Friday, August 13, 2010

Mind Provoking thoughts

assalamualaikum

in the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful

So how is everyone coping with Ramadhan so far? I hope things are going well for all of us.

This is the 2nd Ramadhan in Kulim. It is my 5th consecutive year celebrating it far away from home. Somehow the word 'celebrating' is not appropriate to the eyes of Malaysians.

The time has changed. When knowledge comes to you, or I suppose when you seek for the knowledge, you become a better person in telling what is the best for this or for that. Ramadhan is like a school, where you are trained to be a better person, if not the best. You celebrate when both when your son have started school and graduated successfully right?

Let us change the ancient way of thinking. Let us ask, why do we this and that. Have you ever asked yourself who started 'IMSAK' when there was no clock or watch existed during the time of Prophet Muhammad. Is this 'Imsak' originated from Quran/Hadith or invented by the Malays?

Start asking why, why and why.

Another example, who started the selawat for the 4 companions of Prophet, namely Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali? Did Rasulullah recite this in between Tarawih? Again, is this practise originated from Quran/Hadith or something invented by the Malays.

Stop saying the Ulamas are doing this and that.

Ask them to give proofs that there is an authentic(sahih) source of this practise.

Anyway, enough of mind provoking questions.

I came across these beautiful verses.

71. Hai orang-orang yang beriman, bersiap siagalah kamu, dan majulah (ke medan pertempuran) berkelompok-kelompok, atau majulah bersama-sama!

72. Dan sesungguhnya di antara kamu ada orang yang sangat berlambat-lambat (ke medan pertempuran)[315]. Maka jika kamu ditimpa musibah ia berkata: "Sesungguhnya Tuhan telah menganugerahkan nikmat kepada saya karena saya tidak ikut berperang bersama mereka.

73. Dan sungguh jika kamu beroleh karunia (kemenangan) dari Allah, tentulah dia mengatakan seolah-oleh belum pernah ada hubungan kasih sayang antara kamu dengan dia: "Wahai kiranya saya ada bersama-sama mereka, tentu saya mendapat kemenangan yang besar (pula)."

74. Karena itu hendaklah orang-orang yang menukar kehidupan dunia dengan kehidupan akhirat[316] berperang di jalan Allah. Barangsiapa yang berperang di jalan Allah, lalu gugur atau memperoleh kemenangan maka kelak akan Kami berikan kepadanya pahala yang besar.

Absolutely beautiful, aren't they?

till next time,
assalamualaikum

p/s Long have I stopped reading Quran without translation. It's not for a mere reading anymore, is it?

3 comments:

Penanam Sayur said...

saya tabah menunggu jawapan jawapan nya...

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Fikry,

If you haven't already, perhaps sometime you could recommend a good English translation of the Quran.

As you probably know, translations of the Bible vary slightly depending on whether the publishing entity is conservative, moderate or liberal, and different doctrines are thus supported. Translation, of any kind, is more of an art than a science, which gives them this leeway. Is is the same with the Quran?

Thank you.

Frank Conway
Albuquerque, NM, USA

Unknown said...

amer: jawapan apa bro?

Bubba: of course going from one language to another, the interpretation will vary btw individuals.

here's a good website.it has both recitation and its translation.

Unlike Christianity,we have only 1 version of Quran. We dont have for e.g. new or old testament. The differences btw translation from Arabic to Malay or Tranlation from Arabic to English is minimal and it is unavoidable.

That makes us different from the Christianity. We only believe in 1 God.

We don't believe in Trinity. That would make 3 gods equivalent to us human, needing a man or woman as a partner.

The Bible was not originally in English,and somehow it is made the gold standard of the bible.

I suppoose if you could spend some time in youtube searching for videos by ahmad deedat, that would make the debate more useful and interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/results#!search_type=videos&search_query=ahmad%20deedat

I'll be more than happy to give u more info should you need one. Cheers.

In Islam, we end our conversation with Assalamualaikum, which means "peace be upon you'. Salam is also the root word of Islam, meaning peace.

So cheers my brother, or 'peace be upon you'.