Just read the news about Turkish presidential and parliamentary election in BBC.co.uk
There is a rally around the country as the the amendment to change the president was prompted after secular opposition lawmakers boycotted a vote to elect the Islamist-rooted ruling party’s candidate.
This Islamic-rooted ruling party has the record of the lowest corruption rate in public sector since the formation of Turkish republic. And consequently, during their ruling, the best and most efficient public services were delivered.
And congratulation to them.
Having mentioned this fact to a friend of mine, he replied to me, ‘At least their Election Commission (EC) is prudent and just in their work, so every party has an equal opportunity to win elections. But compared to our EC, its a shame’
He then continued, ‘To give one example, how come our EC can call the opposition parties as ‘the oppositions’ in their verbal correspondence when they should have been independent and refer these parties by their name, not by their role in parliament’
Having your name called as ‘PEMBANGKANG’ does give impact to the perception of people, as if your only role is ‘MEMBANGKANG’…
How sad and shame….
I just cannot resist my temptation to write this fact down. Sometimes I wonder how much the cost of ISLAM HADHARI implementation:
Dining (Makan minum): RM 15m
Proposal paper (Kertas kerja): RM 20 m
Speakers allowances : RM 0.72m
Flight ticket: RM 0.9m
Seminar cost: RM 4.5m
Total cost: RM 41m
Resource: Pejabat Penasihat Agama Islam kepada YAB PM, Aras Tiga, Bangunan Perdana Putra, Putrajaya.
Marginal benefit from the implementation is yet to be seen.
Empirical test that you can conduct at ‘home’ to test the marginal benefit of Islam Hadhari, :
1) Randomly, find 100 Malays who are Muslim
2) Then ask them about the purpose and principles of ‘the old ISLAM’ and its impact on them. I bet, with 99% confidence interval, that less than two person will incorrectly answer the first two questions, and unclearly state the marginal impact that ‘the old Islam’ has on them.
3) Lastly, ask the same sample about the purpose and principles of Islam Hadhari and its impact on them. I bet, with 99% confidence interval, that less than two person can correctly answer the first two questions, and clearly state the marginal impact that Islam Hadhari has on them.
From just the simplistic notion of Islam which has already syumul and perfect, they have it renovated to Islam Hadhari, which is just another truly bid’ah. I wonder why some of the some people in Malaysia who keep busying themselves with forbidding tasbih and maulidurrasul, when facing with this biggest bid’ah ever made keep themselves silent? (To avoid any generalisation, please note the wording of ’some of the some‘)
And the meaning of Islam Hadhari in itself is subtly misleading, ‘The Modernisation of Islam’…..
Is Islam too static and stagnant and not dynamic that we have to modernise it? I sometimes wonder…..
I am slowing down a bit due to the exam, which is just around that very corner of my room..tehehe. So expect my next entry to be in 4 weeks time. Cheh..macam ada orang tunggu je…..
Another reason for the lack of entries these weeks back is I was away for 10 days, visiting a friend of mine in Egypt, which is a very nice country, bestowed upon it a lot of world most important human beings, monuments, mother of the earth longest flowing river, humble and helpful Arabs unlike the others (this statement might be politically incorrect though), and last but never the least, the ability of them chasing Israel out of their very own Sinai peninsular.
Nevertheless, I was struck by the lacking of civic of some of its citizen.
Luxor, Hurghada, Sharm el-sheikh, Tabaa, Ras Muhammad, and Mersa Matruh just to name a few are some of the very clean and nice places to visit. I did not visit those places of course except Luxor (as it is where my flight touched down), but my own personal feeling; those places are clean and well organised and no different with Luxor as they are recognised more as places for resorts for foreigners.
Cairo on the other hand, has a lot more to offer. Giza is just 10 miles south of the city, Fatimid heritage, Amru al-Asr, Imam Shafie, Sheikh Zun Nun al-Misry, Sheikh ibnu Atoillah as-Sakandari, Hassan al Banna, al-Azhar, Sultan Hassan mosque which is also known as the 4 schools mosque, just to list a few name and places are and were in Egypt. Its a pity for us who study in UK cannot afford to go and visit Cairo and these great world scholars when we can afford to go to Italy, Paris, Madrid, and Barcelona to see churches of Vatican City, Notre Dam, Gaudi etc…Its a shame really….
However to truly invite non-Muslim to go there is also a shame, as Cairo today is not in the form which it is suppose to be. Undeniably, al-Azhar University which is the first university in the world can be considered in Islamic world as comparable to, if not superior than Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge) universities. But look at the Oxford city, Cambridge city and Cairo city~ nothing comparable. A friend of mine made a joke, Cairo has 1/3 of heritages world can offer to humankind, but it also has 1/3 of rubbish humankind can make. Huhuhu, whoever has been to Cairo might agree with me though, and this is seriously not just a rumbling exageration thought of mine about Egypt. Nevertheless, don’t let this deter you from going to Cairo as the beauty of life that you can learn is by far outweigh the disutility of the eye choking rubbish scenery.
I would like to thank my host in Egypt;Ahmad Shuib, my host in Alexandria; Wan Mazrizman, my host in Luxor;Haji Muhsein and his son Mohammed, whose generousity and hospitality really is a touche. Barakallahu alaikum…
I also would like to take this opportunity to congratulate my camaraderie and close friend Mohd Alimullah Ishak for his marriage with his milk-dreamy-creamy girl Hanan. I must sadly say that I have lost another close friend of mine due to marriage….
Caution->The statement in this paragraph applies only to me:
Sometimes I wonder, when my time is going to come huhu…nobody to blame as this is destiny. It is just me who do not want to put enough effort into that, as I personally believe, during this phase of my life enjoying my very own special ‘passionate’, marriage will slow me down…tehehe. Ok, that is a rumbling thought of mine…focus..focus!!
The lesson for this current entry,
1) To my beloved friends, especially my juniors, go to Egypt. Make friend for the sake of Allah with Malaysian student who study in Egypt, make them your host in Egypt, otherwise you will be manipulated and exploited by some Egyptians….I really mean it. And pay for all the expenses, for your host and yourself of course.
To qoute from a friend of mine, Ahmad Shuib, ‘Bumi Kaherah itu penuh dengan barakah nabi-nabi, ulama’-ulama’, wali-wali, qari-qari dan ilmu. Cuma ianya banyak dilitupi oleh debu-debu pasir duniawi. Nak dapat barakah tu, kenelah kais-kais pasir dan debu tu’
And I regret, I have not put enough effort in raking the dust and sand. I pass the baton to you guys….carpe diem, enjoy the present.
Pictures will be uploaded in future. I really mean the ‘future’ this time.
Haji Muhsein
