Monday, August 16, 2010

TORMENTING HIMSELF

I was given recently by my cousin a facebook page by this individual who claims that he is being tormented by the act of fasting, simply because he doesn't believe in it. The hilarious thing of all is how he claims that he is forced into being a muslim (assuming from his mention of 'religion' and 'race' in his identity card) by the government out of sheer ignorance on the government's part of not knowing where to place him in religion and belief. Then, he further fathom about coming up with his own religion, recruiting about 30,000 followers, drafting a book (kitab as he calls it) on the so called religion of his morbid dream, then charging these followers of his tonnes of money for his benefit and later persuading them to commit mass suicide. This is the work of a Malaysian of ours.

Fasting is an obligation is Islam decreed by the Almighty Himself, no question asked. The thing that amazes me sometimes is that, there are those who claim to be Muslim, yet denying God's doctrine on so many things, further accusing of being oppressed by Islam, could sometimes get so worked up over their own mischief. Like how this person with this little ranting of his claims, that eyes watching him eating, text messages from people wishing him Ramadhan Kareem (so to speak) and the act of fasting itself, been irritating him on so many levels, to the point that he feels that he should share it with the world through his facebook.
There is no compulsion in religion. If there is, there will only be Islam all over the world and those who don't fast, for example, will be put to death.

Allah is most loving, most patient, most merciful and often forgiving.

"...And He is the oft-forgiving, full of loving-kindness"
(Holy Quran 85:14)
Islam is not being shoved down our throat yet we embrace it with deep faith in our daily oath, in every prayer, "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad (pbuh) is the messenger of Allah".

"O ye who believe! Enter into Islam wholeheartedly!..."
(Holy Quran 2:208)

He created angels only to worship Him and through His name do His bidding. He created us humans, complete with needs and wants, desires as well as intellect. Nevertheless, compared to the angels who are created not given the luxury of choice, we are given that luxury, to choose whether or not to worship, love and believe in Him, and regardless what the choice is, He still gives to both believers and unbelievers.

Back to this fellow. Now, why is he so worked up over fasting again? Anybody put a gun to his head and tells him to fast? I tell you one thing for sure. He managed to make me smile today. Close to laughing actually simply because I see a man, who is aware that him not fasting is wrong yet he still chooses not to because well, let's face it, doing the wrong thing is always so much easier and more fun compared to doing the right thing and instead of being angry at himself, he chose to be angry at the ones who fast. Funny how things work out. Here I see the glory of Allah Himself. Proving once again, that He is Almighty, for just by being the Exalted One, he managed to make a puny human being who mocks Him ended up tormenting himself. I am pretty sure that right now and until God knows when, he will keep ranting to himself over something that he does with the illusion that there are others out there to get him for that. In conclusion...
AFRAID OF HIS OWN SHADOW.

Here is a clipping from his facebook.



It's quite hard to read but I'm sure you can find him. One of God's creations.
To the others who ARE fasting, don't get all worked up like him. If you come across his rantings, just remember that "NOBODY PUTS A GUN TO YOUR HEAD AND TELLS YOU TO FAST".
I think, if anything else, he should be the one to leave us alone!
Now I'm laughing!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Grab The Sword of Wisdom and Don't Get Emotional

ٱدۡعُ إِلَىٰ سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِٱلۡحِكۡمَةِ وَٱلۡمَوۡعِظَةِ ٱلۡحَسَنَةِ‌ۖ وَجَـٰدِلۡهُم بِٱلَّتِى هِىَ أَحۡسَنُ‌ۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعۡلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦ‌ۖ وَهُوَ أَعۡلَمُ بِٱلۡمُهۡتَدِينَ
"Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation, and reason with them in the better way. Lo! thy Lord is Best Aware of him who strayeth from His way, and He is best aware of those who go aright."
Holy Quran 16:125

So many issues pertaining to the religion of Islam arose quite a while back like the usage of Allah by the Christians in their surmons, a politician reciting a verse from the quran in one of his speeches at one of his campaigns, all of which enraged most Muslims here in Malaysia to the point of committing arson which amazingly ironic, contradicts the teachings of Islam. Didn't the holy prophet of Islam Muhammad (pbuh) taught us to respect other religions? Didn't he also remind us to respect the properties of others regardless of their beliefs? A man of faith would act with calmness and patience. Not exactly what happened with regards to this.
Of course, when the religion is being attacked, fight back! When our faith is being put to the test, fight back and excel! Grab your sword and defend the religion. But first, get the sword. You must first get the sword in order to fight with the sword. What is the sword here? Nope! Not like the one King Arthur pulled out of the stone. Nope! Not the one the kings and queens would use to knight someone.
The sword is KNOWLEDGE. WISDOM. INTELLECT. Not prepared with knowledge, not equipped with wisdom, not having a sound intellect, hence the arson and the uproar. Be weary as to not to act on anger for only the Devil reside within that. To me, it was more like, you know the english proverb, "empty vessels make the most noise" or "tong kosong". We ourselves do not have a strong grasp of the Holy Quran yet we act in defence of our religion as though we are knowledgable and wise. Defend the religion first and foremost against the Muslims who claim that they are Muslims but deny the words of Quran. START WITH THEM! We have bigger problems here instead of going around fuming over Allah being used by the Christians. Conduct a research for you will find out that the name Allah actually exists in the bible and has been for centuries now. However, we will not get into that now. There will be a topic I will try to share with you later in this blog about His Name. A topic worth sharing as it was shared by the late Ahmed Deedat after thorough research and deduction of the Quran and the Bible, dating back as old as 300 years after  the ascension of the holy prophet Isa (pbuh) or Jesus Christ (again this name will be discussed at length soon as to how it became Jesus Christ as well as the meaning of Christ).
Anyway, back to the topic...
we have rapists who are Muslims, adulterers who are Muslims, majority of Muslims imbibe in alcohol, takes drugs, cohabiting or living together out of wedlock etc. These are what plaguing our Muslim society today. Women wearing clothes as though they are naked. Another man's wife holding and touching another woman's husband all for the sake of entertainment and we condone this? No uproar is being made about this? When confronted the argument would be, "if you can't do that, then don't act and don't call yourself an actor." The gist is something as such. This is what I meant by Muslims denying the words of Quran. The words are clear, the orders are clear, the warnings are clear. What about those who claim that hijab is not compulsary in Islam and that there are no such decree in the Quran about hijab. Yes! This statement has been made time and again by so many Muslim women out there. SAD! SAD! SAD! IGNORANT ALL OF THEM! Not only that, you are denying the Quran to justify your actions and what's worse there are those who manipulate the words of the Quran to justify their actions.
أَوَلَمۡ يَكۡفِهِمۡ أَنَّآ أَنزَلۡنَا عَلَيۡكَ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبَ يُتۡلَىٰ عَلَيۡهِمۡ‌ۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٲلِكَ لَرَحۡمَةً۬ وَذِڪۡرَىٰ لِقَوۡمٍ۬ يُؤۡمِنُونَ
Is it not enough for them that We have sent down unto thee (Muhammad) the Scripture (Quran) which is read (rehearsed) unto them? Verily, in it (this perspicuous book) is a mercy and reminder, to those who believe.
Holy Quran 29:51
The Quran is the encyclopedia for all mankind. It is a book of answers to all questions on life. Let's consider the matter of ALCOHOL AND GAMES OF CHANCE:
يَسۡـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلۡخَمۡرِ وَٱلۡمَيۡسِرِ‌ۖ قُلۡ فِيهِمَآ إِثۡمٌ۬ ڪَبِيرٌ۬ وَمَنَـٰفِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَإِثۡمُهُمَآ أَڪۡبَرُ مِن نَّفۡعِهِمَا‌ۗ وَيَسۡـَٔلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنفِقُونَ قُلِ ٱلۡعَفۡوَ‌ۗ كَذَٲلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمُ ٱلۡأَيَـٰتِ لَعَلَّڪُمۡ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ
They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In them is great sin, and some profit for men; But the sin is greater than the profit." And they ask thee how much they are to spend (in charity); Say: "What is beyond your need," Thus doth Allah make clear to you his signs: In order that ye may reflect.
Holy Quran 2:219
Now, the hadith that follows this verse, as recorded by Ibn Anas (RA), he reported that the messenger of Allah, Muhammad (pbuh) cursed everyone who was associated in any way with the production and consumption of any kind of intoxicating beverages. He said:

  1. CURSED IS HE WHO GROWS GRAPES FOR BREWING

  2. CURSED IS HE WHO SELLS IT

  3. CURSED IS HE WHO CRUSHES IT

  4. CURSED IS HE WHO BOTTLES IT

  5. CURSED IS HE WHO DRINKS IT, or words to this effect.
The Holy Prophet (pbuh) is also reported to have said:
"WHATEVER INTOXICATES IF TAKEN IN GREATER QUANTITY IS ALSO FORBIDDEN IN SMALLER QUANTITY"
which goes without saying that not even a nibble is allowed. No tolerance at all. This is the answer to the problem of growing number of alcoholics out there, Muslims and Non-Muslims alike. Which means even the so called social drinker should be avoided. Contrarywise to what is written in the bible. Paul's advice to Timothy, "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities."
1 Timothy 5:23 (Holy Bible)
 Or Solomon's sanguine yet humurous recommendation for enslaving and subjugating a conquered people:
"Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish (in the brink of death or dying) and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts (those in deep depression)."
"Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more."
Proverbs 31:6-7 (Holy Bible)
That is the solution given by the bible to the dying and depressed. Or like in most cases, depressed first then drink your life away to death. Now, for the Muslims who enjoy imbibing alcohol and proudly expose their filthy dirty habit, without shame in public, for all to see, between the verses from the Quran and the Bible, take your pick. Would you rather be approached to as a human being with a little dignity left and having someone constantly reminding you with utmost clarity in his words, well structured articulation of the words,  or be someone whose existence is insignificant that your plight in life or your suffering in dying, is for you to drink and in the end bother no one. INSIGNIFICANT! UNIMPORTANT!

The problem with the Muslims here in Malaysia, the Malay Muslims especially is that, like a little child, they are impressionable. They tend to follow almost anything. The sad thing is, that because of sheer ignorance, they tend to follow what is wrong for THE WRONG IS ALWAYS EASIER. AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, "NO SHORTCUTS TO PARADISE". LAZY MALAY MUSLIMS! If the second alternative is the choice then don't call yourself a Muslim because of your denial of Quran and the Hadith from our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).