stop criticizing others... look at yourself first...

The Wahabi Mazhab of Islam is based on the ideology that Islam has been innovated over the number of years since the time of The Prophet (SAW)...

Wahabi/Wahabism states advocates the purging of all innovations in Islam, in other words to practice Islam in it’s purest and un-adulterated state...

The primary doctrine of Wahhabi is Tawhid, or the uniqueness and unity of God. Ibn Abdul Wahhab was influenced by the writings of Ibn Taymiyya and questioned medieval interpretations of Islam, claiming to rely on the Qur'an and the Hadith. He preached against a "perceived moral decline and political weakness" in the Arabian Peninsula and condemned idolatry, the popular cult of saints, and shrine and tomb visitation.

The term "Wahhabi" (وَحَّبِيَ) was first used by opponents of ibn Abdul Wahhab. It is considered derogatory by the people it is used to describe, who prefer to be called "unitarians" (Muwahiddun).

The terms "Wahhabi", "Salafi" (and also sometimes Ahle Hadith) are often used interchangeably.

I was appaled to read an article condemning the Wahabi Mazhab. Below is an extract of that article:

“Too many critics of Islam, including atheists, fail to appreciate just how diverse and varied Islam can be. There are things you can say that apply to all or most Muslims, as is the case with Christianity, but there are many more things which only apply to some or a few Muslims. This is especially true when it comes to Muslim extremism because Wahhabi Islam, the primary religious movement behind extremist Islam, includes beliefs and doctrines not found elsewhere.

It would be a mistake and unethical to criticize all of Islam on the basis of doctrines particular to Wahhabi Muslims. Modern Islamic extremism and terrorism simply cannot be explained or understood without looking at the history and influence of Wahhabi Islam. This means that it's important from an ethical and an academic perspective to understand what Wahhabi Islam teaches, what's so dangerous about it, and why those teachings differ from other branches of Islam.”

Wahabi opposes the idea of popular practices. These included praying to saints, making pilgrimages to tombs and special mosques, venerating trees, caves, and stones, and using votive and sacrificial offerings.

The Syahada/Oath we take means that we worship Allah SWT and Allah SWT ALONE...

I’m not siding with Wahabi’s, cause they have extreme believes in certain things, but none of the other Mazhab’s are perfect either.
It’s rampant practice in the modern-times whereby many Muslim’s are practicing many practices which is deemed syirik in Islam.
Take for example the most widely practiced thing amongst Indian Muslims in Malaysia is to put impale a dried chilli on a stick and stick in into the ground to “prevent rain from falling”. Isn’t that syirik?
How bout the practice of burning Kumiyan? We were thought that Djinn are creatures made from the Blue Flame, and that smoke is their food, controversy? The popular argument is that the Prophet (SAW) himself did it. Hello! Excuse me! The prophet burned a particular type of incest, which was extracted from saps of trees that DID NOT EXHUME ANY SMOKE!
Of course, none will admit what they’re doing is Syirik.
I guess we’ll have to wait till Akhirat for them to know whether what they practiced was or wasn’t Syirik.

BACK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND. What all the criticism against Wahabi Muslims?
The teaching of that particular Mazhab isn’t bad. The practitioners of it may be extreme, but Wahabi basically states that we should refer back to the Qu’ran and Hadith, and stop practicing all other nonsense (cultural customs that have over the number of years been incorporated into Islam).

I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH WAHABI (that’s my stand).

I AM NOT A WAHABI, BUT, I AM NOT A SYAFIE, HAMBALI, HANAFFI, GHAZALI either.

I AM NEITHER SUNNI NOR SHIA.

I AM A MUSLIM.

I BELIEVE IN THE OMNIPOTENCE OF ALLAH SWT.

ISLAM ISN’T A RELIGION, ISLAM IS A PATH OF LIFE (Ad-Deen)

the Quranic language...

Arabic is to Islam what Mandarin is to the Chinese... the "uniting" factor...

As Muslims, we profess the way of life (Ad-Deen) as guided to us via the Noble Quran... we recite the Khalimah, a promise, an oath, that we believe in the One and Only God, Allah S.W.T. and that we believe Muhammad S.A.W. to be the last and completion of the prophets... this Khalimah is of course recited in Arabic... and I'm sure many of us know the literal, as well as the symbolical, meaning behind the Khalimah...

At the current state we're in, I have to use the word "decay" to describe us... our once mighty and glorious Empire of Faith, reduced to what Westerners call an extrimist religion... who's to blame?.. naturally we are to be blamed...

What went wrong?

I say our fall is directly linked to the fact that we've lost our way, we've strayed-off the path shown to us by Allah S.W.T. in the Noble Quran...

There are many examples I can pluck from history books to show where Muslim's have strayed off the path, the most notable being those by the Khaliphs of the Abbasiyah and Otthaminiyah... but I won't touch on those, do your own research and in the process you'll learn more than just than what I can write in simple words...

I'm going to touch on the subject of language...

How many Muslim's alive can say they speak fluent Arabic?.. even those of us of partial Arabic lineange can't speak fluent Arabic... the problem of language, or lack of a common language, means that we lack the medium needed to exchange knowledge, information, and most importantly wisdom... I'm not just talking about religious/theological knowledge, but every aspect of daily life, both personally and professionally... we know Islam to be an all-encompassing way of life (ad-Deen doesn't traslate as "religion" but "way/path of life")... hence Islam guides us in every aspect of daily life... the most important barrier facing us is that without knowing the Arabic language, the language of the Noble Quran, how do we read and understand the teachings of the Noble Quran?.. remember one every important fact; translation of the Al-Quran is not the Al-Quran, merely a book of translation...

We fail to notice how this has impacted us, but the evidence is all around us...

The absence of good-governence, the absurd institutions and bodies, as well as cimmissions that are in existance; not to mention the syirik practices that are common practice in this country... they all exist because we fail to understand Islam in it's entirety, it's totallity... but how are we to understand Islam when we don't speak Arabic?..

Could not this problem be solved by simply learning to comprehend the Arabic language?.. the damage done is so severe that there is no simple solution to it... but... comprehending the Arabic language is the first step towards solving the problem Islam is facing...

You might be tempted to start learning the Arabic language after reading this entry... afterall, as the Noble Quran indicated thru Surah Al-Qalam, the universe was created using the Arabic language... Arabic is the language of Origin...

Basic Rights of a Human Being: Freedom to choose a religion

I’ve got nothing against Christians. I have some very good friends who are Christians (from different sect). I respect their believes. I DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST, and I never will. BUT, I won’t argue this to their face. I do not question the integrity of their Bible. I do not outwardly say it to their face, “Look, my Book’s the one and only Holy Book”.

Like I’ve said, I have some good Christian friends. But what some of my good Christian friends lack is humility. Use common sense and it’ll dictate to you that everybody believes in their faith/religion/way of life. I believe in Islam, I believe that the Noble Quran is the “one and only Holy Book”, I believe that Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) is the last prophet, the messiah, the completion to the prophets (none shall come after him). I do not believe that the Bible is uncompromised. But all my believes, I do not vocalize them in public and embarrass my Christian friends when they make stupid statements.

I DO NOT LIKE IT when one of my Christian friends question the integrity of the Noble Quran (and I’m sure they won’t like it if I did the same to their Bible too). I am prepared to test the Noble Quran via a comparison of facts written in the Noble Quran to known scientific truths, can my Christian friends do the same with their Bible? I am willing to debate about Islamic Theology with my Christian friends, can they argue Christian Theology with me? (first they’ll have to agree to agreed facts amongst themselves)
I am very much willing to discuss about Islamic History (the good as well as the bad), are they willing to put their religion under such scrutiny? I am able to argue why the word “Allah” shouldn’t be used by Catholics, and why I believe it’s okay for monotheist sects of Christianity to use it, as well as other monotheistic religion (orthodox Judaism, orthodox Hinduism, etc.).

There’s so much I can do if I wanted to, and there’s so much I can say that’ll make you shut up and stomp away in frustration from me, BUT, I choose not to. SO, respect my religion, DON’T TELL ME that I’m wrong and you’re right. I think that you’re wrong and I’m right too, but have the decency to keep it to yourselves and not voice it out at every opportunity that presents itself to you. When I’m calm I’ll smile, shut my mouth and keep my opinions to myself. When I’m in the mood I am now, I’m not so subtle and you’ll get a much deserved piece of my mind. You might find a very fierce and hard-hitting Ox hitting you with facts after facts about fallacies about Islam and discrepancies about Christianity. So choose your battles wisely, or at least be well versed about your own religion (both Theology and History) before you start to openly question (condemn) the religion and believes of others.

The Star, Dec 22, 2009...

I read this earlier today... I do not completely agree with the article, but there are certain aspects of it that I am compelled to agree with... the author caught my attention mainly due to the fact that he talks about re-interpretation of the Quranic verses... please note that I believe the Noble Quran is a book of Divine guidence, and hence the Noble Quran MUST NEVER BE RE-INTEPRETED as no re-interpretation is required... what is written is clearly written, and Allah SWT has a purpose for everything... this part I agree whole-heartedly with the Author, Syariah Law, the Law Allah SWT gave to us, should never be altered...

My question to you is If we proclaim to have iman in Allah SWT, iman that Allah SWT is omnipotent, then why do we question the law as prescribed by Allah SWT?..

-----------------------------------

EVERY rightly guided Muslim holds that he is obliged to follow the law of Allah, namely the Syariah. It is the revealed law, the path shown by Allah through His messenger, Muhammad.

To the mind of an unbeliever, perhaps, it is rather strange that the Muslims today still want to maintain and follow the law that was revealed more than one thousand years ago. The command to follow the law is evident in this Quranic verse: “We made for you a law, so follow it, and not the fancies of those who have no knowledge.”

The Quran, which was revealed to Muhammad, is something very important to every Muslim, not just personal to the Prophet. No Muslim has the authority to add anything to it, or to make alteration, or to omit anything from it. They have the duty and responsibility to preserve the Book for the guidance of all mankind
till the end of the day. They are also constantly reminded of what the Jews and the Christians had done to their holy books and warned not to do the same to the Quran — “Have you any hope that they will be true to you when a party of them used to listen to the Word of Allah, then used to change it, after they have understood it knowingly?” (2: 75).

Unless the person accepts the authority of the Quran he will never understand why the Muslims are like that. What a Muslim can do is to convince that person that the Quran is the word of God for all mankind.

In the beginning, the Meccan Arabs also refused to accept the teaching of Muhammad, preferring instead the way of life they inherited from their forefathers. Their attitude is condemned by the Quran: “And when it is said unto them: Follow that which Allah has revealed, they say: We follow that wherein we found our fathers. What! Even though their fathers were wholly unintelligent and had no guidance?” (2:170). This argument is still relevant now.

Professor Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, founder and ex-director of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), always reminds his students of the need to have a proper response and attitude towards the challenge of modernity.

Today, he said, among the Muslim intellectuals and leaders are those who are bringing the same problems as what the Christians are having. This is because there are a lot of changes happening, and the Muslims begin to ask how to overcome problems associated with those changes. That means, they say, we have to re-interpret some verses, otherwise the Muslims will refuse to accept the teaching of the Quran.

This is very dangerous and if we allow it to happen there will be no end to it. When discussing the economic problems of the Muslims, for example, some Muslim scholars blame the Islamic law of inheritance, suggesting it to be changed to keep up with the time. But how are they going to change it when the Quran is very clear on it? They, nevertheless, argued that in those days women did not work while today women work with some of them even getting higher income than their husbands, and because of that the provisions for inheritance should be made equal. his, they said, would help correct the economic imbalance among the Muslims.

We cannot simply accept the given reason without asking for proof that Islamic law of inheritance is the cause of Muslims’ economic problem. We are not going to accept it as if it is an undeniable fact, whereas it is just an unproven assumption.

Some others called upon the Muslims to look into the spirit of the verses about inheritance because now the situation has changed, and looking at the spirit of it now, they say, inheritance between male and female should be made equal.

That is not a correct argument, because regarding the verses of the Quran that are unambiguous one cannot say that one must look into the spirit of the matter. That is precisely the way Western people look at law, for their law is written by man and therefore they can always look into the spirit of the law.

Similarly, when confronted with the problem of women and gender equality, many Muslim thinkers do not realise that some of these problems are not actually relevant to the Muslims. Some of the problems about equality and demand for justice arose because of the early doctrines of Christianity on the position of women. The Muslims did not have such problems, but now they do have
it, not due to something inherent in Islam, but due to the Muslims’ isunderstanding of their own religion.

Some of our modern ulama, according to al-Attas, are to be blamed for not teaching people properly, so sometimes there is injustice. They are often seen to be on the side of men in matters of law, for example in matters of divorce and polygamy, whereas women are not given clear understanding of their rights.

This is due to wrong teaching and misunderstanding, and this can be corrected by re-educating the Muslims properly, not by declaring equality and trying to follow the West. We can’t abolish any law that is clearly stated in the Quran.

This is, sadly, the state of affair of the Muslims, who have generally become ignorant and confused. As a result, false leaders thrive among them.

All these have to be changed, and in order to do that the Muslims have to look into hemselves to find out what are they lacking, and whether they are thinking correctly. The real problem with the Muslims today is the corruption of knowledge which can be seen in the way we believe and the way we do things. At the same time our people are trying to follow the footsteps of the Western people including the way they observe religion. We must be precise in our thinking, and be able to see how the logic goes. That is what we can learn from the science of kalam, which, unfortunately, people today do not care to learn any more. As a result they cannot think properly, nor can they argue or understand arguments.

My opinion of that issue...

What infuriates me about this is Why do they wanna use the word Allah for God?
The word for God in Malay/Indoensian is Tuhan… the word God in Arabic is Illah… so why the word Allah?

The characteristics that describe God in Islam as Allah are described in Surah al-Iklas…

1. Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;

2. Allah, the Eternal, Absolute, Omnipotent;

3. He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;

4. And there is none like unto Him.

God isn’t one is Christianity, Christians believe in the Holy Trinity, we believe in the one-ness of God… despite the fact that they’ll argue God is One to them, their believe in the Holy Trinity goes against the very concept of Allah…

God isn’t omnipotent to the Christians… in Genesis they say god “rested” on the 7th day after the process of creation… doesn’t sound very omnipotent to me… we muslims believe that Allah doesn’t rest, Allah is All-Mighty, why would an All-Mighty being such as Allah need to rest?

Jesus, as described in Christianity, is the son of God… Allah’s characteristic is that he has no parents, nor is he a parent… see the point here? Quite obvious…

Most importantly is that Allah’s features, physically, is beyond our comprehension… we do not know how Allah looks like, BUT, the Christians say that we humans are created in the image of God…

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 - The Sun

Court to hear Melanau woman’s Allah CD case on Jan 12

Kuala Lumpur: The High Court here will hear on Jan 12 the application by a Melanau woman to challenge the Home Ministry’s decision to confiscate eight compact discs (CDs) of Christian religious teachings containing the word “Allah”.

Justice Datuk Alizatul Khair Osman fixed the date in chambers yesterday.

Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, 27, was granted leave on May 4 to initiate judicial review proceedings against the ministry and the government, as respondents, to seek three reliefs from the court.

She wants an order of certiorari to quash the ministry’s decision to confiscate the CDs, an order of mandamus to direct the ministry to return the CDs to her and a declaration that she has the legitimate expectation to exercise her right to possess, use and import publications containing the word “Allah”.

On May 11 last year, the ministry seized the CDs under Section 9 (1) of the Printing Presses And Publications Act 1984 when Ireland, a clerk, disembarked at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang.

The CDs with titles such as Cara Menggunakan Kunci Kerajaan Allah and Ibadah Yang Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah were brought in from Indonesia.

Ireland, a Sarawakian native of the Christian faith, said she used the word “Allah” in her prayers, worship and religious education.

She said she received a letter dated July 7 last year from the ministry outlining the reasons for the confiscation, including that it was a threat to security, that is used prohibited words and that it was a breach of Jakim guidelines.

She was represented by counsel Annou Xavier. - Bernama

Happy Eid al Adha

It’s been a very very long time since I was last able to lay in bed, under my duvet and type a blog entry from scratch…

Note: most of my “substantial” blog entries were written with no prior preparation… often I’d think of a topic that I feel strongly about, and start typing, researching as I type…

So what’s on my mind while typing this blog entry, you might ask… Muslim Youths… Youth Engagement Summit…

I received an interesting invitation earlier on facebook to attend a talk amongst Muslim Youths to discuss about the best avenue to perform our duties and obligations of Da’wah… it’s unfortunate that I’ll be unable to make it for that talk/discussion, but I did post a comment to them… I told them to benchmark YES... not the part about organizing a huge summit, but about the idea, the skeleton, the core of YES…

What I suggested is what I’ve heard Muslim Youths in other countries (UK especially) have done… start a small-scale website or printed media… get some columnist to write… the columns or articles should be about the perspective of Muslim Youths in Malaysia… get the opinions and thoughts of Muslim Youths in this country in regards to current issues in regards to Islam… the key word here being Islam… every column or article should encourage other Muslim Youths to delve deep into the Holy Quran in search of the answers to everyday issues they face… the main purpose/goal of the columns and articles should be about educating Muslim Youths that the Holy Quran is the guide-book to life and that Islam IS NOT A RELIGION but A WAY OF LIFE!...

[continued on Friday, November 27, 2009]

I am too lazy to write anything today… tired from cooking for Eid al Adha…
Just a quick reminder… please remember that Eid al Adha or Eid Akhbari is a four (4) day celebration, as opposed to Eid al Fitr which is a three (3) day celebration… I think Malaysian Muslims should remember (I’m sure many of your weren’t aware of what I’m about to write) that Eid al Adha / Eid Akhbari / Hari Raya Haji / Hari Raya Qurban is the more important of the two Eids… ponder on why this is the more important Eid, and perhaps you’ll truly understand the true moral of the story about Ibrahim and Ismael (Abraham and Ishmael)…

Anyway... Eid Mubarrak to all my Muslim brethrens out there :-)