Just like you

I refuse to see this world in binary,
I am pretty sure life has many hues,
If you think I am wrong, then guide me,
Verily my heart is laden with lots of rues,

I am not by your side in your exertion,
But I am with you for this just cause,
Indeed we're unalike, but don’t harbor suspicion,
Stop making accusation, let us make a pause,

This treaty has no insidious intention,
Believe in me, don’t make dissensions,
This life is too short for tedious arguments,
Let us not spiral into the abyss of oblivion,

Remember this day when we finally get through,
I am His servant through and through,
Just like you,
Just like you…

p/s: Sometimes we are not on the same side, but if our work is for Him (for this deen), why can't we just appreciate our differences and get along just fine?

Islamic History Month in Canada

(photo courtesy of Ibrahim Shalaby IHMC visual art e-gallery)

Unbelievable eh? So much for dar-this and dar-that. Canada's federal parliament officially declared October as Islamic History Month in Canada. The only question that I have in my mind: What about it? So far I haven't seen events about Islam going around the city like the famous Nuit Blanche Toronto art festival or whatever.

Anyway, for a start the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is holding a Muslim Heritage Weekend on 18th and 19th October - they will premier Prince Among Slaves, The Last Prophet animated film, some halal food, and some artifacts.

My University's MSA is holding two events: Muslim-Christian Student Dialogue and IHMC Workshop - but places are limited... Hurry up?

Check out the calendar of events by clicking here and jom datang ramai-ramai!

Ok at least let's go to ROM this weekend.

Prejudices, Book-Banning, and the Feminist Discourse

Ustazah Alqasam has been kind enough to write her thoughts on my blog's shoutout box. The shoutout box is kind of too small, so I am writing my reply and thoughts here rather than there. I think it would benefit the reader too if I share my thoughts here – insyaAllah.

One can read here for S.S. Dr. Mohd Asri's objection towards some book banning business that is going on at Malaysia. I am disappointed myself, especially the banning of Ustaz Abdul Rahman’s book Pelik Tapi Benar Dalam Solat – I’ve read that book and found it as very insightful. Sometimes the level of prejudice that we hold towards each other is just amazing – be it the salafi issue, the racial issue, the liberalism issue, etcetera. At certain mosques at Malaysia, if you pray and move your finger continuously during tasyahud, people give you stares like you’re some criminal. I am not giving this example to bring up some insignificant ‘salafi issues’, my point is: There is just too much judgmental that is going on and not enough self-reflection, which is actually what we should do.

I haven’t read the other book that is being banned: Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism. I must say the title of the book appeals to me a lot. I was looking forward to reading it after I’ve read "Unveiling the Ideal : A New Look at Early Muslim Women", published by the same publishing house. Honestly I was amazed by the book and I would consider it as a valuable asset to the feminist discourse in Islam.

I've listened to Dr. Umar Faruq Abdullah's series of lectures "Famous Women in Islam" before, and the book complimented Dr. Umar's lectures very well. Great figures like Nusaybah, Umm Salamah, Karimah, etcetera are explained very well in Unveiling the Ideal : A New Look at Early Muslim Women. If the new book by SIS doesn't contain anything really 'dodgy', they must feel some injustice is going on right now. Even if it is really really 'dodgy', let's listen and understand what their qualms are about. Even I am no big fan of most of the writers of the book, but I would like to understand their views. Remember Imam Abu Hanifah's advice to his disciple Abu Yusuf: "take an interest in those who do not come to you."

I still remember even some of Karen Armstrong's books and Fatimah Mernissi's books are also banned at Malaysia - I can get hold of them over here and they are actually fabulous books. Karen Asrmstrong is actually an Islamic apologist! I am afraid with this kind of attitude, we are again and again making blunders in promoting the deen. It's not just about killing intellectual development in the country, we are responsible for making people having bad perception about the religion - people would consider banning books as something normative in the religion.

Certainly we should not alienate any parties, unless it is really a necessity. We should engage people and try to understand them in order to tackle issues like this. I really like Syaikh Hamza Yusuf’s words, “We ought to keep in mind that Mosses a.s. was commanded to go to Pharaoh and speak to him a gentle word (Qur’an 20:44). Remembering that we are not more righteous than Mosses a.s. and that our brother is certainly not father astray than Pharaoh, we can approach the matter with gentle humility and a genuine desire for the well-being and guidance of all.” (Agenda to Change Our Condition - Page 19)

Scary

There are three types of people in this world that are scary: 1) Hypocrites 2)Morally-bankrupt people, 3) People who have no sense of haya’ (tak reti malu). You may ask me, what do you mean by scary? I would say something is scary when I can’t predict the outcome. Note: I don’t mean I need to predict every outcome in this world; I understand that there are random processes that are happening in this universe and they are not scary (i.e. quantum tunneling is not scary, it's just subhanAllah).

Hypocrites are scary because they tell you lies, thus their words are not reliable to predict an outcome. Morally-bankrupt people are scary because everything they do is like a uniform random distribution – no bell-curve at all. I expect people to behave according to certain principles, but morally-bankrupt people just do whatever they want. People who have no sense of haya’ live thier lives according to their whims. And I can’t find any reliable random data distribution for ‘whim’ just yet.

So please don't be scary... It scares me.

Ittaqullah!

The Unquantifiable Factor

• The best food is the one that is cooked with love and rahmah. Actually you can feel it with your heart, not with your tongue. It's not about the taste buds on your tongue that transfer the sensation to your brain, but it's about your soul that vibrates with love that is sincerely put into the food - the barakah.


• So nothing beats home-cooked food, not even the one from the most expensive high-class restaurant. Nothing beats food that is cooked by people who care for you, not even the food cooked by the best chef in this world.


• Rahmah is something unquantifiable in the materialistic sense. I can't say a hundred more rahmah will cost a hundred more dollars - I can't write that in the invoice.


• If we choose to vew this world through the materialistic lense, then we cease to be human. If it is just about profit and cost-cutting, then welcome to the modern world - a sad world that renders words like barakah, rahmah, and ihsan meaningless.


• Cronyism is despicable if you give position only to people you know and cause injustice by depriving others from the position that they deserve. Asking your wife to cook dinner for you (if she is willing), instead of ordering food from next door restaurant is not cronyism. You are not depriving the next door restaurant from anything at all.

p/s: Thanks to those who have cooked food with rahmah for us the other day. Jazakumullah Khairan.