In My “Salam Pengenalan”, I wrote about reading a lot of blogs which has landed me on some political blogs that somehow got me into thinking that bloggers can, through their choice, make our earth a better place to live.
Note: Non-Muslim readers, although are much-welcomed to continue reading, might find the content of this entry is too "Islamic".
However, the eagerness to be seen as strong supporter of political person/ persons/groups or to be in sync with friends can make one forgets oneself. General guidelines such as not to hurt, judge, be-little, implicate and worse still to disgrace others through our writing are not put into good practice.
What makes me rather sad when reading some of those political blogs are that the content of some of these blogs which are written by my Muslims brothers/sisters are found to be on contrary to the following "Guiding verses" in Surah 4 AnNisaa of the Al-Quran.
106. And seek the Forgiveness of Allâh, certainly, Allâh is Ever Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.
107. And argue not on behalf of those who deceive themselves. Verily, Allâh does not like anyone who is a betrayer of his trust, and indulges in crime.
108. They may hide (their crimes) from men, but they cannot hide (them) from Allâh, for He is with them (by His Knowledge), when they plot by night in words that He does not approve, And Allâh ever encompasses what they do.
109. Lo! You are those who have argued for them in the life of this world, but who will argue for them on the Day of Resurrection against Allâh, or who will then be their defender?
110. And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allâh's Forgiveness, he will find Allâh Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.
111. And whoever earns sin, he earns it only against himself. And Allâh is Ever All Knowing, All Wise.
112. And whoever earns a fault or a sin and then throws it on to someone innocent, he has indeed burdened himself with falsehood and a manifest sin.
Within a few days of finding these "Guiding Verses" of AlQuran, I have received an interesting article (from a good friend from INCEIF, The Global University in Islamic Finance) called “Triple Filter Test” -the article is in PPS but to simplify it I have re-write it as follows:-
During the golden Abbasid period, one of the scholars in Baghdad, the capital of Muslim caliphate at that time, was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem.
One day an acquaintance met the great scholar and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?
The scholar said “Hold on a minute, before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test”.
The man said “Triple Filter Test?”
The scholar said “That's right, before you talk to me about my friend it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say.”
The scholar continued “That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”
The man said “No, actually I just heard about it and ...”
The scholar said “All right, so you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”
The man said “No, on the contrary...”
The scholar said “So, you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left:”
The scholar continued “The filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?”.
The man said “No, not really”.
The scholar said “Well, if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”
O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, indeed some suspicions are sins. And spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear Allah (God). Verily, Allah is the One Who accepts repentance, Most Merciful. Surah 49 Al-Hujurat Ayah 12
This Triple Filter Test can be a useful guideline in our daily life. It can also serve as a general guideline for us to blog or not to blog or even to evaluate blogs that we may want to follow.
Now that I have written down what I believe to be good guidelines on to blog or not to blog.. hopefully some of those who have followed this blog (not that many he, he) may understand why I have not been making any entry for so long.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
3 Brothers and Cigarettes
Do you at times wonder.. how come you children's behaviour are so different from one another?. Few of their behavior even seem alien to that of your or your wife's behavior.
Here is my feeble attempt to uncover the mistery...
Back in 1973, I was invited by a friend to spend Hari Raya Idil Fitri in his house in Polis Depot, Kuala Lumpur. Having stayed with the family for a few days, I could not fail to notice 3 brothers with very different characters.
The eldest, always smiling but very reserved, answering in soft voice often in monosyllables and would not touch cigarettes with a ten-foot pole.
Another, 3 years younger(around my age), very jovial, eager to please, talk rather loudly and a social smoker who smoke if and only if there is somebody to supply the cigarettes.
The third one (my friend), 3 years younger than his elder brother, talk very loudly, rather bossy at times and started to smoke when he was in form 1 in all-boys boarding school!.
After breaking Ramadhan's fast a night before hari Raya, after spending some good time being interviewed by my jovial host, my curiosity get better of me.
"Can I ask Pak Chik a few questions and Pak Cik can refuse to answer if it is too personal?" I blurted.
" Oh son, please ask any question you want.. I will try my best to answer" my host seemed happy to be consulted.
" Well.. I noticed Pak Cik has 3 sons of very different characters.. I would like to know what were Pak Cik's activities during the respective times when these 3 sons were in the.. the womb... " I ventured.
By then his wife has joined us, bringing more Malay Kueh to the dining table.
With a cheeky laugh, my friend's father started to recall. "Well, times were hard in those days.. I applied to join Police training in late 1949". Immediately after I got the letter asking me to go for training in Kuala Lumpur, I asked my mother to ask for your Mak Cik's hand . I went to police training in KL a few weeks after I married your Mak Cik.. Some weeks later I received the news that your Mak Cik has been pregnant "
" Mmm, how was your social life back then in the Police Depot?"
"With a pregnant wife, small training allowance and being newly recruited.. I supposed I kept mostly to myself, trying to save money I did not socialize much and did not smoke either'
"When the second one was conceived, your Mak Cik has already joined me here, in Polis Depot. I have a lot of friends who at times offered me cigarettes. I seldom buy them as I has two extra mouths to feed unlike my other bujang friends" he then said.
"When the third brother was conceived.. ah.. life was a little bit better for me then.. I was already promoted to be the instructor to train the new recruits. Training them to march properly on daily basis, shouting myself hoarse at times. I did not have to buy much cigarettes ..those trainees were always too eager to support my bad habit.." he chuckled.
"Your three sons character/behavior seem to follow Pak Cik's behavior when they were in their mothers womb" I remarked.
"Now that you mentioned it.." he agreed. His wife smiled and then nodded in full agreement.
I have over times relate this story to few friends who cared to listen.. Most of the feedback are rather similar. The children behavior/character did (to most extent) follow that of their parent when they were in the womb of their mother.
One of the rather interesting feedback I has received was from a friend who worked in US when his wife was pregnant with his eldest daughter. They used to check the labels on every items they wished to purchase. They spent hours scrutinizing the labels for halal food.
Nowadays whenever he sent his wife and his eldest daughter to the supermarket in Malaysia.. my friend can safely go home for two to three hours.. his two ladies will be very absorbed checking the label on all items to be bought. "It did not matter that they have done this several times on same items before" he said, almost in despair.
Well, my parents did remind me that in their times when a husband heard that his wife has conceived.. he will ask the wife to join him in cleansing themselves (taking ablution etc.) before spending few hours reciting the Al-Quran. Reciting of Al-Quran will be repeated as many times as possible daily, until their child is born.
Now that we know.. which of our children's behaviors were inherited from our previous actions or inactions.. maybe we will not be too harsh in reprimanding them, Non?!
Here is my feeble attempt to uncover the mistery...
Back in 1973, I was invited by a friend to spend Hari Raya Idil Fitri in his house in Polis Depot, Kuala Lumpur. Having stayed with the family for a few days, I could not fail to notice 3 brothers with very different characters.
The eldest, always smiling but very reserved, answering in soft voice often in monosyllables and would not touch cigarettes with a ten-foot pole.
Another, 3 years younger(around my age), very jovial, eager to please, talk rather loudly and a social smoker who smoke if and only if there is somebody to supply the cigarettes.
The third one (my friend), 3 years younger than his elder brother, talk very loudly, rather bossy at times and started to smoke when he was in form 1 in all-boys boarding school!.
After breaking Ramadhan's fast a night before hari Raya, after spending some good time being interviewed by my jovial host, my curiosity get better of me.
"Can I ask Pak Chik a few questions and Pak Cik can refuse to answer if it is too personal?" I blurted.
" Oh son, please ask any question you want.. I will try my best to answer" my host seemed happy to be consulted.
" Well.. I noticed Pak Cik has 3 sons of very different characters.. I would like to know what were Pak Cik's activities during the respective times when these 3 sons were in the.. the womb... " I ventured.
By then his wife has joined us, bringing more Malay Kueh to the dining table.
With a cheeky laugh, my friend's father started to recall. "Well, times were hard in those days.. I applied to join Police training in late 1949". Immediately after I got the letter asking me to go for training in Kuala Lumpur, I asked my mother to ask for your Mak Cik's hand . I went to police training in KL a few weeks after I married your Mak Cik.. Some weeks later I received the news that your Mak Cik has been pregnant "
" Mmm, how was your social life back then in the Police Depot?"
"With a pregnant wife, small training allowance and being newly recruited.. I supposed I kept mostly to myself, trying to save money I did not socialize much and did not smoke either'
"When the second one was conceived, your Mak Cik has already joined me here, in Polis Depot. I have a lot of friends who at times offered me cigarettes. I seldom buy them as I has two extra mouths to feed unlike my other bujang friends" he then said.
"When the third brother was conceived.. ah.. life was a little bit better for me then.. I was already promoted to be the instructor to train the new recruits. Training them to march properly on daily basis, shouting myself hoarse at times. I did not have to buy much cigarettes ..those trainees were always too eager to support my bad habit.." he chuckled.
"Your three sons character/behavior seem to follow Pak Cik's behavior when they were in their mothers womb" I remarked.
"Now that you mentioned it.." he agreed. His wife smiled and then nodded in full agreement.
I have over times relate this story to few friends who cared to listen.. Most of the feedback are rather similar. The children behavior/character did (to most extent) follow that of their parent when they were in the womb of their mother.
One of the rather interesting feedback I has received was from a friend who worked in US when his wife was pregnant with his eldest daughter. They used to check the labels on every items they wished to purchase. They spent hours scrutinizing the labels for halal food.
Nowadays whenever he sent his wife and his eldest daughter to the supermarket in Malaysia.. my friend can safely go home for two to three hours.. his two ladies will be very absorbed checking the label on all items to be bought. "It did not matter that they have done this several times on same items before" he said, almost in despair.
Well, my parents did remind me that in their times when a husband heard that his wife has conceived.. he will ask the wife to join him in cleansing themselves (taking ablution etc.) before spending few hours reciting the Al-Quran. Reciting of Al-Quran will be repeated as many times as possible daily, until their child is born.
Now that we know.. which of our children's behaviors were inherited from our previous actions or inactions.. maybe we will not be too harsh in reprimanding them, Non?!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Travelling and Zikir
I was late to work this morning and as I was about to turn in from Jalan Tun Abdul Razak to KLCC, I was feeling rather empty, or rather 'empty headed'... Right there and then I remembered a story my uncle told me a couple of years ago. It was about his friend who ride a motorbike daily from his house in Losong to Pasar Kedai Payang. This friend made a habit of reciting suratul Waqiah to and from Pasar Kedai Payang.
I recalled my mother talked proudly of one of her male relative who recites suratul Mulk whenever he drive to work. I remembered one good old ustaz who read surratul Mulk and Assajadah after Maghrib prayer just before he was called to give a 'cheramah' at a Masjid. I also recalled that my late father told me suratul Waqiah is surah Rezeki and I heard or read somewhere that suratulMulk will defend it's fan on the judgement day.
I still remembered the time when I sang and hummed all the way from Gombak Toll to Dungun and I managed to knock off my two children long before we reached Genting tunnel. I do not know whether I can last that long reciting whatever little I can remember, but I am sure it would be worthwhile for me to know how far my children can stay awake should I decide to make a change.
I recalled my mother talked proudly of one of her male relative who recites suratul Mulk whenever he drive to work. I remembered one good old ustaz who read surratul Mulk and Assajadah after Maghrib prayer just before he was called to give a 'cheramah' at a Masjid. I also recalled that my late father told me suratul Waqiah is surah Rezeki and I heard or read somewhere that suratulMulk will defend it's fan on the judgement day.
I still remembered the time when I sang and hummed all the way from Gombak Toll to Dungun and I managed to knock off my two children long before we reached Genting tunnel. I do not know whether I can last that long reciting whatever little I can remember, but I am sure it would be worthwhile for me to know how far my children can stay awake should I decide to make a change.
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