Dan bersabarlah. Bukankah Allah bersama mereka yang bersabar?
Lesson: LIFE
Sunday, November 12, 2023
Demi Palestin, Usah Cepat Melatah
Monday, October 16, 2023
Miqdad
“O Prophet of Allah, go ahead with what Allah has inspired you to do. We will stand by you.
By Allah, we will never say as the Children of Israel said, “So go you and your Lord and fight you two, we are sitting right here.”
“Instead, we will say, “Go you and your Lord and we will fight with you.
“By Allah, Who has sent you with the truth, if you take us to the end of the world, we will tolerate all hardships until we reach it with you. We will fight on your left, your right, in front of you and behind you until Allah bestows victory on you.”
Thus, Miqdad, spoke your namesake - in that delicate moment just before the Battle of Badr, when the ummah was poised between resistance and retreat.
Alhamdulillah tsumma Alhamdulillah,
7 days ago, my Miqdad, you entered this world -
born to a silent warrior of a mother, quietly strong underneath her soft exterior; one who carried you burdened with the memory of losses few have experienced.
You enter into a family receiving you with open arms: grandparents, uncles and aunts ready to dote on you, and an elder brother so eagerly waiting to play with you.
Yet the wider world, my Miqdad, is not so welcoming.. the sacred is occupied, human lives are cheap, the truth itself under attack.
Thus we name you after an Ahlul-Badr - a warrior of Badr;
who was, before that, a Muhajir - one who emigrated for the Truth;
who was, before that, among As-Sabiqun Al-Awwalun - one of the first to accept the Faith.
A man who was known to be good-natured, easy to joking and laughter, yet consistently present in the struggle for the Truth;
one who led a life long and well-spent - present from the persecution of the earliest days of the da’wah to the opening of Misr, Syam and Palestine.
A man who hated flattery and kept a low profile, but is among the lofty in the Sight of Allah.
Mummy and Papa pray, O Miqdad, that you shall emulate a sahabah who is
humble, yet courageous; amiable, yet principled; modest, yet eloquent.
Ameen
Saturday, October 14, 2023
Malaysian Prejudices and Palestine
1. Malays love Palestine.
This is apparent in the many Gazan masjids and schools built with the aid of donated ringgit, in the “Free Palestine” car stickers common on Malaysian roads, in the intimidating digital attack on Israel by Malay netizens whenever Zionist violence flares up every few years.
And yes: I say Malay, not Malaysian.
Because it is no secret that while the vast majority of Malays are invested in the Palestinian cause, the same cannot be said about non-Malays.
We need to talk about that.
2. On one hand, there is an obviously religious aspect to this divide.
It is no secret that as a Muslim, Palestine is a matter of faith - not a merely humanitarian one.
After all, Palestine is the land specifically mentioned in the Quraan as blessed;
the land walked upon by the Messengers Musa, Isa and Muhammad (peace be upon them all);
the land in which is located Masjid Al-Aqsa - the first direction of prayer before the Kaaba was legislated as the qibla.
Add all this upon the more general Islamic injunctions of fighting against injustice, love for one’s brother or sister in humanity, and the sanctity of human life and dignity, and it is clear why Palestine is inseparable from the Islamic creed - so much so that a Muslim who does not care about Palestine shows a serious gap of knowledge and/or faith in him/herself.
In light of this, it becomes obvious why Islam so heavily features in the Palestinian discourse not just in Malaysia, but also in other Muslim-majority countries or communities across the world.
That being said, one cannot deny that there is a certain tinge of ethnocentricity in the Malay passion for the Palestinian cause. After all, the Palestinians are a people who have been overwhelmed by waves of immigrants who progressively displaced them from their homes. This resonates with the Malays who are inclined towards a deep distrust towards pendatang.
3. Islam in itself does not explain why Malays support Palestine disproportionately more than non-Malays.
The reason for this phenomenon requires a bit of reflection on the nature of Malaysian society:
The Malay-Islam identity has long been wielded as a tool of intimidation in Malaysia. As a sort of defense mechanism, Malaysian non-Muslims have generally developed an apathetic attitude towards anything to do with Islam - at least on the outside.
Thus when the issue of Palestine is enthusiastically fought for by Malays as an Islamic issue (as it rightfully should, for the reasons established above), this defensive apathy kicks in among non-Muslims.
In other words: Palestine is clearly a Malay-Muslim thing - why should I as a “non” care about it?
Compound this problem with the bias of mainstream media outlets for Israel, and it is no wonder that many non-Muslim Malaysians in fact quietly sympathise with Israel.
After all, the media portrayal of Israel as a liberal, progressive society besieged by barbarous backwards Arab Muslims surely resonates with those non-Muslims who entertain pretensions of being the progressive part of Malaysian society surrounded on all sides by backwards conservative Muslims.
4. In the light of the complex situation laid out above, my call to fellow Malaysians is two-fold:
a) To Muslims, be pure in our intention to fight for Palestine as an act of Islam. Is our passion for Palestine truly being done as an act of worship to Allah, or merely to scratch an ethnocentric itch?
Hence, be sincere and consistent when fighting against injustice.
That means fighting for non-Malays, even non-Malaysians, in situations where they are subject to injustice in our own country. If the Malay-Muslim voice is not heard when Malaysian Indians die in questionable circumstances in Malaysian police custody, or anti-Rohingya refugee sentiment is most strongly heard among Malay-Muslims, how can people take us seriously when we talk of “human rights”?
b) To non-Muslims, do not let the religious element of the Palestinian cause turn you away from their legitimate struggle. The world has been waking up to the Palestinian ordeal for decades, the multitude of activists fighting for Palestine growing day to day across the globe, constituting a more and more diverse swath of humanity as time goes on.
The onus may perhaps be on your Muslim countrymen to look in the mirror and question why they have not made the Palestinian cause welcoming to you, but at the end of the day it is you who stand to lose out if you choose to remain apathetic - or worse, to actively oppose - the cause itself.
The train will leave with or without you, and I sincerely wish, as a fellow Malaysian, that you are not left behind on the wrong side of history on this issue.
Saturday, September 11, 2021
On My Son’s Birthday
On this, my son’s 2nd birthday, I pay tribute to the two most amazing women in my life: my mum and my wife.
For it is in these 2 years that I have witnessed firsthand how much time, energy, money, sleep, blood, sweat and tears my wife has sacrificed for our son; the superhuman physical, mental and emotional strength she showed in caring for the child entrusted to us.
For it is in these 2 years that I thus found a newfound appreciation for my own mother, who I now realise went through all these caring for me before I was even able to bear witness.
For it is in these two years that I have found an understanding of the words of Allah when He said:
“And We have enjoined upon man [care] for his parents. His mother carried him, [increasing her] in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. Be grateful to Me and to your parents; to Me is the [final] destination.”
[Surah Luqman:14]
Thank you so much, to mama/nana and yangku/mummy from myself and baby Mukhlis!
We are truly blessed to have you both in our lives ❤️❤️❤️
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Kepada mereka yang membuat tuduhan melulu: kalau kau berubat dengan perubatan moden, kau “mempertuhankan manusia”, “mensyirikkan Allah” & “mendewakan Barat”, meh aku nak cakap sikit:
Bully with a Gun
Zionist Israel is what happens when you give a bully a gun. They talk a big game about peace and dialogue (and enjoy blaming Palestinians for not wanting to talk), but their actions speak louder than words.
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Hujung Ramadhan:
Terawih di Palestin diiringi ledakan bom dan peluru,
terawih di Malaysia diiringi ledakan bunga api dan mercun.
Orang Palestin diancam secara fizikal: zionis yang tak sabar nak lihat pemergian muslimin dari bumi barokah,
orang Malaysia hadapi ancaman rohani: hati yang tak sabar nak lihat pemergian bulan barokah.