Kalau pergi Kuala Kubu, tulis nama atas batu

"Islam is the Solution"

Since several years ago, I have been exposed with PKS or Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, whether by the reading or the religious lecture. It is very interesting to observe how Islamic parties in Indonesia survive especially after democracy was reestablish there. Fortunately, I found one article (below) in Scribd that enhance my knowledge and understanding regarding PKS and other Indonesian Islamic Organization especially Masyumi's inheritor - the first Islamic party in Indonesia led by Muhammad Natsir which was banned by Soekarno. 

“Islam is the Solution”
Dakwah and Democracy in Indonesia

The bomb blasts that rocked Bali on October 12, 2002 and killed 202 people have led to a new concern with the Islamic revival that emerged in Indonesia under the New Order in the 1980s. Although there is a long history of bombings in Indonesia—the national news magazine Tempo lists 20 since July 4, 2000 and another list compiled by the Volunteer Team for Humanitarian Aid from various sources lists 64 bombings between 1962 and 2002—Indonesians were shocked by the target chosen (foreign tourists) and the size of the bomb.2 Immediately speculation arose about who was behind the bombing. Initially, many Indonesians were certain that this bomb was too big to be the work of local terrorists. Some were suspicious that the Indonesian military might be involved, but most people seemed to prefer the theory that the CIA (or possibly Mossad) was behind the bombing.3 Western intelligence agencies were accused of plotting the bombing in order to discredit Islam and pressure Indonesia’s government into supporting the American war against terrorism.
 
At the time of the bombing, I was teaching a seminar on globalization at the State Islamic University (UIN Syarif Hidayatullah) in Jakarta. I found that all of my student were suspicious that the United States was behind the bombing. They brought me articles from the Islamist magazine Sabili and from websites to support their belief that Western intelligence organizations were involved.4 Over the following months, I found that this suspicion lingered on despite police investigations that uncovered Jemaah Islamiah (JI), an underground network of Islamists fighting for the establishment of an Islamic State in Southeast Asia. Even after the arrest of 83 members of JI as of August 2003 doubts persisted.5 A little over a year after the Bali bombing, polls showed that less than half the Indonesian public believed that JI exists.6 The belief that the bombings were engineered by an intelligence agency to discredit Islam is particularly strong among Muslim students, among whom there is growing acceptance of the idea that the Islamic world is under attack by Western forces. This view has been promoted by a movement of religious purification and intensification (dakwah) that has been reshaping the face of Indonesian Islam over the last three decades.
 
Dakwah is conducted by all Islamic organizations as a religious obligation, and it includes both spreading the faith to unbelievers and providing a better understanding of Islam to nominal Muslims. However, the dakwah movement that operated underground or with a low profile under the New Order was an Islamist movement that targeted university students. Islamist refers to those who maintain that Muslims must struggle to establish an Islamic government and shari’ah (Islamic law) in majority Muslim states. The Islamists believe that Islam is under attack by the Western world (glossed variously as secularism, a Jewish conspiracy, communism, Christianization, and American domination), and it must be defended. Radical Islamist groups are prepared to use violence in defense of Islam. The dakwah movement appealed to a younger generation of Islamic activists disillusioned with the promise of the secular nation state to bring prosperity and greater social and economic justice. They believe that only the establishment of an Islamic government can bring genuine reform and justice. Their slogan, derived from the Muslim Brotherhood, is “Islam is the solution.”

In the first part of this essay I describe how the dakwah movement began in the 1970s, how students who had studied in the Middle East, where they were inspired by Islamist thinkers, established new dakwah organizations in the 1980s and how the dakwah movement emerged as a political force in the 1990s. I distinguish four different (but overlapping) streams of dakwah. In part two I apply the analysis of Gilles Kepel in Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (2002) to Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS), the dynamic new political party to emerge from the dakwah movement. I argue that PKS is a moderate alternative to radical Islamism.

 Continue reading here

Study: Lesser-known bug a bigger hospital threat

ATLANTA: As one superbug seems to be fading as a threat in hospitals, another is on the rise, a new study suggests.

A dangerous, drug-resistant staph infection called MRSA is often seen as the biggest germ threat to patients in hospitals and other health care facilities.

But infections from Clostridium difficile _ known as C-diff - are surpassing MRSA infections, the study of 28 hospitals in the Southeast found.

"I think MRSA is almost a household name. Everybody thinks of MRSA as a serious threat," said Dr. Becky Miller, an infectious diseases specialist at Duke University Medical Center.

She presented the research Saturday in Atlanta, at a medical conference on infection in health care facilities.

"But C. difficile deserves more attention," she added. MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, are bacteria that can't be treated with common antibiotics.

“They are often harmless as they ride on the skin, but become deadly once they get in the bloodstream. They enter through wounds, intravenous lines and other paths.

“C-diff, also resistant to some antibiotics, is found in the colon and can cause diarrhea and a more serious intestinal condition known as colitis. It is spread by spores in feces.

“The spores are difficult to kill with most conventional household cleaners or alcohol-based hand sanitizers, so some of the disinfection measures against MRSA don't work on C-diff.

Deaths from C-diff traditionally have been rare, but a more dangerous form has emerged in the last ten years.

Still, MRSA is generally considered a more lethal threat, causing an estimated 18,000 US deaths annually.

The new study looked at infection rates from community hospitals in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia in 2008 and 2009.

It found the rate of hospital-acquired C-diff infections was 25% higher than MRSA infections.

Here are the numbers: The hospitals counted 847 infections of hospital-acquired C-diff, and 680 cases of MRSA.

Miller also reported that C-diff was increasing at the hospitals since 2007, while MRSA has been declining since 2005.

Last year, a government report noted a decline in MRSA infections in a study of 600 hospital intensive-care units.

MRSA bloodstream infections connected with intravenous tubes fell almost 50% from 1997 to 2007, according to data reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

C-diff has seemed to be increasing in recent years, but the trend is not uniform - some hospitals report falling rates.

The prevalence of different infections can vary in different parts of the country, said Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a CDC expert who was not part of the Duke study.

Source: The Star, 21st March 2010

Letters

The present work forms the second volume of the Risale-i Nur Collection and consists of the most important letters, and those of most general interest, written by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi to his students between and 1932, while in exile in Barla, an isolated village in the province of Isparta in South-Western Anatolia. Other letters belonging to this period are included in one of the collections of additional letters, also volumes of the Risale-i Nur, called Barla Lahikasý (Barla Letters). The letters in the present volume cover many subjects and were set in order and numbered, not chronologically, by the author. They were largely written in reply to questions put by his students, and also in reply to criticisms of and attacks on various questions of belief and Islam made in that time of oppression by those inimical to religion and Islam.

    Thus, during that period of despotism when, under the name of secularization, those in power were seeking the virtual eradication of Islam and Islamic-Turkish culture and their substitution by irreligion and materialist philosophy of Western origin, Bediuzzaman himself with his unequalled learning and extraordinary clear vision and foresight and courage, and his writings, became a point of hope and strength for the people. Inspite of the adverse conditions and efforts to isolate him in Barla, he began to attract 'students' - so-called since he described himself as a teacher. Drawn by those "lights of belief' in that dark time, they willingly suffered the persecution of the authorities and assisted Bediuzzaman by writing out and spreading the Words. The writing and dissemination was another unique feature of the Risale-i Nur; Bediuzzaman would dictate at speed to his students who acted as scribes. He had no books for reference and the writing of religious works was of course forbidden. They were all written therefore in the mountains and out in the countryside. Handwritten copies of the treatises or the letters were then made of the originals and these were conveyed to the Risale-i Nur students and secretly copied out in their houses. These copies were passed from village to village, and then from town to town, with more and more copies being made on the way till eventually they spread throughout Turkey.

    Travel was not easy, and Bediuzzaman communicated by letter with those of his students who lived in towns and villages other than Barla.Largely in reply to their questions, the letters offer important guidance on numerous points of belief and Islam, explained in the light of the Risale-i Nur and its way, and in the face of the misguidance of the times. Indeed, they form an important source and authority on many subjects for all Muslims today.

    Since some of his students had previously been attached to Sufi orders, he sometimes explains the way of the Risale-i Nur to them through comparisons with the Suf way. The primary aim of the Risale-i Nur is the saving and strengthening of belief. Employing both the intellect and the heart, Bediuzzaman described it as Reality (hagiqat) and Shari'a, rather than tariqat, that is Sufism. It is the highway of the Qur'an, which teaches the true affirmation of Divine Unity; true and certain belief, attained in a short time through investigation and the exercise of the reason. The direct way to Reality and knowledge of God, which is the way of the Companions of Prophet (PBUH) through "the legacy of Prophethood."

    Some of the Letters offer guidance and encouragement to the students through answering criticisms and misrepresentations put forward by atheists and the enemies of religion, concerning both points of Islam, and Bediuzzaman himself. Others expose the plans to corrupt Islam through the introduction of innovations. They show how on the one hand Bediuzzaman was absolutely uncompromising in the face of enemies to religion, and on the other his complete fairness and moderateness in adjudicating points of conflict and controversy within Islam. All these illustrate his profound knowledge of many subjects, as well as the clarity and power of his style, which is based on logic.

    Bediuzzaman did not ascribe the Risale-i Nur to himself; he saw it as a Divine favour bestowed because of need, with himself as the means. In some of his letters he writes that he feels justified in describing these "Divine favours which pertain to the service of the Qur'an," to his students - to encourage them in the exceedingly difficult conditions of the time, since they were a mark of the acceptability of both his writings and their service. A number of them were mentioned above. Bediuzzaman pointed out that the fact the Risale-i Nur proves the most important of the truths of belief and the Qur'an, was a clear mark of Divine favour. For it had proved and demonstrated, for example, such questions as bodily resurrection before which even geniuses like Ibn-i Sina had confessed their impotence, and many mysteries concerning Almighty God, which are of such breadth and profundity that they cannot be comprehended by the human mind. Yet, Bediuzzaman stated, these truths were explained by means of comparison by someone in "the wretched situation" he was in so that they could be understood by even the most ordinary and uneducated of people. So also, no one, from religious scholars to philosophers, had been able to put forward any criticisms of the treatises or to challange them. The writing too had been with extraordinary speed at the most distressing times, often when he had been afflicted with illness. For example, a profound treatise like the Thirtieth Word had been written in six hours in an orchard, while the lengthy Nineteenth Letter, recounting the Miracles of Muhammed, had been written in a total of twelve hours partly in the rain on the mountains, referring to no book at all. There was also the question of the 'coincidences', or mutual correspondence of words in the hand written copies of the Risale-i Nur, and of the Qur'an, for which readers may refer to the present work. In relating these Divine favours to his students, Bediuzzaman was impressing on them the importance of the Qur'anic way of the Risale-i Nur and its function of saving and strengthening belief at that time when the very foundations of Islam were being threatened. In a way outside their own will and knowledge, they were being employed, they were being made to work. Indeed, within the twenty-five years of Bediuzzaman's exile; the handful of students grew into many thousands, the Risale-i Nur movement and its service to belief and the Qur'an spread throughout Turkey, despite all efforts to stop it.

Source: Click here

Out of Mao's Shadow

From an award-winning journalist for The Washington Post and one of the leading China correspondents of his generation comes an eloquent and vivid chronicle of the world’s most successful authoritarian state – a nation undergoing a remarkable transformation.  On the eve of the 2008 Summer Olympics, capitalism has brought prosperity and global respect to China but the Communist government continues to resist the demands of its people for political freedom.  At times disturbing, at times uplifting, this groundbreaking book takes us inside the battle for China’s soul and into the lives of individuals struggling to come to terms with the nation’s past – the turmoil and trauma of Mao’s rule – and to take control of its future.

Philip P. Pan, who reported in China for the Post for seven years and speaks fluent Chinese, eluded the police and succeeded in going where few Western journalists have dared.  From the rusting factories in the industrial northeast to a tabloid newsroom in the booming south, from a small-town courtroom to the plush offices of the nation’s wealthiest tycoons, he tells the gripping stories of ordinary men and women fighting for political change.  An elderly surgeon exposes the government’s cover-up of the SARS epidemic.  A filmmaker investigates the execution of a young woman during the Cultural Revolution.  A blind man is jailed for leading a crusade against forced abortions carried out under the one-child policy.  The young people who filled Tiananmen Square in the spring of 1989 saw their hopes for a democratic China crushed in a massacre, but Pan reveals that as older, more pragmatic adults, many continue to push for justice in different ways.  They are survivors, whose families endured one of the world’s deadliest famines during the Great Leap Forward, whose idealism was exploited during the madness of the Cultural Revolution, and whose values have been tested by the booming economy and the rush to get rich.

“Many people who care about China tell themselves that democratization is inevitable,” Pan writes, “but I have seen that there is nothing automatic about political change.  It is a difficult, messy, and often heart-breaking process, and it happens—when it happens at all—because of imperfect individuals who fight, take risks, and sacrifice for it.  They can be noble, courageous, selfless, stubborn, vain, naive, calculating and reckless.”

A remarkable achievement of journalism in an authoritarian state, Out of Mao’s Shadow offers a startling new perspective on China and its return to the ranks of world powers, challenging the conventional wisdom that the Chinese people are indifferent to politics and the notion that free markets must always lead to free societies.

Source: Click here

P/s: From Korea to China...

The Calligrapher's Daughter

In early-twentieth-century Korea, Najin Han, the privileged daughter of a calligrapher, longs to choose her own destiny. Smart and headstrong, she is encouraged by her mother—but her stern father is determined to maintain tradition, especially as the Japanese steadily gain control of his beloved country. When he seeks to marry Najin into an aristocratic family, her mother defies generations of obedient wives and instead sends her to serve in the king’s court as a companion to a young princess. But the king is soon assassinated, and the centuries-old dynastic culture comes to its end.


In the shadow of the dying monarchy, Najin begins a journey through increasing oppression that will forever change her world. As she desperately seeks to continue her education, will the unexpected love she finds along the way be enough to sustain her through the violence and subjugation her country continues to face? Spanning thirty years, The Calligrapher’s Daughter is a richly drawn novel in the tradition of Lisa See and Amy Tan about a country torn between ancient customs and modern possibilities, a family ultimately united by love, and a woman who never gives up her search for freedom.

 P/s: Ho, ho, ho, still have the time to read this novel though the exam is just around the corner. By the way, good luck to all my fellow friends for this coming exam.

The Islamic Medicine Research Program (IMRP): Reflections and Proposals

The Islamic Medicine Research Program (IMRP): Reflections and Proposals - By: Dr. Adi Setia Mohamad Dom

…natural medicines made out of herbs and plants will always be the best and slowly, very slowly, Europeans and Western societies are coming back to the wisdom of using natural medicines.

1. Introduction

Islamic Medicine, at core, is like what can be called an Integrative Medical Conceptual Framework (IMCF), or an Integrative Medical Principle (IMP), allowing it to systemically identify, appropriate and incorporate into its own medical theory, therapeutic framework and clinical practice, what is proven to be experientially and empirically good in all medical systems, modern or ancient, without compromising its own vision of what it means to be human and to be healthy. An important objective of this Colloquium is to flesh out this conceptualization in further detail in a way that people in the medical profession can find to be conceptually and empirically generative and fruitful, for our re-engagement with our own 1,500 year medical tradition has to be programmatic toward making it a living civilizational reality again. This means we are not all interested in Islamic Medicine as a cultural curiousity out of a vague sense of nostalgia for a past grandeur. Rather we are interested in Islamic Medicine as, to paraphrase Fulder, “one of the most sophisticated medical systems known to man. The Islamic methods of treating the healthy to prevent sickness and of treating the sick to reestablish their health, and its extraordinary skill in the use of subtle therapeutic techniques are so precisely those needed by us at this time that they must gradually alter the way we understand and practice medicine today.”     

The Islamic Medicine Research Program (IMRP) envisioned along these lines will lead to a revival of Islamic Medicine in the present context that can provide a conceptually rich and yet practical medical alternative to modern, western medicine; in effect a parallel medical paradigm or counter medical system that engages and interacts closely with the modern system and yet remain autonomous and self-sustaining, with a great potential to critically and proactively identify, appropriate and integrate positive aspects of the modern system into its own holistic vision and practice of preserving health and overall well-being, rather than focusing on “fighting” any particular disease symptom or pathologic agent per se.

Research into Islamic Medicine is not only medical, empirical or clinical, but also philosophical, historical and cross-cultural (e.g., as in ethnomedicine and comparative medicine), for there is so much of time-tested traditional medical methods, therapies, remedies and ideas that have been lost to our collective intellectual and cultural memory due to systemic, reductionistic medical westernization, and hence, for the Islamic Medicine Research Program (IMRP) to move forward, historical and cross-cultural research is also important. This does not mean that all doctors and medical academics and professionals have to do the actual arduous textual and field research, but that all of them should be aware of such research as has been, is being and shall be done, know how to access it and render it accessible to other practitioners and to their students and patients, and to the lay public in general. But at the very least, all medical colleges, faculties or departments dedicated to the revival and enhancement of Islamic Medicine must each have a center or unit devoted to research in the philosophical, historical, indigenous and cross-cultural aspects of medicine, or at the very, very least in order to save costs and conserve intellectual and academic resources, a number of independent colleges can network together as partners to contribute to the setting up of a common research center, which in turn can be linked to similar research centers and networks in other countries.   

Islamic Medicine is basically Natural or Fitrah Medicine (al-Tibb al-Fitri) which is centred on a sophisticated philosophical, spiritual and empirical psychology of the self-body dual nature of the human being, in which the physical body is seen as serving the spiritual (or true) self, while critically drawing its medical content from the ancient medical traditions of diverse cultures, Greek, Egyptian, Indian, Persian, Arabian and Chinese, as well as adding on these accumulated medical wisdom from the medical traditions of the Prophet himself (al-Tibb al-Nabawi), sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, all within an overarching integrative conceptual framework, which is the Worldview of Islam (ru’yat al-Islam lil-wujud). As Dr. Rehan Zaidi of Sunnipath Academy puts it:

One commonality between the Eastern medical traditions and Prophetic medicine is their concept of holism, a view documented well over 1,000 years ago explaining the value of the mind-body-spirit connection—discussions modern science seriously begun to explore only in the past 20 years. There are also many other similarities the Prophet's medicine has with the Eastern medical systems, such as Chinese Medicine. Both these systems place emphasis on procedures such as cupping, herbal therapy, and dietary modification, with fundamental reliance on prevention, balance, and non-physical forces such as energy and prayer.

This colloquium (or “speaking together”=muhadathah, mukalamah) draws on this time-tested, cosmopolitan heritage and invites the relevant parties to revive it in the context of a contemporary conceptual, rational and empirical Islamic Medicine Research Program (IMRP), one major component of which is a systemic evidence-based reinvestigation of the clinical practices, remedies and therapies documented in the classical Islamic medical texts, including Tibb Nabawi texts, and another of which is a systemic critical survey of contemporary medical approaches from East & West, including indigenous ethnomedical textual and oral traditions which are found to be in accord for the most part with Islamic medical philosophy and axiology, such as naturopathy, homeopathy, kampo, ayurveda, acupuncture, chiqong, food/dietary/nutritional therapy, sleep therapy, traditional Malay and Malay-Islamc remedies and therapies, including even aspects of modern western secular allopathic and technological approaches that can be critically integrated into the Islamic Medicine conceptual and operational framework.

P/S: For the full text, can be downloaded from here.

Are we ready to change?

IPods Change How One Medical School Teaches Future Doc

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - COLUMBUS, Ohio - By the time he graduates, third-year Ohio State medical student Justin Harper will have attended more than 2,000 hours of classroom lectures, dedicating more than two-thirds of his waking hours to medical school. The pressures of becoming a doctor led Harper to develop a tool that is changing how medical students at The Ohio State University study.

Harper and other Ohio State medical students now use portable media players like the Apple iPod Touch to remove breaks, pauses and other non-essential elements from recorded lectures, cutting their length by a half to a third. For example, a 50-minute lecture can be downloaded and condensed to roughly 30 minutes.

The media players, widely used for entertainment, have become an essential part of learning for new doctors, according to Dr. Catherine Lucey, vice dean for education at Ohio State’s College of Medicine.

“By speeding up lectures, compressing them, editing out pauses and removing extraneous noises from lectures, our students can be more efficient with their time, yet not lose valuable classroom content,” says Lucey. “They can study when they’re refreshed and delve into topics not as easily understood, as often as they want and at the speed in which they want.”

Thanks to the iPod Touch and editing software, Harper spends the six hours a day he might have spent in lectures doing other things, sometimes while listening to shortened lectures on his iPod. Most importantly, he’s using the time he’s saving to get valuable patient experience.

“I can use that time to go to the operating room and observe a surgery, I could go and shadow someone and then that evening I could listen to my lectures, knowing I didn’t miss out on anything,” Harper says.
 
Ohio State’s medical students have been using the iPod Touch since 2007 to assist with their academic and clinical activities. Each student receives a device equipped with medical software programs developed by faculty at Ohio State’s College of Medicine.

At the bedside, medical students are answering patient questions with instant access to the most recent journal articles and medical literature. Additionally, patients can view videos of surgical procedures and medical treatments on the students’ iPods and know what to expect, lessening the fear of the unknown.

While they may be little devices, students and doctors alike here are realizing the big difference these media players could make in medical training for generations to come. In fact, administrators are now enlisting the help of the engineering department at Ohio State to have students and professors write new, more sophisticated applications for the devices.

Reprinted in The Star, 7 March 2010.

P/s: Afif Halim,Matmin, Zarif, Helmi Yob, Faiz Salleh, Qayyum.

My name is Am and I am not a herbalist

Great! Busy to find all of this plant's info make me forget that the exam is just around the corner. Today, I'm a herbalist, then tomorrow I become a chemist. Next month, i will find myself become a 'cleric', and the year after, I turn to an anatomist. Congratulation to the persons in charge that make us to become the polymath. Really appreciate the subjects taught in this kulliyyah but in the same time, feel uncertain about all of these things - are they really worth to learn? Hopefully, yes.

The Crisis of Modern Consciousness with Religious Values in Postmodern City, Globalisation, and Identity, and Islam in Europe's Cityspace

Yang ada itu tiada, yang tiada itu ada

Begitulah selalunya, yang dianggap ada, itulah yang tiada. Sebaliknya, yang diingat sebagai tiada, sebenarnya itulah yang ada. Kepada ALLAH yang Maha A'lim kita serahkan segalanya untuk dihakimi atas semuanya. WALLAHUA'LAM.

Turun padang

Wah, sangat suka tengok gambar ini. Terima kasih kepada Big Bro. Shahir Amin kerana menangkap foto ini

Tadzkirah

O you who have believed, if a wicked person brings you some news, inquire into it carefully lest you should harm others unwittingly and then regret what you have done (49:6)

O Prophet invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and excellent admonition and discuss things with people in the best manner. Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Way and He knows best who is rightly guided. (16:125)

Talk to him in a gentle manner; may be that he is convinced by admonition or imbued with fear. (20:44)

Seek first to understand, then to be understood. (Stephen Covey)

The Golden Rule - "Do to others what you would like to be done to you".

WALLAHUA'LAM. ALLAH knows best.

Let's help Daanya Hana

To those who have Facebook' s account, let's show our moral support by joining the group "We can help reunite Daanya Hana with her mother by spreading ou the flyers" (click here).
 
Let's pray to the God, this poor baby girl will unite with her mom.

P/s: Daanya Hana. Damia' Rujhaa.

Pemimpin Sepanjang Zaman

Pandangan Pemimpin Terhadap Mereka Yang Dipimpinnya

“Huh, pemimpin apa macam itu. Menghabiskan masa sahaja”, rungut Zain (bukan nama sebenar).

“Anta jangan cakap begitu, anta tidak tahu kehidupan beliau bagaimana”, saya cuba menenangkan keadaan.

“Nak tahu apanya lagi? Dia tidak tahu macam mana susahnya pelajar macam kami ini. Yuran tak lepas, makan tak tentu. Dia sedap sahaja bermewah. Naik kereta sewa ke sana sini”, kata-kata Zain semakin menghangatkan mesyuarat kami.

Zain ketika itu adalah pelajar Tahun 1. Baru sahaja sampai. Orangnya bersemangat tinggi. Semangat yang sering mencederakan sesiapa yang tidak dipersetujuinya.

Entah kenapa malam itu, beliau terlalu marahkan sahabat saya Abu Ammar. Abu Ammar adalah bekas ahli rumah saya, sebelum beliau berumahtangga. Kini Abu Ammar dipertanggungjawabkan dengan amanah memimpin persatuan pelajar.

Zain tidak tahu apa yang dia tidak nampak. Zain tidak sedar betapa Abu Ammar menderita setiap hari mencari wang untuk menampung CT Scan anaknya yang cedera di tempurung kepala akibat kemalangan jalan raya. Sekali scan, mahu USD100 terbang.

Zain hanya melihat dari luar. Dia tidak tahu tong beras Abu Ammar selalu kosong. Kami yang rapat dengan Abu Ammar kadang-kadang mengeluarkan duit poket sendiri untuk mengisi tong beras yang kosong itu, demi persahabatan.

Apa yang Zain tahu, Abu Ammar bermewah-mewah sebab sering ke sana sini dengan kereta sewa. Walhal tugas Abu Ammar sebagai pemimpin persatuan pelajar, memerlukan beliau untuk sering bermusafir menghadiri mesyuarat yang penting.

“Anta jaga sikit mulut tu!”, saya cuba berkeras sedikit.

Abu Ammar hanya mendiamkan diri mendengar celoteh Zain yang tidak habis-habis merungut.

“Inilah musang ekor beruang!”, kata Zain sambil menunding ke arah Abu Ammar yang semakin merah mukanya.

“Astaghfirullah Ustaz Zain. Firaun yang mengaku tuhan itu pun, Allah perintahkan Nabi Musa agar bercakap baik dengannya. Abu Ammar ni lebih jahat dari Firaunkah? Dan anta lebih baik dari Musa? Ittaqillah ya akhi!”, saya sudah tidak boleh bersabar lalu menutup majlis dan menyuruh semua bersurai.

Selepas mesyuarat itu, seorang sahabat Zain telah memberi amaran kepada saya.

“Anta jangan main-main Sheikh. Zain tu jenis kejar Cina dengan parang masa kat kampung dia”, kata beliau kepada saya.

“Tolong sikit. Itu samseng kampung. Nak samseng macam tu, pergi balik kampung. Ini Jordan, tempat orang mengaji. Buat cara orang mengaji!”, saya cuba bertegas.

Peristiwa malam itu sudah lama berlalu. Zain sudah jadi penceramah terkenal. Abu Ammar sudah tiada. Sudah kembali ke rahmatullah dalam sebuah kemalangan jalan raya beberapa tahun yang lalu.

Al-Marhum Abu Ammar, berdiri, dua dari kanan

Saya kehilangan seorang sahabat yang sangat istimewa seperti Abu Ammar. Beliau meninggal dunia semasa saya jauh di perantauan. Istimewa Abu Ammar, masih hangat dalam ingatan. Abu Ammar adalah satu-satunya sahabat yang sudi menziarahi ibu saya ketika saya jauh di Ireland. Jika ada ceramah di Ipoh, beliau sering singgah di rumah saya bersama isteri dan anak-anak, menumpang mandi dan bertanya khabar. Teman sejati, adalah teman yang berlaku baik kepada kita, di belakang kita tanpa kita ketahui.

Ibu saya sendiri tertekan bagai kematian anak sendiri, apabila berita Abu Ammar terbunuh dalam kemalangan jalan raya saya maklumkan kepadanya.

Abu Ammar adalah seorang kawan yang menghiburkan. Tidak pernah gundah menanggung pengajian diri, isteri, adik dan anak-anaknya ketika di perantauan.

Ada sahaja yang Abu Ammar lakukan untuk menambah pendapatan. Menjual mee, menjual rempah ratus dari Malaysia, mengambil upah menjahit dan macam-macam lagi. Abu Ammar tetap senyum dan saya rindukan wajahnya yang manis itu.

Abu Ammar sentiasa berjubah. Itu identiti dia. Namun makin lama, jubahnya makin banyak bertampung kain. Namun Abu Ammar tetap kaya dengan senyuman.

Lebih istimewa, Abu Ammar memimpin dengan sabar. Beliau jarang melenting. Cakap-cakap buruk orang bawahannya ditelan begitu sahaja. Yang penting, Abu Ammar tahu apa yang sedang dilakukannya.
Itu Abu Ammar di sisi insan yang mengenalinya. Mengenali beliau sebagai sahabat, bukan sasaran kritik gelojoh orang bawahan.

Saya sendiri jadi bosan, mengapa orang muda suka bergaduh. Apabila bermesyuarat, yang banyak hanyalah rungutan, rasa tidak puas hati, kritikan, tetapi jarang benar yang menyumbang kepada penyelesaian.

SAYA DAN KEPIMPINAN
Saya sendiri, berkenalan dengan kepimpinan, seawal darjah 1. Saya dilantik menjadi Ketua Darjah, dan kadang-kadang diberi rotan oleh guru untuk mengawal kelas agar tidak bising. Saya pun tidak ingat, bagaimana tugas itu saya laksanakan.

Ia diteruskan di sepanjang pembelajaran saya di sekolah rendah, sehingga akhirnya menjadi Ketua Murid semasa di darjah 6. Tugasnya pelbagai, namun ia mempercepatkan proses kematangan diri. Saya rasa, agama mematangkan manusia. Kerana selalu berfikir tentang agama, saya rasa proses penuaan saya menjadi cepat dari yang biasa.

Entah apa yang ada di muka saya, tradisi menjadi Ketua Kelas bersambung lagi di sepanjang pengajian saya di sekolah menengah. Kemuncaknya, ialah apabila saya dilantik menjadi Pengerusi Badan Dakwah dan Rohani semasa di Tingkatan 4, sedangkan jawatan itu lazimnya dipegang oleh pelajar Tingkatan 6 Rendah, di sepanjang sejarah sekolah saya.

Ketika di sekolah menengah, antara sumber kepimpinan saya ialah Tuan Pengetua saya sendiri, Tuan Haji Zamri Abdul Karim, yang berperanan lebih dari sekadar seorang guru, namun sebagai pendidik dan murabbi yang membentuk peribadi saya.

Tuan Haji Zamri Abdul Karim, berketayap putih, adalah guru dan murabbi saya

NASIHAT KEPIMPINAN
Antara nasihatnya yang berharga tentang kepimpinan, disampaikan kepada saya pada salah satu siri ‘kaunseling’ beliau kepada saya.

“Pemimpin adalah seperti orang di atas bukit. Orang yang dipimpin adalah manusia ramai di kaki bukit yang mendongak ke atas untuk hanya melihat kamu, pada buruk dan baiknya kamu”, kata beliau kepada saya.

Menjadi pemimpin, dan menjadi golongan yang dipimpin tidak sama. Golongan yang dipimpin seperti manusia di kaki bukit. Mendongak ke atas dan melihat pemimpinnya di puncak bukit. Serba-serbi tentang pemimpin itu diperhatikannya. Ada pujian, tetapi yang sering adalah kritikan dan celaan.

Sedangkan pemimpin yang berdiri di puncak bukit, beliau melihat ke bawah dengan pandangan yang luas. Kritikan dari orang yang mengkritiknya, hanyalah salah satu daripada keseluruhan pandangan luasnya terhadap realiti golongan yang dipimpin.

Inilah cabaran menjadi pemimpin, di sepanjang pengalaman saya mengamati dan memikulnya.

Kefahaman saya tentang apa yang dinamakan sebagai kepimpinan, telah saya abadikan dalam sebuah nasyid yang saya cipta, khusus untuk meniup semangat pemimpin, di segenap lapisan agar berjiwa luas. Lapangkan dada terhadap segala celaan dan kritikan orang bawahan, jika kalian yakin pada kebenaran yang diperjuangkan.

Lagu ini adalah di antara lagu istimewa saya. Namun oleh kerana telah banyak nasyid yang saya cipta dan nyanyikan sendiri di dalam album Gemilang 1995, maka nasyid “Pemimpin Sepanjang Zaman” ini telah diserahkan untuk dinyanyikan oleh Ustaz Erfino Johari.

Saya dedikasikan lagu ini kepada sahabat dan pemimpin saya, al-Marhum Abu Ammar, pemimpin-pemimpin pelajar di semua lapisan dan sekelian mereka yang menanggung kepimpinan, di mana jua …

PEMIMPIN SEPANJANG ZAMAN

Tika kau di puncak pergunungan
Luas saujana mata memandang
Bumi luas terbentang
Jauh di sana

Kelihatanlah umat manusia
Seribu ragam juga bicara
Berat mata memandang
Resah jiwa mengenang

Adat pemimpin sepanjang zaman
Di hatinya ada kebimbangan
Beratnya tanggungan yang menanti di depan
Akan terhisab di tangan Tuhan

Bagi manusia yang di bawahnya
Mata memandang pada yang satu
Tersusunlah kekurangan
Terkumpul kelemahan

Segala ujian dan cabaran
Dan tuduhan yang dilontarkan
Semua itu permainan
Gurauan perjuangan

Hari ini kita satukan hati
Dendangkan irama perpaduan
Susunkan barisan satukan keyakinan
Terus ke depan tempuh rintangan

Jika mereka itu seribu
Kita bersama Tuhan yang Satu
Maka pohonlah bantuan
Nusrah pasti diturunkan

Ahzab yang telah ditewaskan
Pengalaman sepanjang zaman
Bulatkan keyakinan
Kemenangan di depan

Sekali disusun perjalanan
Tiada undur terus ke hadapan
Ceraikanlah jasad, nyawa dan kehidupan
Hidup berjaya mati mulia

LAGU: Hasrizal Abdul Jamil
LIRIK: Hasrizal Abdul Jamil
NYANYIAN: Erfino Johari
PERSEMBAHAN: Usrah al-Firdaus, Jordan
ALBUM: Gemilang
TAHUN: 1995

Diambil daripada laman web Ustaz Hasrizal Abdul Jamil

Persahabatan dan lelaki

Foto evergreen yang aku cukup suka.

Terima kasih kepada Naim yang mengupload foto ini di Facebook.

Gambar aku (berdiri atas pentas, paling kiri dalam gambar) dan kawan-kawan (Sekolah Izzuddin Shah 99-03) sewaktu jamuan meraikan guru-guru budiman yang mengajar kami.

Usai menjamu selera, kami bergambar beramai-ramai di Dewan Besar Tan Sri Ghazali Jawi, merakam detik-detik indah bersama - lima tahun selepas mula menjalinkan sebuah hubungan yang bernama persahabatan..

Meski setiap orang ada fiil masing-masing, sahabat tetap sahabat.

Setajam mana perselisihan pendapat dan tindakan, persahabatan tetap dipelihara walaupun ada antara kami yang sudah tiada di muka bumi ini.  

Once an Izzuddinians, always an Izzuddinians. 

Pengubat jerih manusia ada dua, pertama: Iman kepada ALLAH (s.w.t), kedua: Percaya kepada sahabat. (Kata-kata hikmat yang dipetik HAMKA dalam Falsafah Hidup)  

Persahabatan dan perempuan

Orang perempuan tidaklah tahu benar bagaimana besar harga persahabatan di antara dua laki-laki. Dia tidak faham harga persahabatan di antara dua laki-laki berlainan dengan harga percintaan di antara seorang laki-laki dengan harga seorang perempuan. Dia tidak kenal bahawa harga persahabatan itu lebih mahal dari harga percintaan. Sebab itu sahabat suaminya kerapkali dipandangnya musuhnya, dia benci dan takut. Takut akan dicurinya sebahagian dari cinta suaminya kepadanya.

 - HAMKA, Falsafah Hidup

Rujukan: Falsafah Hidup m/s 455 terbitan Pustaka Dini Sdn. Bhd.

Cerita umrah

Semalam, alhamdulillah, semua ahli umrah sudah dicucuk dengan vaksin di Klinik Al-Amin kecuali Razak dan Bro. Erman. Vaksin yang ada pada Razak masih valid sementara Bro. Erman akan mengambilnya pada pagi nanti. Maknanya, tanggungjawab aku untuk mengurusan hal-hal berkenaan vaksin hampir selesai.

Buku oren yang diterima selepas mengambil vaksin diperlukan untuk membuat visa. Masih berbaki sebulan sebelum kami semua berlepas ke Tanah Suci, tetapi visa yang diperlukan untuk memasuki Arab Saudi masih belum diterima gara-gara tidak mengambil cucukan vaksin. Terasa lapang dadaku apabila semua ahli rombongan 'selamat' menerima cucukan vaksin masing-masing. Lepas sudah satu beban tanggungjawab.

Usai menerima cucukan vaksin, buku oren yang diterima akan dikumpul. Untuk kawan-kawan tahun tiga, boleh menyerahkan buku oren itu pada aku hari ini (Jadi, ambil perhatian wahai mereka yang berkenaan).. Sementara untuk senior-senior tahun empat, buku oren mereka akan dikumpulkan pada boss besar projek ini, Muzani. Kemudin Muzani akan menghantar semua buku oren itu dengan pos laju kepada ejen kami, Haji Sebri yang berada di Kedah.

Untuk pengetahuan,setakat ini, tajaan yang diterima untuk pojek ini masih tidak memuaskan. Lantas, mahu tidak mahu, tindakan terdesak terpaksa diambil. Dengan muka yang terpaksa menahan malu, kami gagahkan diri untuk pergi ke sebuah masjid di Lembah Kelang. Menaiki dua buah kereta, kami rentasi Banjaran Titiwangsa bertemu dengan AJK Masjid berkenaan. Tamat pertemuan, AJK masjid yang budiman itu mengarahkan kami datang kembali minggu hadapan untuk bertemu dengan CEO sebuah GLC yang ketika itu berada di luar negara.

Maka bertolaklah orang-orang kuat program ini, Muzani, Razak dan Din sekali lagi bertandang ke masjid itu seminggu selepas pertemuan pertama. Namun Tuan CEO yang dinanti masih lagi belum tiba di bumi Malaysia, menandakan tiada rezeki kami untuk kali ini.

Banyak lagi yang ingin aku coretkan terutamanya tentang pengorbanan insan-insan seperti Muzani, Helmi Rahmat, Mat Shahril dan tentu sekali pencetus idea projek ini, Aizuddin, tetapi buat masa ini, ini sajalah yang mampu aku tuliskan. Hanya keberanian dan tawakkal yang tetap membuat kami kekal dalam projek ini!    

     

Duri dan Api

Dedikasi buat semua...

Kawan-kawanku yang dikasihi
di belakang duri di depan api
kita tidak bisa undur lagi
duri dan api, tajam panasnya kita hadapi.

- SN Usman Awang (1961)

Rules of the game!

FAILURE IN A COURSE

36. A student who fails in a course, subject to the specific requirements of the Kulliyyah and the curriculum of his/her programme of studies, may do either of the following: 

36.1 Repeat the same course if the course is classified as a “CORE” or “REQUIRED” course; or

36.2 Replace the course with another course if it is classified as “SUPPORTIVE” or “ELECTIVE” or “OPTIONAL” as determined by the Kulliyyah.


REPEAT OF FAILED COURSES



37.1 The number of times a student is allowed to repeat a required course is twice. The number of times a student can repeat an elective or optional course is only once and henceforth the student may only be allowed to replace such a course with another course.


37.2 A student has to repeat the course immediately when the course is offered. The monitoring is done by the Kulliyyah. Such repeating may be by full attendance at lectures or by independent study or in any other way approved by the Dean of the Kulliyyah. The credit and grade from each repeat course shall be computed in the CGPA as an additional credit and grade.


37.3 Notwithstanding any other provisions of these Regulations, special permission can be given to final year students to repeat a course which they have failed three times provided the CGPA is above 2.00.


ACADEMIC DISMISSAL

80. A student shall be dismissed from the University if:


80.1 he receives a CGPA of less than 1.67 or


80.2 he fails to earn a CGPA of 2.00 or better while on probationary status or


80.3 he fails a course (with a grade of “F” or “Y”) on the third attempt or


80.4 he fails (with a grade of “F” or “Y”) in more than 2 Kulliyyah courses and the 1.67 < CGPA < 2.00.


80.5 he receives a 1.67 < CGPA < 2.00 for the third time which is nonconsecutive during his period of studies.


The University also reserves the right to bar, suspend or dismiss any student from the University or any of its classes whenever, in the interest of the University, such action is deemed advisable.

Source: STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE EVALUATION RULES

O ALLAH, please help me...

Selamat Hari Lahir, mak!

Tiada kata-kata seindah karya seorang pujangga dapat kucoretkan kepada insan yang paling kusayang di dunia ini.

Seringkali, tatkala aku hampir rebah, menyerah kepada kepahitan sebuah kembara kehidupan, kau hadir dalam ingatan menjadi azimat penyelamat.

Kau sumber perangsang, penyokong setia dalam semua keadaan walau jasad kita dipisahkan oleh jarak.

Sungguh, aku bersyukur kerana Tuhan mentakdirkan aku manjadi anakmu, walaupun aku bukanlah seorang anak yang baik.

Untuk mak, selamat hari lahir ke-47.

Kebetulan terindah, bila Tuhan menentukan kau lahir pada 5/3 sedang diriku keluar daripada rahimmu pada 3/5.

Hanya kesetiaan mendoakan kesejahteraan dirimu dan abah setiap kali usai solat dan usaha menjadi anak soleh yang mampu kuusahakan untuk membalas segala jasa kalian walaupun kusedar sebenarnya tiada apa yang dapat dilakukan untuk membalas segala budi dan kasih sayang kalian.

Mana mungkin, kasih dan sayang ibu bapa sama dengan kasi sayang seorang anak kepada mereka.

Sehebat mana kasih sayang seorang anak, sudah tentu tidak dapat menandingi kasih sayang insan-insan yang bergelar ibu bapa.

Untuk mak, sekali lagi kuucapakan selamat hari lahir, moga-moga hari yang berbaki dalam hidupmu, dilimpahkan kesejahteraan daripada ALLAH yang berkekalan sehingga kehidupan yang kedua kelak.

When you enter the library

When you enter the library, please