up, they lose out on a major opportunity to be the one who worships Allah as a youth; the youth is full of energy and zeal; if he loves Allah and Islam, he loves it with passion...he will be a true warrior, fearing nothing but Allah.

He would lose out on that...and when he comes to his senses, he will always regret this fact for the rest of his life. However, at least he found the Truth but what about the one who never repents...he will lose out in this life and the next.

I think America has done a great job in brainwashing the Muslim youth, lulling them with all kinds of entertainment and bad attitudes...yet, these gullible youth do not realise that they are being manipulated, neither do they realise that the image portrayed by Hollywood is a tiny bubble, a world of fantasy where people are happy and rich; but the reality is that they are far from happy but they feel caged within themselves...we can look at those who are the cream of Hollywood, Madonna, Britney Spears and the late Michael Jackson; has money and hollywood lifestyle brought them tranquility?

Some of the youth would say...:"but we are young...let us have some fun" but that is exactly the point, you are young and you will never have that opportunity again. A young mind is still developing, still absorbing...use that young mind to memorize Qur'an, to understand Islam, to develop good habits, to seek knowledge in every aspect of life, to question the world around you, to make changes to the world, to fight for Justice and Truth...because when you are old, you can still do all that but it takes a lot longer. I can still remember things that I learned from my Medical school years and yet, I can't remember the things that I read just a few hours a go.

I wish to see the day when our youth will the be the ones to carry the banner of Islam, to lead the world in scientific discoveries, to be quoting hadith and quran when they speak...I wish to see the future Muhammad al Fatih, Muhammad bin Qasim, Ali bin Abi Talib, Musab bin Umayr...but I feel that there is light coming from the West, a group of Muslim youth who have rejected the Western way of life and is holding fast to the rope of Allah; some of them are from the Muslim world, the Arab world and some from the Western countries themselves like Europe and US...but right now in Malaysia, I see more bad apples than good ones.

Friday 6 May 2011

The curse of Nationalism on this country

I am still reading Tun Mahathir's book, an attempt for me to heal myself and my frustrations with this place. To understand why things are the way they are, why people behave in a certain way.

If Tun's assessment of what happened before Malayan independence were accurate, that would mean that the current situation in Malaysia was born out of an artificial society created by the British. The British introduced the Chinese and Indians into Malaya; then set up segregated roles for each race, Malays in the villages with their paddy fields and fishing boats, the Indians as rubber tappers and clerical workers and the Chinese as tin-miners and commerce. Of course I believe that all his facts were spot on...but I needed to understand if some things were his perception or was it the norm.

Anyway, this artificial society was created and after world war two, the British were thinking of an exit strategy...we'll skip the Malayan Union part and go straight to independence. Malaya achieved 'independence' in 1957 but there was a problem in how to bring these 3 segregated groups together. The main problem was trying to bring 3 groups together on the basis o nationalism. How do you make nationalism the ingredient for unity when nationalism by its nature, divides and segregates people?

Islam was the only system in history that was able to assimilate different races, colours and languages into one people. This is because the Islamic Khilafah system demands the citizens to pledge their allegience to the system rather than to a piece of land, race, flag, King or country. Muslims within the Khilafah system have loyalty to the state due to their Aqeedah, the belief in Allah and His Messenger. The non-Muslims citizens (Ahl al Dhimmah) of the state have loyalty to the state on the basis of the protection given to them for their obedience to the rules and system of the state. As a citizen regardless of your race or religion, everyone is entitled to the same benefits, same rules, same punishments. The non-Muslims under the Khilafah was able to practice their own religion, their rituals, their cultural norms e.g. food, drink, marriage, divorce but they adhered to the Islamic rules in terms of political, economic, social and judiciary.

There is no hierarchy and no favoritism. History plays testament to this when the Khilafah expanded and embraced people from all walks of life, all races and all colours. Many great scholars in Islam came from different parts of the world e.g. Imam Hanifah was Persian, Al-Bukhari was from Central Asia, Salehuddin Al Ayubi was Kurdish, Hunayn Ibn Ishaq the famous translator was a Nestorian Christian. The Ottoman state also opened its doors to the Muslims, Christians and Jews from Spain during the time of the Spanish inquisition, and provided them with protection. The Christians of Palestine fought alongside the Muslim army during the time of the Crusaders invasion.

The problem with nationalism is that every group of people will only fight for their own cause, sometimes to the detriment of others. For the Muslims, it is even a bigger challenge to unite under nationalism because it goes against their Aqeedah. The Prophet (saw) says in a famous hadith "The Muslim Ummah is like one body, when one part of the body is hurt, the other parts shake with fever." 

So, to fight for the rights of one particular race would sometimes mean oppressing another, for a Muslim this could mean forsaking his fellow Muslim, inevitably hurting his own body. Hence, the loyalty of a Muslim is divided...he can never truly be nationalistic due to this conflict of interest within his own heart and mind and at the same time, nationalism is curbing his true potential to be completely loyal to Islam. He will always be half-hearted, confused, conflicted and in his actions, there will be inconsistency and contradictions.

This will result in people with no strong concrete belief, no clear objective and cowardice; fear of standing up for what is truth and just. This is what I've seen and understood so far in my observations and readings.

Monday 2 May 2011

Finding a different way to rule, a different way of life

The British painted a picture of the Malays as lazy and preferred a simple village life. However, the Malays do not need to fit into that stereotype. We can determine our own identity and the best identity in the eyes of Allah is to be a Muslim; a Mukmin (true believer), one that believes completely in Allah and His Messenger and adheres to the command of the Creator. The identity that we are part of a larger ummah and that we are equal in the eyes of Allah except in taqwa (obedience)


So, the British ruled over us in the past. They used and abused our hospitality, extracted and robbed the richness of the land, they sidelined us, deprived us and then, accused us of being passive about the country’s progress. Whatever reasons or mistakes made by the Malays...the past is the past but what is important is our progress today. We do not need to continue with the same system that the British dictated for us. We can determine our own future and we have the political will to make a change.

The British established secular rule and western-style constitution in Malaya and gave the impression this was the only way, that there was no alternative to their parliamentary democratic system. The idea of ‘the Islamic Caliphate’ was far from the people’s minds.

There’s been a lot of work to try and ‘better’ the Malay situation with different economic initiatives and models, the struggle to ‘right’ the ‘wrongs’ of the British mistreatment of the Malay people and despite, the rise in skilled Malay workers, professionals and business people; the Malays as a Nation have been unable to elevate their mentality. Urbanization and modernization has led to other problems such as social ills amongst the youth, breakdown in family values, unethical practices in business dealings and corruptions.

Despite the ‘yes colonial sir’ attitude, the Malays are far from leading the world in a major way...we are constantly playing ‘catch with the West. The current status quo constantly works against us to change our situation. It will not allow us to achieve true success in this life and the akhirah. The only way that we can be great again is through the re-igniting of our Islamic Aqeedah, to build a strong foundation of Islam in the future generations, to start solving our problems according to Islamic text without having to refer to Western solutions

We all know about the great history of Malacca and how the Malay language was once the lingua franca. When Islam came to the Malay Peninsula, it increased the greatness of the people and elevated their thinking. The Malay kings who were treated as ‘gods’ had to lower their position as rulers because Islam made everybody equal in the sight of God. The people learned the Arabic language, they traveled far and wide to seek knowledge to non-bordered lands. The Malays formed the Arabic-based writings in Jawi and adopted many Arabic words into their vocabulary. Islam turned people into civilized nations as it did the Arab Quraysh. Whenever the Islamic state conquered a land, it enriched the land and the people with wealth and knowledge. This is evident in history as places conquered by Islam turned into capital cities of the Khilafah, such as Damascus in Syria, Baghdad during the time of the Abbasids, Constantinople (Istanbul) during the time of the Ottoman, Granada in Spain during the rule of Umayyad.

Would Britain have made Malacca into its Capital city, turning Malacca into a place of knowledge and centre for commerce and industry? No! Instead under British rule Malacca’s status as a popular and prosperous port was utterly ruined.

Hence, it is imperative for Muslims in Malaysia to realize that it is only through Islam and the re-establishment of the Islamic system that we shall be great again. The establishment of the Islamic system will not be achieved through a 5-yearly electoral process. This is because if an Islamic party were to win an election, it has 5 years to rule and if it loses the next election, the rule will be transferred to some other form of non-Islamic rule. The objective of the Islamic party would then be purely to win the election every 5 years...by pleasing the people and presenting sweet tokens by popular policies.

Besides, a few Islamic laws does not make a country an Islamic state when the constitution of the country and the overall system are non-Islamic.

Another issue is as one struggles to win an election, campaigning every 5 years...one lose sight of the bigger picture which is the establishment of a comprehensive Islamic system, one that can unite Muslims and to form a strong, ideological Islamic state...the Prophet (saw) worked tirelessly for 14 years before Madinah was born, the British worked tireless for a 100 years or more to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, The communist struggled for more than 40 years to establish the Soviet Union, the idea of the State of Israel was coined by Theodor Hertz in 1896 before materializing in 1947. Great achievements do not occur through short term objectives rather they occur through a clear and comprehensive objective.

Campaigning every 5 years to form a government, under constrains of a secular constitution within restricted borders is not going to produce a great Islamic state. It will only produce a pseudo-Islamic state, struggling to keep itself alive, amidst pressures from the west, economic blockade and internal resentments.

The Prophet (saw) was promised victory and so are we. The Prophet (saw) said "There will be Prophethood for as long as Allah wills it to be, then He will remove it when He wills, then there will be Khilafah on the Prophetic method and it will be for as long as Allah wills, then He will remove it when He wills, then there will be biting Kingship for as long as Allah Wills, then He will remove it when He wills, then there will be oppressive kingship for as long as Allah wills, then he will remove it when He wills, and then there will be Khilafah upon the Prophetic method" and then he remained silent.


(Ahmed)

We need to hold fast to our belief in Allah, have a clear objective of re-establishing the Islamic way of life, and a vision of re-unification of Islamic lands, a strong force to be reckoned with that this land will be great again, and the people will be efficient and productive because they will strive for the sake of Allah, to be the best in everything that they do according to Qur’an and Sunnah; not for profit, not for personal self-interest but for the pleasure of Allah.

British colonial rule still influences the Malay mentality

The British took complete control of Malaya in 1824 following the Anglo-Dutch treaty and they encouraged the migration of Chinese and Indian into Malaya. The original population of Malaya were popularly known as Malays, the history of which was explained beautifully by Tun Dr Mahathir in his book. I don’t blame the Chinese and Indians for migrating to Malaya to make better lives for themselves. Rather, I applaud the Chinese for their hard work and being able to make something for themselves wherever they are in the world. India was under British occupation and was suffering as much as the Malays. I do not blame the economic migrants in as much as no one should blame the Indians, Pakistanis, Africans and Chinese who have migrated to the UK and US in search of a better life for themselves.


However, there was no doubt that the British was a colonial power at the time and when they colonized Malaya, it was not their intention to make Malaya a better place rather, it was purely for their own self interest and self-benefit. I think it is important for future generations to understand what the British did to the Malay people, not to hold grudges but to understand the Truth and the reasons behind it in order for us to move forward with a solution that is going to lead us to success, in this life and the akhirah.

One interesting fact that Tun Mahathir stated in his book is how the British sparked nationalism within the Malays. (chapter 3 pg 27) After WW2, the British were ready to form the Malayan Union which would give equal rights to all the races. Already in a disadvantaged position, the Malays organized themselves to form a nationalistic party. By sparking the nationalistic movement within the Malay people, the British has succeeded in destroying all hope for the rise of Islam in this region. This is in line with their international agenda. It was the British who struggled hard to destroy the Islamic Caliphate and they succeeded in doing so in 1924; following the destruction of the Ottoman Caliphate, Lord Curzon made this statement

“We must put an end to anything which brings about any Islamic unity between the sons of the Muslims. As we have already succeeded in finishing off the Caliphate, so we must ensure that there will never rise again unity for the Muslims, whether it be intellectual or cultural unity.”

Lord Curzon, Former British Foreign Secretary

So, the British attempted to destroy any possible Islamic unity in any part of the Islamic world. Hence, it is no surprise for the British to enforce the same policy in Malaya as they did in other parts of the Islamic world. They have succeeded in implanting Arab nationalism, Turkish nationalism and they succeeded in breaking up the Muslims in India into Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indian Muslims. Hence, it was easy for them to implant the same seed within the Malayan Peninsular.

Although the definition of Malay constitutes those who habitually speaks Malay, practices Malay custom and is a Muslim, however, the struggle for the Malay cause was largely a nationalistic one rather than a truly Islamic one. The struggle for Islam would be the struggle to bring back the Islamic way of life, to re-establish the Islamic system in the way that our Prophet (saw) worked to establish the complete Islamic system in Madinah, and eventually spreading it to the rest of the world.

How was the Malay struggle nationalistic? Well, firstly, the struggle of the Malays was confined within the borders drawn up by the British and secondly, it is within a framework of constitutions and laws defined by the British. There should be no doubt in anyone’s minds that despite physical independence from British colonialism, this country is still trapped politically, economically, mentally and psychologically by colonialism.

My attempt to understand the Malay dilemma

I am currently reading Tun Dr Mahathir’s memoirs.

I’ve been having a difficult time fitting myself into the Malaysian society. I’m faced with various deficiencies in the system and the mentality of the masses that is difficult for me to grasp. However, I believe we are a product of our history, our experiences and the ideas that has been incorporated within us. So, in order to make sense of what is happening around me I needed to understand the psyche of the people.

I realised that whilst the Malays were struggling in their own country, I on the other hand was fighting my own battle...I was in a far away land, all by myself. I was proud of myself that I managed my time, studies and finances well. I was independent and responsible from the very beginning but I had other battles. Tun Mahathir described it beautifully in his book about the Western culture, ”Europeans are frank and direct. Being critical is natural to their style of discourse and with it comes the tendency to run people down.”

In Britain, you have to prove yourself, to be bold and speak up for what you believe is right. During discussions, everyone wanted to speak and everyone had their opinion that they felt was right. The person who kept quiet will never be heard and nobody will give you the time of day. So, I learned to be assertive and to ensure that my opinions were heard. In the UK, people are equal and there is no hierarchy except when you show weakness or be timid, then you are the underdog.

Things got more intense when I started to practice Islam, the British used to think that a covered head was an empty head. However, I believe perceptions are changing now with so many young Muslim women presenting their ideas in the most intelligent and articulate way. During my time, people believed that women with head scarves could not speak English and only knew how to make chapatti, but it didn’t stop me from following the Islamic rule because I knew that was what Allah had asked the believing women to do as stated in the Qur’an. So, I felt strong, stronger than any un-covered women because I didn’t care about what the society thought of me and I felt that I was the one who was free because I had rejected man-made laws and was applying the laws of my Creator.

Coming back to Malaysia...I was oblivious to the struggles faced by the Malays because as far as I’m concerned I had won my battles and fought off my demons. To me, whatever issues faced in Malaysia or how the non-Muslims or secularist would perceive me is trivial because their perception is shaped by western ideas and values. To me, they were copy-cats and not the real thing so their perceptions didn’t threaten me the least.

However, I realised that many Malays have not gone through that kind of struggle apart from those in the same situation as me. I had to reflect upon myself and not to undermine their struggles. I had to open up my mind and to understand their point of view

IN SEARCH OF THIS TRUTH

  I am in a quest to search for THIS truth. People ask, 'why are you still searching for the truth?’  You have found Islam.  You believe...