A One More Knowing

Team Polaris

2010-06-22T22:32:00.012+08:00

They were a joy to be with. Never failed to seize the moment to generate fun, they did it through cooking, cleaning and other daily rituals. They are NTU undergraduates, from different schools but united through a common cause: to give what they are called: Pieces of Love and Radiance in Smiles.

I was introduced to this expedition some months ago when I gave a talk at NTU for their Monthly Dose of Islam Series. Privately, I harboured the intent to do humanitarian work in Cambodia for many years when I watched the video produced by the YMS team for their expedition and community service circa 2001/2002. The team built a school building at one of the villages. So when I was informed that NTUMS is organising an expedition to Cambodia, I asked whether I could join the team without a second thought. Just soon after making this commitment, I realised it was not possible to be away from work for the entire expedition period. Nurfaiezah (or affectionately known by her team-mates as Faz) who is the team leader accommodated my constraints on the number of days I could be in the expedition. Later almost a week before departure she acceded my request for Muslim to join me on this expedition. Many thanks -- Faz.

Although I am acquainted with 3 of the team members (Faz, Acap and Abud), all others in the team were total strangers to me and Muslim. I reckoned some had felt uncomfortable and awkward by my presence in the team as we squeezed ourselves (including Pitou) in someone's bedroom for the nightly debriefs -- particularly those who have always saw the "serious" me at NTUMS. The generation gap was obvious, what more with the title "Dr" to my name.

During the introductory session (on arrival at Phnom Penh) I told the team that I came to learn from the young for me to be younger. When Muslim and I were addressed as their guests, I asked them not to accord us any special privileges, but to assign us duties just like any member of the team. Faz jokingly volunteered me to do dinner the first night at Sihanoukville -- and dinner we did (although I played a very small part, as a kitchen hand for that evening).

I tried to contribute and do whatever it takes to be part of the team, including dancing to the "hoky poky" song at the slump school, playing scissors-paper-stone with a three-year old girl, five stones (literally stones) with the children at the yard, kick-tossing the chap-teh with Zul and the boys, raking up the soil for the eco-garden, among other acts. Mariam, one of the team member, remarked that I am the epitome of "there's a kid in all of us", for her farewell message to me.

We bonded like family through Angels and Mortals, Blow Wind Blow, Tuki Tuki, Karaoke-ing and having meals together. These activities, the fun and the accompanying laughter re-energised our tired bodies, replenished our enthusiasm and kept our spirits high. The occasional tears and emotional intermissions, along with tasbih kafarah united us in spirit and soul.

I joined the team to learn from the young and to get some youthful inspiration. These young undergraduates had indeed taught me lessons. Their enthuasiasm, spontaneity, patience and resilience inspired me.

They strengthened the optimism I have on our young. I am deeply grateful to be in their team and very proud of each and everyone of them.

Team Polaris (and Polaroids: Faeizah, Nahri, Nafisah, Mira, Fasihah, Fiza, Nurul, Shila, Iz, Azzah, Mariam, Syuadah, Linh, Abud, Nadz, Shameera, Yaya, Zul, Khairil, Pitou, Ashraf and Muslim) -- You Rockz!

M'Lop Tapang Centre for Street Children

2010-06-21T21:18:00.009+08:00

Founded by 4 young Khmers, M'Lop Tapang was conceived under the shade of a tree on the beach, hence its name. The organisation has been offering care and support to young people at risk in Sihanoukville since 2003. It provides access to education, medical care, counselling, vocational training and recreational activities while protecting the children from all forms of abuse.

We were greeted by Wanti, the education officer of M'Lop Tapang as he stood by a yellow coloured truck -- our transport from the guest house to the centre for the coming days. The ride was fun. We stood on the truck and enjoyed every bump as the driver negotiated the potholed roads and narrow lanes. But the fun was shortlived when we arrived at the centre. The sight of young children, many without footwears and shirts or tops sank our hearts. Later we saw babies in the baby room lying down on the floor without shorts and diapers. We were guided to the meeting room (on the upper floor of the building) for the welcoming remarks by the Director of the centre.

Despite the humongous challenge confronting them -- to provide non-formal education to the street children with the hope that they eventually be admitted to state schools, against the wishes of their parents who rather have them on the streets and beaches to beg or sell knick-knacks for an income to the family -- both Wanti and his Director appeared calm and collected sourced almost by an inherent inner peace, I reckoned.

The children crowded around us, everytime we arrived at the main centre, or at the slump schools. Many clinged to us, as though they found their long lost parents. Their deep eyes, troubled looks and erratic (and aggressive) behaviours were expressions of untold stories and psychological conditions. We came to offer help, but instead discovered our own human frailties as we wrestled our emotions, and the fear of giving these children the false hope and expectations of love.

Can we detach ourselves from the emotions and get the job which we came for, done? Should we not smile, hold their hands when they grabbed ours and play games with them to show that we care? Perhaps, this is what matters to them, and will make them happy.

We came to conduct art and basic numeracy classes at the centre, and build an eco-garden on the grounds of the slump school. Most of us were not prepared for the emotional roller-coaster but we took it in our stride. By the end of each day, many in the team "adopted" a child or children, and bonded with them.

It was selfless giving and receiving all day, everyday. We came to give, but I felt we were the beneficiaries instead.

A truly awesome life-changing experience for me.

Cambodia: First Impressions

2010-06-20T20:25:00.011+08:00

First impressions have a powerful place in memory, and so it is that I remember with startling clarity stepping out of Pochentong Airport on 15 June 2010. I was an "unofficial" member of the POLARIS expedition and we had to spend a night in Phnom Penh before travelling to Kampong Som (Sihanoukville) where M'Lop Tapang is based.

Pitou, our contact in Cambodia greeted us on arrival. Slim-built, unassuming yet competent, gracious and extremely helpful. A student of tourism at the local university, Pitou organised our programme, accommodation, transport and acted as our translator.

Pochentong Airport is about 2.5 miles away from the centre of Phnom Penh, and given that there were 23 of us, and a heap of boxes (of rations, stationeries, and cooking utensils) as well as our luggages, I eagerly expected a coach to ferry us to our guest house. Instead, Pitou had us, our luggages and boxes on a motorcade of tuk-tuks, a six seater rickshaw powered by a motorcycle from the airport to Paragon Hotel. We were thrilled by the ride, as we sampled the architectural and demographic character of the city, its potpourri of scent and strong smell of barbecued meat.

We arrived at Paragon Hotel at sunset. The hotel overlooks the Tonle Sap river. Sandwiched by pubs, cafes and massage parlours, the hotel is attractive to budget travellers such as the middle-aged American (with a Macintosh in his hand) who was curious to know where I came from and the purpose of our visit. After a quick view of our room and dropping off our luggages, we marched along a dimly-lit road of shophouses and curious onlookers. Who could blame them. We stood out like black ninjas. With our black attire, and sisters in hijab, everyone on the street looked at us as we passed through the road, looking for the Halal restaurant. We found one, although not the restaurant in mind. The place was full, with Malaysians who had just arrived from KL. To make way for us, the Malaysians were nudged by the restaurant owners to leave the moment they finished their meals. The lady who acted like the manager-cum-waiter of the restaurant, suggested that we have the same menu as the Malaysians: tom-yam, omelette, fish, mixed vegetables with white rice. Too tired to think, and too hungry to argue, we agreed with her "instructions". We ate dinner for the stomach. For taste, I thought the tom-yam was too sweet for my liking and therefore complemented it with small cut chilli padi(s). After dinner we walked straight back to the hotel for our first briefing (and introductions).

We assembled at the hotel reception and walkway with our bags and boxes early next morning to wait for our chartered coach that will take us on the 4 hour ride to Sihanoukville. There was hustle and bustle on the corniche, and the road next to it. Foreigners and locals, joggers and peddlers, motorcyclists, and an elephant (with its keeper) were sharing the road, making it an eventful (and delightful) morning.

My first impression of Phnom Penh resonated with Yaya's (one of our team member). She described the city as broken and beautiful.

To me, the city may be broken, but the people are definitely beautiful.

The Swings, Hammocks and Mosquitoes

2010-06-14T15:28:00.012+08:00

Alhamdulillah, we've had a great weekend (well, my children may not totally share my sentiments). Inspired by an email from a very dear friend, I persuaded my family to spend the weekend at a homestay at Kampong Johor Lama (by the mouth of Johor River) run by a retiree, Encik Mohd Bahari nicknamed Bob, hence Bob's Homestay).

It took a while to get there. Not because of the distance, but due to my poor navigational skills (and travelling without a map). Our faces lit up when we saw the sign pointing the direction to Kampong Johor Lama. My children were not too impressed with our bedroom and the basic amenities (or according to them, the lack of it). But somehow the idylic setting and the sight of kelongs, fishing boats and mangrove swamp mitigated the initial misgivings.

We watched the fishermen (and women) unloaded their catch at the foot of the jetty from their sampan in the mornings, ate at the warongs at Teluk Sengat for dinner, munched keropok lekor and sweet pisang goreng on the jetty at sunset.

We drove to Desaru Fruit Farm, and Tanjong Balau, visited the Ostrich Farm at Teluk Ramunia (we saw photos of FM and Mrs George Yeo, and Minister Dr Yaacob with an ostrich egg) -- and were given an interesting and insightful briefing on ostrichs, and their living habits.

On sunday morning, after subuh, I asked my wife to give a short tazkirah to me and our children -- the best reminder we've had for a long time.

I didn't manage to do what I partially came for -- BBQ and canoeing with Muslim and Mus'ab. We were too tired from my (bad) driving and the tide was low, until when we were just about to leave yesterday.

InshaAllah, we intend to return to this kampong, and offer a rejoinder to the pantun that stood at the jetty to bid farewell to the seafarers:

Asal tembaga menjadi dulang
Asal kayu menjadi peti
Andai jodoh masa mendatang
Moga kita berjumpa lagi

Muslim and I will be joining 20 NTU students for the POLARIS expedition at Kampong Som, Cambodia tomorrow, till Sunday. The students will be in Cambodia for 18 days to share their love and smiles with the children at M'Lop Tapang and later at a school in Phnom Penh. May POLARIS inspire them to develop a vast love for all human beings and for all creation, and thus live their whole life in the ebbs and flows of an all-embracing love.

May Allah weave the lace of our lives on the canvas of thought and action of the many heroes who have won His pleasures.

We Will Not Go Down

2010-06-06T10:53:00.005+08:00

Cybernetics of Commitment

2009-12-04T23:22:00.006+08:00

David Whittaker’s anthology of Stafford’s papers titled “Think Before You Think” was my companion during the flight to Jakarta. Earlier this week, I thanked Denis Adams for putting the book into the jiffy bag for it to be couriered to me. In that e-mail I asked Denis to convey my gratitude to David for sharing what he “saw” when he stood on the shoulders of giants.

The meeting in Jakarta was a commitment made some weeks ago – to accompany the postgraduate students to UIN Syarif Hidayatullah for them to present their thesis proposal and develop the first draft of their thesis.

Commitment is said to precede action. Without commitment, there will be no action. But commitment is a commodity short in supply these days …. Interestingly, many want to do or act but without making any (further) commitment.

Prof Azyumardi Azra asserted that intention (read: “inna ma a’malu bin niyyah”) is synonymous to commitment for there will be no action without commitment, in the same vein, there will be no action without intention.

Interestingly, the Vice Rector of Universitas Hamka discussed the different models of ownership between Muhammadiyah and NU for their institutions: schools/pesantrens, hospitals, child care centres and universities. Muhammadiyah’s members and activists raised funds and sought donations to purchase land and buildings but later bequeathed the properties to the organization. Muhammadiyah the organization, hold all titles to the properties, voluntarily handed over by her members.

He shared a story of a (lady) member who started a child care centre next to an empty plot of land. When the owner of that land told her that he is selling the land and offered to her, she hesitated to purchase until when she found that it could possibly end up with an unfriendly party. To avoid such possibility, she purchased the land without a clue how she will raise the funds to pay for it. She succeeded to raise the funds, built an extension building for the child care next to it and handed over the properties to Muhammadiyah.

I found the story fascinating but inspiring, no less.

Cybernetics of commitment does not require a complete blueprint to initiate action. Instead of specifying in full detail, you simply ride on the dynamics of the system to where you want to go.

That dynamo is commitment.
Hence act therefore commit.

Sekolah Pascasarjana
UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta

Mentors

2009-03-15T11:57:00.006+08:00

They are extraordinary. Taking on several roles all at the same time - trusted advisor, teacher, counselor, friend and/or parent - they are there when you need them.

Kunich and Lester in their article "Leadership and the Art of Mentoring: Tool Kit for the Time Machine" cited several mentors and illustrated their mentoring process as if it were an acronym:

Model
Emphatize
Nurture
Teach
Organize
Respond
Inspire
Network
Goal-Set

One of the most remarkable mentors in history is Anne Sullivan, the teacher of Helen Keller. Immortalized in the play and film The Miracle Worker, Sullivan exemplified all facets of an ideal mentor as she worked with her young deaf and blind protégé.

The mentor nurtures the protégé as a farmer tends the wheat, providing seeds, nourishment, protection and the room to grow, each in its turn, in the proper amount, and in its own due time.

It is not a title we can arrogate to ourselves or bestowed upon us through a simple administrative act.

It is an honour that must be earned as we diligently strive to make a positive change in the life, attitudes and behaviour of our young protégés, and through them, in ourselves, no less.

APEX (especially @MWTI), MGN, TMSN, IM4U, YKI and many others out there -- know that the ride is uphill and bumpy, but it is most satisfying (and humbling) to witness our former protégés in turn become mentors.

And what could possibly be a better amal jariah than that?

With admiration, as always.

Economic Crisis: A New Social Regulation?

2008-10-02T22:14:00.007+08:00

Jim Wallis in his blog God's Politics posted an interesting piece:

Every morning when I wake up in Davos, I turn on my television to CNN in my hotel room. And every morning, there is the same reporter interviewing a bundled-up CEO with the snowy “magic mountain” of Davos in the background. The question is always the same: “When will this crisis be over?” They actually have a “white board” where they make the CEO mark his answer: 2009…2010…2011…later.

But it’s the wrong question. Of course it’s a question we all want to know the answer to, but there is a much more important one. We should be asking, “How will this crisis change us?” How will it change the way we think, act, and decide things —how we live, and how we do business? Yes, this is a structural crisis, and one that clearly calls for new social regulation. But it is also a spiritual crisis, and one that calls for new self-regulation. We seem to have lost some things and forgotten some things — such as our values.

We have trusted in “the invisible hand” to make everything turn out all right, believing that it wasn’t necessary for us to bring virtue to bear on our decisions. But things haven’t turned out all right and the invisible hand has let go of some things, such as “the common good.” The common good hasn’t been very common in our economic decision-making for some time now. And things have spun out of control. Gandhi’s seven deadly social sins seem an accurate diagnosis for some of the causes of this crisis: “politics without principle, wealth without work, commerce without morality, pleasure without conscience, education without character, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice.”

If we learn nothing from this crisis, all the pain and suffering it is causing will be in vain. But we can learn new habits of the heart, perhaps that suffering can even turn out to be redemptive. If we can regain a moral compass and find new metrics by which to evaluate our success, this crisis could become our opportunity to change.

(See: http://blog.sojo.net/2009/01/30/davos-how-will-this-crisis-change-us/)

I pondered what, and how may a new social regulation, moral compass and new metrics by which to live and evaluate our success, take shape and effect.

What came to mind was Professor Gatze Lettinga, who chose not to patent his invention so that his water treatment technology can be universally available.

That's Prof Lettinga.
But what about me?
I ask myself.

'Eidul Fitr Prayer, Reunion and Good Life

2008-10-01T12:09:00.011+08:00

We (my wife, children and I) performed our 'Eid prayer at Toa Payoh Stadium. It has become a family tradition passed down from my parents for us to pray in an open ground for 'Eid - a sunnah of the Prophet (saw). This is the first 'Eid without my father, and I felt his absence both in my heart and at the field during the prayer. My parents and I would wait for each other - my siblings and their family to arrive before we walked together into the stadium, over the years. This morning, it was just me, my wife and our children. Perhaps my mother could not bear the grief to be at the stadium without my father, and my sisters obliged her and prayed at Darul Ghufran.

Alhamdulillah, I am glad we were at the stadium, despite not having my parents and siblings with us. We met old friends and almost like a reunion, we were (re)acquainted with the children of our friends, and acknowledged how time had passed not to mention how much we have aged - many were babies when we last saw them, and now in their teens and even taller than their parents. It wasn't just a gathering for congregational prayer but a celebration of friendship over decades and generations - friends of my parents, our (me and my wife) friends and our children's friends too. It was a community, albeit one that meets twice a year for the two 'Eid prayers. Not strangers who stood in rows for prayers but not knowing anything about each another.

The 'Eid sermon was simple yet inspiring. Titled Hayaatan Tayibah, it expounded the meaning of the verse in Surah Al-Nahl: "Whosoever acts righteously - whether a man or woman - and embraces belief, We will surely grant him a good life; and will surely grant such persons their reward according to the best of their deeds." (Q 16:97)

Like the icing on the cake, the sermon outlined four types of people:

Wealthy and generous (kaya harta dan kaya hati)
Poor but generous (miskin harta tetapi kaya hati)
Wealthy but miserly (kaya harta tetapi miskin hati)
Poor and miserly (miskin harta dan miskin hati)

An interesting permutation - which one of the above types will be able to do good and gain a good life?

Generosity is a virtue.
The hand at the top is better than the one below.
Let's give so that we will be able to give more, and much more.

Ramadhan in Eternity

2008-09-30T14:32:00.008+08:00

It is difficult to express how much I am already missing Ramadhan, even before the blessed month leaves us this evening. Some days ago into the second week of Ramadhan, I broke into tears when I first sighted the decorative lights at a house near Darul Ghufran on the way back from Tarawih prayer. It hit me like a thunderbolt - the thought that Ramadhan is almost coming to an end and Syawal is ushered, while I fear my sins are yet to be forgiven and my prayers answered.

Like a loved one who is leaving and will be dearly missed, I can only pray and hope that I will be meeting Ramadhan again, although death may precedes us.

How I wish I am able to live Ramadhan in eternity.

Indeed Ramadhan has brought with it much blessings - the recitation of the Quran, the night vigil and prayers, the charity and more significantly His presence in our thoughts and action. We are in constant and continuous state and act of worship, earnestly seeking His mercy and forgiveness.

But the Lord of Ramadhan is the Lord of everyday, all day, in this world and the Hereafter.

Let's continue to seek and worship Him even after Ramadhan.

Let's not regress into heedlessness and disobedience, and choose darkness over light.

May Allah strengthen our resolve to brighten the world with the light of Ramadhan, and make us the torch from which it radiates.

Taqqabalallahu minna wa minkum.

Tribute to SIM's MCMS and APEX

2008-08-17T21:07:00.007+08:00

Almost 6 years ago, I walked through the courtyard of SIM's HQ at Clementi Road to deliver lectures/tutorials and summer school on Management, Systems and Change for UK Open Uni's programme. Today, I was back at SIM on the invitation of the Malay Cultural and Muslim Society for a brown bag session with the newly admitted students. This would be my third meeting following the first meeting with Sis Nadiah at An-Naeem Mosque and subsequently with her EXCO members at Starbucks@FullertonOne.

My session was prefaced by a presentation by APEX or Ace PSLE Exams. Led by a group of NUS and other tertiary students, these 30+ mentors provided small group clinics/tutorials to prepare madrasah students for the PSLE. They did not limit their contributions to academic enrichment, but extend it to include motivation camps and goal setting. Their video clip and powerpoint slides moved many to embrace their cause - to empower individuals by becoming role models and providing academic help. The Pri 6 Madrasah Irsyad students featured in their video truly had benefited from APEX's programme, judging from their playful antics yet decisive on their career aspirations. How could we not respond to APEX's invitation to contribute as tutors or role models, I asked MCMS members to break ice before the talk proper.

APEX is a student-led initiative that in my view, have proved critics wrong - that apathy or indifference, and our educated young are synonymous. I applaud their effort and contributions. Initiatives such as APEX offered optimism and hope for the future. I sincerely hope that more students will come forward to give back to society even while they are still in campus.

I tried to expound the notion of success and attempted to answer the question given, as the title of the talk: Am I a successful Muslim?

Success is simply defined as an achievement of a given target or goal, and is the opposite of failure. But success today is no guarantee for success tomorrow. And as Muslims our definition of success is a subset of a wider definition of the Quranic term "Falah". Our ethics for success include actions that do not compromise prohibitions, such as at the expense of others; ends justify means and other Machiavellian tactics. As Muslims, we have responsibilities and its fulfillment is a measure of our conviction. We must be proud of our Muslim identity, but it must not led us to shy away from others or worse, create enclaves to "protect ourselves" and not contributing together with, and for the wider society.

A successful Muslim student, must meet the stringent criteria of the President's Scholarship, I argued. Perhaps a Muslim students' category to make it appropriate in this case. Through an interactive round, participants offered the following attributes and qualities: a) attain excellent results consistently, b) possess leadership qualities, c) made significant contributions to society, d) optimistic and passionate with a cause, e) manifest a pioneering spirit, and last but not least, f) have a good knowledge of Islam. That was our answer to the extended question - Am I a successful Muslim student?

We prayed Zuhr and Asr together, before and after the talk - a significant and important aspect of any programme, to connect and bind our souls as we stood in rows, shoulder to shoulder before Him. The physical, emotional and spiritual significance of praying together in a jamaah may not be obvious and understood by many. It is the building block for collective action and cements everyone together particularly in difficult times.

From the side talks and positive vibes, I gathered that we have managed to energise and motivate the students who stayed on. They need to keep their flame alive, and hopefully maintain the fire in their belly.

Self motivation is the best motivation.
They have what it takes.
I saw several first class honours and first class iman in the making.

May Allah assist them in their endeavours and grant them success in this world and the hereafter.

Ameen.

The Early Hours

2008-08-17T08:27:00.007+08:00

The taxi driver remembered the old Alkaff Kampong Melayu Mosque at the top of Kaki Bukit when I mentioned that I wished to be taxi-ed to the mosque at Bedok Reservoir. He even remembered the old clinic housed in a building made of wood, nearby the old mosque and the surrounding Malay village. It was just before 4am and the conversation brought back childhood memories. I hoped it had broke the monotony of the quiet morning and the deserted road for him, as he searched for the next passenger after we exchanged thanks and goodbyes.

When I reset the alarm on my handphone to wake me up for this journey, it was just over 3 hours left to fulfil its function. I almost shrieked at the amount of time left for sleep. But it was indeed a good sleep despite how brief it was. Perhaps a hypothesis may be apt here: The quality of sleep and the ease to wake from sleep depend on the significance attached to the task or activity to be done after waking-up. Or put it another way: The task and its significance determine the quality of sleep that precedes it.

The early hours are precious but often neglected time during the night. This is the time during which Allah is closest and most receptive to His servants. Rasulullah (saw) said: Our Lord descends each night to the nearest Heaven when only the last third of night remains, and says: "Is anyone praying that I may answer him? Is anyone seeking forgiveness, that I may forgive him? Is anyone asking, that I may give him?" and this continues until dawn (Tirmidhi).

The later part of each night is the most conducive period for reflection and self-development. It is the occasion with the most potential for the heart to be present, alert and free of worldly concerns as the Quran declares: Lo! The vigil of the night [a time] when impression is more keen and speech more certain [al-Muzzammil 73:6].

The beautiful recitation of Al-Baqarah for the Tahajjud prayer nourished the soul and energised the mind. It was opportunity to check what I had memorised in the past. Beyond the exercise of the mind, the prayer - its recital and supplication was a Mi'raj for me. I wanted to ascend to Him, to seek forgiveness and mercy.

The 1.5 hours Tahajjud and Witr prayers were completed without noticing time and as though time did not matter. How different it was compared to other prayers in the day when worldly affairs dictate the time to spend for prayers - and even during prayer, these affairs occupied the mind. It was pointed out by Ustaz Zainal Abidin during kuliah subuh (the Talk after Fajr Prayer) that we never think of Allah when we go shopping, but we think of shopping even during our prayer, when we are supposed to be praying in a state of khusyu' (full concentration) in Allah's presence. I am no exception. Only Allah knows how I wish my heart trembles and my faith increases when His revelations are recited [al-Anfal:2].

Yet it was not just another ordinary morning. There was the eclipse of the moon, something that rarely takes place. It is another sign of Allah's Greatness. We performed the Prayer of the Eclipse (Salatul Kasuf) and it was my first.

A bountiful morning, indeed. Tahajjud, Witr, Kasuf and its sermon, followed by Fajr and a talk. Accompanied by the beautiful recital of the Quran, believers who came and prayed together to seek His forgiveness, and angels who witnessed the beautiful gathering.

What better way to spend the early hours?

Alhamdulillah.

Best Friends Forever

2008-08-16T12:22:00.006+08:00

It was difficult to explain the silence or disappearance, since the last entry some two weeks ago. Many thoughts, issues and ideas nested in my tired mind as neurons fired and competed with each in my overworked brain.

The entry on UMMA Community Clinic generated several interesting responses, including comments from friends who I thought had given up on me. I had prompted whether we should focus our energy, resources and attention to build an institution akin to, and taking inspiration from UMMA. From a "leadership training institute" to "it should be about championing a cause than an institution - a cause galvanises people, not an institution", the responses were passionate and assertive. I particularly favoured the call and claim that we share a common cause - to create leaders. Comments were also made and appended to the entry, which I am most thankful for.

There were many other happenings worthy of sharing.

A discussion on forgiveness after the reading of a hadith on the subject and The Forgiver (Al-Ghaffar) surfaced many instances when we felt hurt and angry, yet recognised the need to forgive. Easy said than done. To err is human and to forgive, divine. At work, we were reminded to "clear (or clean) the account" between colleagues so as to strengthen our relationship and soul. Put simply, we must settle any issues or disagreements before it gets worse, before bad blood rears its ugly head and be manipulated by Satan. Surah Al-Hujurat offers useful pointers and lessons to maintain a healthy interpersonal account.

To celebrate ND observance at Madrasah Aljunied, I wore a pink shirt (sorry: I don't have a red shirt, and didn't have time to get one at Mustafa Centre) for the first time in my life! For many years I wore my usual grey and black (for a formal and distinguished look) but it looked like I am dressed for a funeral when everyone else is dressed to party. And the pink shirt worked. I blended with the colours, songs and atmosphere, and even cheered the Madrasah student who read a poetry in Malay to salute our nation. Zainul, our Corp Comm maestro and one of many best friends at work, remarked that I have gone mad that morning, at the madrasah. It was a joyful event - thanks to Musliha's SRC team and Madrasah Aljunied.

The Famous Five met as agreed and we renewed friendship that spanned over decades. Interestingly our conversation meandered into the "No Permanent Friends, Only Permanent Interests" question. Against the backdrop of our effort to strengthen social cohesion and harmony, to develop good relationship with neighbours and friends - NPFOPI appears to be a paradox if not an irony. We agreed to continue our conversation and I was tearful when they decided to rename Famous Five to Usrah Pak Mat in the honour of my father.

Friends like family are the oxygen to our life. Like oxygen, we take them for granted and in so doing do not accord its rightful place and value.

What is life without friends and friendship?
Let's be BFF to someone else and many others.

Faith In Action

2008-08-05T20:44:00.007+08:00

One of the institutions I visited on my IVP Program on Community and Religion was a community clinic in Los Angeles. Established by a group of young medical graduates to serve the community and the neighbourhood, the UMMA Community Clinic is the first free standing Muslim Free Clinic in America. The mission is to promote the well-being of the underserved by providing access to high quality healthcare for all regardless of ability to pay.

The University Muslim Medical Association (UMMA) was started in 1990 by UCLA graduate and medical students in collaboration with Charles R. Drew University. From the start, the goal of the organization was to establish a free clinic in medically underserved South Central Los Angeles. With the administrative and logistical support of UCLA, Drew School of Medicine and L.A. City Councilperson, the UMMA secured $1,383,000 in grants to make its vision into a reality.

When my team and I entered the clinic (then), we were welcomed by the many patients waiting to see the doctors. The basic fittings and fixtures in the clinic complemented the hopeful and dignified smiles of the patients, doctors and staff alike. I was deeply impressed by the effort and salute the founders and volunteers for their remarkable achievement. Since then, I have shared the UMMA Community Clinic story with students and youth, whenever I am invited to be in their company.

Today, Ust Hannan e-mailed me a videoclip to go "beyond ourselves". I thought it was a brilliant clip to demonstrate the selfless efforts of young professionals who articulated Islam by deeds.

Actions speak louder than words.
They give without asking anything back.
Truly inspirational!

Anything we can do, together?

In Need of Him

2008-08-04T22:21:00.005+08:00

It suddenly felt as if I was losing control of time. My days went without any reflection and much rest. I went from one meeting to another, often back-to-back without any interval in between. From MClub to REA, to Aloha Loyang for Perkemas to Darul Arqam to Taman Warisan, my weekly class with Daniel and weddings among several others, I hardly had time to read the daily papers, let alone blog. The baking heat on Saturday afternoon and lack of rest had its effect on me. I nearly went "black-out" at Sultan Mosque, if not for the zuhur prayer and the attendant supplications that occupied my mind and heart, and kept me conscious.

It may not get any better, I feared. To break the cycle (or perhaps compound the problem) I added 3 books to my collection - The Southeast Asia Diversity Dilemma by Sree Kumar and Sharon Siddique, Presence by Peter Senge, et al, and The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. What have I achieved?, I asked myself. Well, I have delivered my commitment to facilitate a strategic retreat for Perkemas to develop their action plan. We also launched the REA website and through it opened invitation for applications and nominations for the award, after some months of gestation.

On the outset, I need not feel any guilt since I have earned and deserved my keep, without a doubt. To be busy is better than lazing around passing time. Only if the busy is worth being busy for. But how do we measure or assess it? Am I trapped in busyness but of no significance or impact for the greater good? Should I not consider doing one, or two, or even perhaps three things that I am good at, and with it comes greater and more meaningful contribution to society. Should I focus to do less for more? And hopefully I will have a little bit more time for my prayers and to feel His presence.

Amidst the list of things to do, which gets longer each day, I cannot help but wonder whether all this running around is doing good for my soul.

I need to keep trying to find myself in need of Him,
to connect the state of my heart and the nature of my act,
"as if one sees Him" to inspire my being and doing.

Only for the Love of Him

2008-07-29T16:02:00.002+08:00

How do we love the Prophet (saw)?
Can we love someone who we have not met?
Do we love the Prophet the same way we love another person, say our parents or even our sweetheart?

These questions and many others occupied us last night. We read and shared our understanding of Surah Al-Maun and Al-Kauthar after maghrib prayer. The discussion was honest and lively. And while we recognized our limited knowledge it did not deprive anyone from sharing his/her understanding and thoughts. We were eager to learn and share and accept that there may be many readings, meanings and interpretations from a single phrase or an idea.

The “we” refers to NTUMS exco members and I. They invited me to share reflections on niyyah (intentions) since they will be completing their term soon. But we tangent off into discussing the verses of the two Surah, and spent some time on what it means to love our Prophet (saw).

“I found a book Senyuman dan Kenangan Manis bersama Rasulullah and it contains stories of Prophet’s life”, said a sister – and paused. She’d lost for words to describe her joy of knowing the Prophet through the stories. “Like he’s perfect. And I so want to marry him…” quipped a brother. “Ya”, the sister concurred, instantly.

How do we know we are loving the Prophet (saw)?
Is it by practicing his traditions and living the way he lived, thinking what he thought, doing what he did?

Can we love him by loving what he loved?
To plagiarize predicate logic: A=B, B=C and therefore A=C

Can we love him by replicating how others loved him?

Is this love that reciprocates?
Is this love personal?
That each has its own way of loving the Prophet (saw)?

I was thankful for the questions. Without questions there will be no answers, and a search for its meaning. I reminded myself to keep yearning for his love and to love him even if I have yet to discover what that means. Hopefully, I will discover and experience it, in whatever state appropriate - subliminal, metaphysical or in the depth of my dream.

It was not all questions and no deeds, or love unconcretised! – I was delightfully surprised when they presented me a cake, a card and a pencil box made of straw from Cambodia (I thought) for my birthday, at the end of the session just before I took my leave. It was very thoughtful of them and I truly appreciate the effort.

Not to mention, the love amongst them only for the love of Him.

Weekend Whoosh !

2008-07-27T22:05:00.009+08:00

It was a super-hectic weekend, but a fulfilling one, I must say. It begun on Friday evening to prepare for my niece's nikah ceremony and reception, at my sister's house, to Lagun Sari where it happened on Saturday. From Lagun Sari we rushed home for a change before another drive to Yishun Safra for the reception hosted by the groom's family. By the time we bid goodbye to our host, my head was spinning and all it needed was a good crash on the bed. Over this morning's breakfast, I pondered and replayed the thoughts that went through my mind at the wedding reception. Interestingly, weddings (and funerals) brought family closer and drew distant relatives and long lost acquaintances for the ocassion. I met and re-established old family ties, including distant cousins whom during our younger days were not best of friends, always trying to get at each other, if you know what I mean. But I have forgiven all, and let bygones be bygones. Time will heal, and absence makes the heart grew fonder. How true!

In the midst of receiving and welcoming guests at Lagun Sari, I received a phone call from another almost long lost friend - a brother who some time back called me out of nowhere to learn about Islam. Since then, Daniel and I have been meeting every Sunday at Al-Ansar Mosque to go through Islam 101. Last year just before Ramadan, I accompanied him to Darul Arqam and together with Dr Siti Mariam, we witnessed his conversion to Islam. More recently I answered many of his queries on the Malay culture in preparation for his marriage to his childhood friend, a lady by the name of Ayu. They were both from the same village in Kedah, but work has brought Daniel to Singapore and Ayu to Kuala Lumpur. We have not met for some time since it was not easy to align our schedules: my overseas travel and his weekend trips to Kedah or KL, to attend Marriage Preparation Course, wedding arrangements, and family matters. We agreed to resume our weekly class (ps: he called me Cikgu).

Whilst sipping tea at Al-Ansar's cafe with Daniel, I saw another long lost friend, a former colleague who was walking on the road with his wife on their way to the market. We exchanged happenings in our life and I introduced him to Daniel. He invited us to his house as and when we are at the mosque, just like during the time we were working in the same office when he invited me (and other colleagues) to his house after Friday prayer for lunch prepared by his wife. He took early retirement to focus on his other interests - reading and writing, although he spent more time swimming and running now.

After lunch with Daniel, I went home to put my thoughts together for my next engagement - the talk on Rumahtangga Dakwah, an invitation I initially declined but later agreed to deliver, for reasons best left unknown. It continued on the bus and all I managed to put together were squiggles and phrases, which later somehow unfolded itself into phases of (marriage) life and some sense of coherence.

As I paced myself just before the talk, it became clear that the participants had all they needed to build Rumahtangga Dakwah. The previous speakers did an outstanding job to share their experiences and insights, and to match ideals with realities. The groupwork, with its attendant drawings on mahjong paper and presentations by representatives from respective groups, prior to my talk heightened their energy level but that made it more difficult for me, since mine would just be plain rambling.

I will not do justice to attempt a summary of my talk in this entry. But suffice to say, it came straight from my heart - and I hope it did some good to our younger brothers and sisters as they pursue their journey of life, as du'at with their spouse or spouse-to-be, including the singles who will one day enter into marriage.

Back at home, I felt the fear of not being able to live up to those ideals I espoused during the talk. All we can do is try, and ask Allah for His mercy and guidance. Not to try is not an option.

It felt like the week passed in a blink.
And certainly a weekend that went in a whoosh!

May Allah accept our deeds and our yearning for His forgiveness.

Happy Birthday, Dr B

2008-07-25T23:44:00.008+08:00

My wife wished me a Happy Birthday just before I dozed off into dreamland. My handphone beeped sms just after midnight. There was a text message in my inbox. It was the first birthday wish from my niece. I received several birthday wishes through Facebook, e-mail and sms, throughout the day. Grateful and elated, I also felt humbled by these messages since it came from friends I most admired and some least expected.

From the simple yet profound Happy Birthday Doc! Be good do good, the longevity May you have another 49 wise years to the do’a wishing good health, panjang umur and murah rezki. I also received a bookmark from Musfirah when I arrived home in the evening. Against a soft green floral background, the phrase Smile is language of love, both in English and Hindi was printed on the bookmark. Muslim sms-ed his Happy Birthday Ayah, God Bless message from Tekong.

It was difficult to reciprocate their wishes and greetings, other than the usual from Thank you for your wishes. I am touched and moved by the gestures. To relate to an earlier assertion on birthdays, I had added the invitation Let’s renew our beginnings, to sign off my reply. It was also impossible to express gratitude to them through text. I was unable to transmit raw emotion through words over limited bandwidth, hence the channel interference.

The number of wishes and greetings overwhelmed me. I truly did not expect such traffic. In fact I preferred a quiet birthday even better if no one noticed it. But how can I remained private yet enjoy Facebook and blogging. I cannot have the cake and eat it (at the same time) so goes an expression introduced to me by my Econs teacher during my school days. Unless if I had opted for pseudo names and encrypted identities, a practice I do not subscribed (and encouraged).

My family and friends had so generously wished for all that is good on my birthday. May Allah reward them with the best of rewards.

I prayed for His mercy and guidance.
It remains for me to make it come true.

Renewed Beginnings

2008-07-24T21:45:00.007+08:00

He was deep in thought. How best to spend tomorrow when he turn a year older, was the question upmost in his mind. Recollecting what little snippets and images of previous birthdays was one option. Listing all his feats was another. But that will not be good for the soul and serves no purpose, his heart and mind wrestled to maintain humility. He even contemplated a bucket list, but that too may be misconstrued as achievements, post-dated. Back to square one and to the drawing board.

The easy option is to live just like any other day. After all, a day passed is a day older. Why the need for an annual marker and celebrations on the date he was born? Perhaps to express joy for the gift of life. Some find it a good excuse to throw a party! Poor kids, they were the ones made to put on the silly party cones on their heads and left to be entertained by the clowns while their parents and adults were busy networking and talking Great Singapore Sale.

But to go through the day in auto-pilot is not befitting a birthday. Maybe he should get himself a gift, to mark the special day. And for all the hardwork and sacrifices, he certainly deserved it and more. This will capture the moment and freeze the day for posterity, but it is too easy a task. Not to mention that it may not be too meaningful. Unless the gift is a seed that will grow grains to feed the poor in the world, or a mixture that will produce tablets to heal the wounds from decades of anger and hatred among nations.

He can take a day off from work and visit a home for the elderly to entertain them. Or make their wish whichever possible, come true. Such acts are for "others", a public act, however noble it may be. It is not a private one-on-one act with himself, an autopoiesis of sorts.

What difference does it make? Whether it is a public affair or a private act, community service or personal trance. What matters is how he will spend his remaining life to leave behind good deeds that multiply itself in his absence, impart knowledge that benefit others and raise a family that is pious and with good morals and character.

Any further analysis will lead to paralysis, he reckoned.

Birthdays should give birth renewed beginnings.
Not passing through life adrift.

Have a blessed and blissful beginning, Dr B.

Keeping To Schedule

2008-07-23T21:59:00.013+08:00

We had an earful for not keeping to schedule. There was in actual fact no schedule to keep in the first place, although we once mentioned that the building will be ready in December. Nonetheless we accepted our failings and the brunt for taking things lightly, or so it was perceived. Keeping to schedule was the lesson for the day. It was a painful lesson, from someone who is known to be unforgiving to those who are not punctual or prompt.

"You are not prompt! I waited and no one came, so I paid my students to do the job. This is the problem of our community. We are not prompt", he raised his voice and his eyebrows stretched in synchrony. He could not wait for us. There were other projects on the line and engagements overseas including his trip to Japan.

I took it in my stride and bore no grudges. How could I? It was after all, a pro quid pro for the beautiful artwork on the clay tiles produced by his students. We could not produce anything close to those pieces, I told myself. He showed us a basketful of rejects - our clay tiles that did not make to the furnace, or failed to withstand the heat.

We thanked him for his patience and understanding. I also promised to be prompt from now on although it may be mission impossible since delivery could only be made when several parties, each with different level of resources and capabilities have completed their part.

It is not as though we have not experienced it ourselves - the inconvenience of late delivery or poor quality work over and above missing deadlines. Today I had a repeat. The website due last week and later rescheduled for today did not arrive. Although I can be generous to make allowances and accept whatever reasons given, I will not be truthful if I say I am not disappointed. Particularly when the delay had dented my credibility, even more after today.

Our interconnected world and work form an extended production cycle. The work we do (or don't) affect other cycles too. The 'output' we produced became an 'input' to another process in the cycle. Similarly the output produced by other processes are input to ours.

Unless the work we do is self-contained and a closed system, we must accept the fact that our actions (or inactions) will have an impact on the work of others, and by extension, its outcomes.

There could be many reasons for failing to deliver or keep to schedule. A very common mistake is overcommitment. Taking too much work beyond the limited resources at our disposal, without malice and often because we are not able to decline requests or say 'no' to the other.

We may not be aware the extent of inconvenience caused by our late delivery or delay to others.

Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you.
And make no promises if you cannot keep them.

Some golden rules to live by.

Bicycles for Birthdays

2008-07-22T20:02:00.007+08:00

This Friday is Murshidah’s birthday, and so is mine. What is the probability for father and daughter to be born on the same date, albeit 40 years apart? I guessed it’s because I have repeatedly forgotten my birthday (year after year when I was much younger), and perhaps the best way for me to remember my birthday was by a gift of a baby girl from Allah. I blamed it on my profession (an absent-minded computer programmer). It’s not just my birthday I forgot, there were some years I forgot my wife’s too. Deep trouble, hey!

She wanted a bicycle for her birthday, just like what Musfirah got for hers. I contemplated over its significance and meaning. While doing so, I have decided to get one too for Mus’ab. This is my grand plan to get him out of his bedroom and stay away from his playstation, TV and computer. Perhaps a bicycle will get him outdoor to enjoy the real instead of roaming the virtual.

My contemplation brought me to the days when I first got my bicycle. I could not remember where my late father bought and how he paid for it. But I have vivid memories of the lanes and drains over which I cycled to get to Jalan Eunos School. My bicycle was my true companion since I started cycling to school from my house in Jalan Pasir. I was in Primary 3 then. If you think that’s too young an age to cycle to school, it’s even a wonder how Noraini, my younger sister cycled to school from Primary 2, initially led and accompanied by my father (on his own bicycle) and soon we went solo, the two of us on our own bicycles.

I continued cycling when I went to secondary school. By then I had my second bicycle. Yet again, this blue “Ali Baba” bicycle was vivid in my mind. It was a rare item then and I felt a sense of individuality since I was the only student in the school who had a mean machine of a make and model envied by others.

But the bicycle was not for showing off. It was my only means of transportation to school and to deliver the glass jars of krepek ubi sambal homemade (by my mother) and packed into plastic packets (glued over a candle light by her children), to the mamak shops for them to sell it among other items in their stores. Once two jars filled with krepek fell off my bicycle and broke on the road. My heart sank as the broken pieces of glass buried the packets of krepek rendered it unsafe to eat and unsaleable. My mother lost two jars worth of revenue and I was numb from guilt for many days.

I now understood the significance and meaning of my bicycle. It was more than a toy. In fact it made me a delivery boy for my family’s very small time business – kind of an empowerment programme we initiated as a family to supplement my father’s income as a dispatch rider. While my father was on his motorbike dispatching newspapers, I cycled to deliver jars of krepek. Almost learning the ropes at a young age, I was taught skills to prepare myself for the future – the basic competency necessary to earn a living, just in case I didn't get very far in life.

We are about to leave for Giant at Tampines to buy the bicycles.

I have yet to find the meaning for their birthday gift.
Hopefully, my children will discover it themselves, some day.

Common Sense

2008-07-21T20:17:00.006+08:00

We can decide to go on doing the same thing, or even doing nothing but pretend that our contributions are far reaching, changing lives and building communities. Like performance review exercise, sensemaking is necessary to review and make sense of the things we do. In fact, sensemaking precedes performance review exercise. The former is about doing the right things and the latter, doing things right. Admittedly it is difficult to excite ourselves if we have not done much to make sense out of it in the first place. To paraphrase, how do we go "upstream" if we have no handle on the "downstream"?

Nonetheless this is what leaders are expected to do. To tackle the entropy head-on or take the bull by its horn, so to speak, although oftentimes it is lonely up there, or down somewhere.

To assist our sensemaking exercise, a simple matrix of four quadrants is a useful start to posit questions and to cohere the entries or responses to these questions. Notwithstanding the one dimensional limitation of this entry, the quadrants are dedicated for responses to the following questions:

What is our role?
What is the content to deliver?
Who are the target audience?
What are the goals to achieve?

To summarise, its a Role-Content-Target-Goals (RCTG) matrix.

Let's try to fill up the matrix.

Role = Befriender
Content = ?
Target Audience = Youth-At-Risk
Goals = Keep them in school, better academic achievements, improved social skills

There are several possibilities for content and process for the befriender to work with the youth-at-risk to achieve the specified goals. These include learning skills, personalised tuition for subjects that required attention, team-building exercises, outdoor endurance games, to list a few.

For many of us who had dabbled with strategic plans, scenario planning exercises and horizon scanning endeavours, this matrix looked overly simple and simplistic to capture the rich and multifaceted dimensions of the 5Ws and the How, to make a good strategy.

I agree.

However sensemaking begins with common sense.
Unfortunately common sense is not common anymore.

Farhana and Yunus: Baarakallahu laka ..

2008-07-19T23:45:00.015+08:00

My wife and I exchanged smiles when we saw our wedding photos. These photos were among the collection of photographs in the album, left by my late father in my sister's house. We were invited this evening to my sister's house for a video recording in preparation for her daughter's (my niece's) wedding next weekend. It appeared that all the uncles and aunties had offered their best wishes on video and we were invited to do the same. Amidst the gifts and the wrappings, the living room was turned into a recording studio complete with cameras and lights, and a professional video-photographer.

After a brief "syura" in my mother's bedroom, my wife and I braved ourselves to face the camera. I had warned the video-photographer to be prepared for several cuts, to get the best video clip possible. At the count of three and the cue by the video-photographer, I introduced myself and shared a brief citation for my niece - her special qualities and how proud I was when she took upon herself to pursue her university education while working in the social service sector - championing the yellow ribbon cause for public to embrace former prison inmates. I ended my three minutes rambling with a do'a -- To Nur Farhana:

Baarakallahu laka wa baaraka 'alaika wa jama'a bainakumma fi khairin.

May Allah bless for you (Yunus, your spouse-to-be), and bless you, and may He unite both of you in goodness.

My wife then shared how she first met Farhana (then a baby in my sister's arm) and recollected how our niece had grown into a lady. She offered her advice and reminded that marriage requires not only love but also lots of patience and understanding.

We smiled because the task of wrapping the gifts for the groom, and the gifts itself were unconventional to say the least. There was no actual wrapping - all the gifts were placed in woven baskets for all to see. The free-sized maroon and black organza cloth served as linings for the trays to place some smaller gifts. And we could never have guessed what those gifts were, until we saw it ourselves - Playstation 3, Nokia Handphone, Newcastle United Football Shirt, cologne along with a shirt and 2 pieces of prayer mat (sejadah).

It used to be shoes, shirts, belt, wallet, watch, cologne and sejadah, I thought. That's what I got from my wife and we certainly did not have a video-photographer to produce a montage and capture the wishes for viewing on the wedding day. And not to mention the wedding planner - that which was unheard off, when we got married some 25 years ago.

Playstation or not, we pray for their future happiness and a marriage that will last in this world and the Hereafter.

Ameen.

Let's Be (Good) Trees

2008-07-19T11:06:00.011+08:00

It was a strange feeling. I never thought I would have an opportunity to plant a tree in Singapore's public park. This morning's tree planting event at Stamford Green, Fort Canning Hill Park next to Singapore National Museum to celebrate Religious Harmony was simple, short but very meaningful. After the speech by Senior Minister, we recited the Declaration on Religious Harmony and subsequently moved to the dedicated plot in the green to plant our trees.

Every year the Inter Religious Harmony Circle (IRHC) with the support of MCYS and other agencies organised an event to celebrate Racial and Religious Harmony day. This year they decided to create a permanent landscape to symbolise religious harmony in Singapore. The event was well attended by religious and community leaders from the different faith groups.

I thought the event was very meaningful. Despite the presence of Ministers it was not an overkill. And more importantly we had a part in it - planting and watering the tree. Something I look forward to show to my children and friends when we are in the vicinity.

Trees have always reminded me of life and creation. When we were living in the UK, the four seasons (or almost) showed us the transformative cycle of life -- autumn was when trees shed their leaves, winter gave the impression that nothing grew on the tree and when spring arrived, new flower buds appeared to blossom in summer. It was said that the trees went into "meditation" in winter to renew itself for spring, although it appeared as though nothing visually happened.

The Quran also used trees for numerous purposes and carried different meanings. One of the many oft-quoted verses is:

"Do you not see how God makes comparisons? A good word is like a good tree whose root is firm and whose branches are high in the sky, yielding constant fruit by its Lord's leave -- God makes such comparisons for people so that they may reflect -- but an evil word is like a rotten tree, uprooted from the surface of the earth, with no power to endure. God will give firmness to those who believe in the firmly rooted word, both in this world and the Hereafter, but the evildoers He leaves to stray: God does whatever He will." [Q 14:24-27]

Kun kasshajar yurma bilhajar wayu'ti atyabu thamar.

Be like a tree.
When stones are thrown (at it),
the tree replies with fruits.

ps: Just in case you're wondering - the tree in the picture was not the one I planted at Stamford Green. It was one of the many beautiful trees we found at Lake Tekapo in the South Island of New Zealand.

WYSIWYG

2008-07-16T22:54:00.005+08:00

What you see is what you get. WYSIWYG (pronounced we-see-wig) is the shorthand for human-computer interface of mouse, pull-down menus and objects. I have modified it to become what you SEEK is what you get to impress upon students the need to set academic targets before their departure for overseas studies.

After listing the Muslim students who gained 1st class honours from local universities, as reported in Berita Harian recently, I asked them whether it had occurred to them to set their sights at 1st class honours, summa cum laude or in their case, mumtaz sharaf. Only a few hands were raised representing a small percentage of the entire cohort that participated this year's Pre-Departure Programme.

I tried very hard to excite them and to make them appreciate the significance of good academic grades. We need religious officers and leaders who excelled in their studies to lead and shape the religious life of our community, I stressed. Somewhat I felt the students were not "hungry" for good grades, with the exception of a few female students. I also shared that law graduates of overseas universities will need to achieve a 2nd upper honours for them to be admitted to the Bar. Perhaps we should suggest to the Asatizah Recognition Board (ARB) to recognise only those with at least Jayyid Jiddan (Very Good) as asatizah for gainful employment, to change mindset and attitude.

It is worrying when students who are able to gain good grades and are expected to lead the community do not possess the drive and determination to realise their fullest potential. It is even more worrying when they do not have an inkling of how important it is to set high standards and the expectations the community have on them, never mind the perception that students in the Middle East do not take their studies seriously.

I told them to remember WYSIWYG and they will not get what they did not seek. Almost in desperation, I told them to be a) focus, b) consistent and, c) determined along with the simple formulae of dividing their life into three one-thirds, for three tasks - studying, socialising and sleeping. And if they can divide their 24-hours a day for these three activities consistently, I have no doubt they can gain a breakthrough over what is currently a self-imposed glass ceiling.

The Q+A segment was dominated by the female students.
I didn't think that I managed to get my message and excitement across to the other gender.

To console and comfort myself, I hypothesised that the law of magnetism prevailed during the session: opposite poles attract and similar poles repel.

Not because the male students were not interested.
I wished this was true.

Poetry

2008-07-15T23:25:00.006+08:00

"Mus'ab wrote a poem on Saidatinah Khadijah (ra)" was the breaking news after the salam when I stepped into the house. I was pleasantly surprised since I never knew he is into poetry and is the one with the few words among his siblings. Perhaps his reflective self is expressing itself and poetry may just be the right medium. My wife retrieved a sheet of paper from his schoolbag and here it goes:

The mother of believer

Saidatinah Khadijah,
the mother of believer,

she trusted Muhammad when he was spreading Islam,
she treated her slaves kindly,
she donated money to the charity,
she was generous,
and even offered money to Muhammad,
she fed her children well,
I think that she won't go to hell,
she did not say bad words,
she would even feed birds,
she was not stingy,
she acted kindly that you could say she was shiny,

Saidatinah Khadijah,
the mother of believer.

By Mus'ab Albakri

Not bad for a start. I read it again and was tickled by the innocence of the child and the attempt to rhyme the lines. But deep down my heart, I was pleased with it. Particularly over the effort and the expression to describe Saidatinah Khadijah, the beloved wife of our Prophet (saw) without inhibition and fear of (making) mistakes.

I have always admired poets for their ability to express thoughts and emotions through the limited yet elegant stanzas. And more so for those who are able to create poems from just a single word offered by a passer-by or a flash in the mind.

Back in 2004 when we were first introduced to the M3YP (Muis 3-Year Plan) I offered a poem to my OE colleagues in response to their call to create stories using words inherent in the M3YP. The poem was later read during the Staff Contact Day.

THE M3YP

I like to see it deepen our souls
And practice what we preach
As we set our minds to higher goals
Our agenda must be within everyone’s reach

Religious conviction is a must manifold
To forge and connect with the Divine
Through our actions our identity will unfold
Credible yet humble, prosperous yet generous, we are define

Are we effective one may ask
Can it be gauged by the blessings endowed upon us?
Without integrity these are but an illusive instance
The M3YP stands before us to renew our existence

Albakri Ahmad
2 Mar 04

Well done Mus'ab.
Enjoy poetry!

Putting It Together

2008-07-12T23:21:00.015+08:00

"If everything else fails, we can become event managers!" remarked a colleague while we were trying to tie loose ends and putting the event together - the stage, the movements, the video and the cues for the Master of Ceremony. After about three years of organising large scale conferences, lectures and receptions, we have developed the standard operating procedures (SOP) into fine art.

It is a wonder that we spent months of preparation and hours of rehearsal for an event which lasted less than two hours. But if we did not spend the time to prepare and rehearse, the outcome would be obvious: embarrassment and possibly heads will roll, for the damage on corporate image. But somehow I felt that we are continuously raising the standards by our own doing.

I have always found myself taking up the coordination role and for my debut at the last Workplan Seminar I almost earned the honorific title Mr Put It Together (PIT for short) - trying to put it all together to make the segments seamless and the whole event a harmonious interplay of speech, multimedia, awards presentation, group photography, etc. And it will only work when everyone is willing to be bullied into rehearsals after harsh criticisms.

And I too have been criticised for what appeared to be an unacceptable act of micro-management. The function of coordination has often be ignored or considered unimportant. The many independent and separate items or segments will need to be put together to make the "story" complete and interesting.

I sometimes asked myself whether this is all necessary. The months and hours of planning and practice. And there were moments when I felt that perhaps we should just take it easy (and chill out) and pray that everything will fall into place. But how can that be so?

We had ourselves in the past, attended a function or event that started later than scheduled, perhaps because the actors were still trying to tie loose ends. When the sound system did not deliver the necessary decibels and the stage was quite a circus (forgive the expression).

I am now convinced the way to honour our guests who had forgo other engagements to grace our ocassion is to ensure our events run smoothly and even with military precision. If we stated in our invitation card that the event will start at 9.00 am and end at 11.00 am, it must start and end on time, as a matter of principle.

Taking up this role implies taking responsibility for the effective and successful execution of the entire event, something many usually did not consciously realise and understand its implication. It also means that we must not lose sight of the objectives and outcomes while we pay attention to stage work and programme details.

The importance of going through the sequence and rehearsal repeatedly until everyone involved understood their scripts and internalised their roles cannot be overemphasised.

No one leaves the rehearsal until everyone has given their best.
And only when objectives and outcomes are clearly understood.

Putting it together is doing it all together.

The Spirit Is Willing ..

2008-07-11T22:28:00.012+08:00

.. but the flesh is weak. But for these students, the assignments were piling-up past deadlines. Without doubt, it must be a challenge to work in the day and attend classes over the weekends. And juggling time between work, family, study and community must be difficult, if not impossible. I understood their predicament as I had been there and done it, for some six years before university. Hence they deserved plaudits and admiration, no less. Together as a group they encouraged and supported each other to move on and move ahead.

We discussed the possibility of an offer by the university to vary the programme to assist them to complete the programme and graduate. It meant that they will no longer be required to write a thesis but a shorter and less demanding essay, instead. Additional courses will be offered to facilitate their independent study to develop and write their essay, and to meet the credit hours for graduation.

To their credit they were not keen to take the "easier" route. And I was surprised at their response. I personally did not consider it an easier route but an appropriate route considering their circumstances. To continue with the more demanding thesis option will be risky for most of them given the assignments they have yet to complete. To be honest, I was relieved when the university offered the essay option notwithstanding the consequence that these students may not gain admission to the doctoral programme, after their Masters. But thinking about a PhD before completing the Masters will be putting the cart before the horse.

Perhaps going for anything less than the "full" load was less macho or even caused a dent in self-esteem. Almost an irony, the effort to match capability with reality became the steroid that inflates their self-worth and moved them to "go-for-broke". We decided to allow them to choose one of the two options: a) thesis and b) essay plus additional courses to meet the number of credits. I wished them well, truly and sincerely. The essay option does not make them a lesser graduate, I reiterated.

It is interesting how we (humans) react to such challenges.
We rise to the occasion when we risk "losing face" or self-worth.
Is it because we knew what our potential are but felt no reason to realise it? Or on the other hand, denial of reality?

It is human to know our limits.
It takes much courage to acknowledge it.

ps: Limits <> Weakness.

RDers

2008-07-10T21:58:00.011+08:00

Yesterday I declined an invitation to speak on Rumahtangga Dakwah. I cannot remember the last time I turned down an invitation to deliver a talk or declined to be a GOH. Almost by default, I will oblige and do my very best to share what little I know of the subject matter.

It took me a couple of days to come to terms with that decision. The dissonance was primarily because the lessons of ‘abasa wa tawalla were etched in my mind. I feared the consequence of giving attention to other VIPs and luminaries over requests by friends and peers. But this was not the case. “I cannot overemphasise the importance and significance of Rumahtangga Dakwah (best translated as a da’wah household) as a key institution for du’at. It therefore deserves a practitioner and role model, which regrettably I do not fit the bill” I wrote in reply to the invitation.

Rumahtangga Dakwah (RD) means many things to many people. For a start, is it a noun or a verb, or both? The working definition encompasses the intent or purpose of marriage, the individuals to make the marriage and later the children in the family too, the focus of the family or household and the imaginings of that household over time.

Conventional wisdom suggests that RD begins with a marriage meant for da'wah. While I value its inherent altruism, I do not believe that when two persons decided to get married, they actually intend it for da'wah. The married couple may contribute to da'wah or continue to participate in da 'wah activities actively and with much vigour, but it does not make the household or family or marriage a RD.

Wait a minute .. why do two people get married any way?
It is Sunnah, is the straight and simple answer.
Islam encourages marriage when we fulfilled the necessary conditions.
That's the "theological" or religious reason.

What is the reason that moves two people into marriage?
Love? Attraction? Moment of madness? Fate? Jodoh? Cari pasal?
Or all of the above.

What if the marriage was not meant for da'wah in the outset, but to help a widower and his children to recover from their loss and look ahead in life?

But what is marriage meant for da'wah means?
Put simply, what is RD?

Let me attempt an ideal.

It is a marriage of two committed da'wah activists who vowed that their marriage and family will not affect their current commitment but will amplify and intensify their focus and efforts for the cause, instead. Together as a family, they grew and developed, nourished with love and happiness and brought joy to others and wherever they are. They contribute to the larger community they belong to and serve as role models for others who are building their own families. Beyond who they are, what they have too are meant for da'wah. It is a household of sakinah, mawaddah and rahmah. Perhaps one made in heaven.

While RD may be a heavenly entity, it exists in the real world with all its hard knocks and challenges. Therefore it is exposed to the trials and tribulations faced by any other married couples and families. But RDers must be resilient and become stronger in faith and as a family by it. Undespaired, they turn to Him for solace and hope whatever the weather may be.

Rain or shine, RD moves others to seek from Him for them to be bestowed qurrata' a'yun from their spouses and offsprings.

And RDers themselves, the comfort of His eyes.

Deeds Over Voice

2008-07-09T22:20:00.009+08:00

It was supposed to be a short and simple interview. All we need to do was to ascertain whether the candidate was capable of completing course successfully, the funds needed to pay for tuition and living expenses, and what would be his contributions to the community upon graduation and return to Singapore. But it took a different turn instead.

I found interviews, whether it was for a job or scholarship, a learning experience. Often times, it was unpredictable. It may start on a high note but ended low due to the probing questions, the jitters and the unconvincing responses. As first impression lasts, many candidates tried their best to impress the interviewers. The "first look" factor is also a determinant for good chemistry and will influence outcome. Since interview is a two-way process and a human activity, the response or reply offered by the candidate will in turn influence the energy and enthusiasm of the interviewers. Through interviews I learnt to assist candidates to close information gaps or clarify their own thoughts. Not to outdo, outperform or outlast them.

Although we tried to be helpful candidates must also realise that they have to make the interview work in their favour. Never answer a question with another question.

Consider this:

Q: "Will you return home upon completion of the course, or continue to stay on overseas?"
A: .... [a long pause] "Do my community need me?"

What followed was an expression of disappointment over the community and the lack of opportunity to contribute views and opinions, or a voice, as it was referred to. The pursuit of a higher degree was meant to give him a voice that is credible and taken seriously.

I am of the view that one need not require a voice to make a difference. They are many unsung heroes who are contributing to society through small and simple but meaningful deeds, I said.

"That can be deafening" he rebutted.

What good is voice without deeds? I asked myself.

And I went on to remind myself the warning:
Why do you say that which you do not do? [Q 61:2]

Treasure Hunt

2008-07-08T22:14:00.009+08:00

They were playing treasure hunt when I arrived. The place: Aloha Loyang Resort. The occasion: Welcoming BBQ for our undergraduates who have just returned to Singapore for their summer holiday. The BBQ-cum-engagement session was one of the many activities for us to develop, engage and equip them with knowledge and skills, beyond their religious studies, to prepare them for religious leadership in the modern world.

I was still trying to figure out what would be appropriate talking points and useful messages to share with them after the Maghrib prayer. My mind was still occupied with the earlier meeting I had with a humanitarian aid worker over a proposed educational project in Aceh. And the traveling from Woodlands to Pasir Ris was no less relaxing to the mind. The taxi driver was in top form giving his analysis and commentaries on the fuel hike, the ERP, the charges for the attractions at Sentosa and rides at Downtown East, throughout the entire journey. By the time I arrived at Aloha I was approaching a mental shutdown – perhaps because I’ve had four big meetings earlier in the day. Just two years ago, I would not feel an ache even with double the load.

Between supplications at the end of Maghrib prayer, I had an "aha!" for the welcoming remarks due just minutes away. After the invocations and pleasantries, I shared Prof Azyumardi Azra's observation of graduates from the Middle East. It was intended to shed light on the competency and capacity gaps between graduates from ME and those from Western Universities - not because they are incompetent, but only because of the educational approach and pedagogy which emphasised more memorisation and less critical enquiry. Hence I explained the rationale for the various initiatives and courses organised by SRDS for them to participate to develop the intellectual skill and acquire the tools to systemise thought, analyse, dissect arguments and review articles or books.

And before they could use busy as an excuse I told them tentunya kita harus sibuk, kerana nabi juga sibuk sewaktu hidupnya, (it is obvious that we must be busy, since the Prophet (saw) was busy too during his lifetime). As in previous years, I encouraged them to pick-up a new skill, learn a new language or read a new book (beyond Islamic science) while on vacation in Singapore. To idle is to degenerate and to be busy is prophetic.

To give them an example of the challenges religious leaders will be facing in future, I highlighted the ongoing debate on the issue of Sale of Human Organs. This issue, I mentioned, may split the country, led by the high priests of ethics and those who call for the legalisation of sale of organs to alleviate suffering. And we too have been asked to come down from our high horses to understand the pain and suffering of patients and their families.

I concluded the talk with a hypothetical phone call by Senator Barrack Obama asking anyone of them to draft a speech for him, to be delivered during his visit to Germany at the invitation of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Certainly we could decline the request, but doing so will be giving away a great opportunity to be part of history - and be known as the President Obama's speechwriter for his European tour, should he win the election in November.

So let's accept the assignment. But what would be the main points to include in the speech, or what are the tasks to be done to draft the speech. Research into previous and current trans-Atlantic relations, Germany's contribution to the US. Nato, etc. And we must not forget the key messages to include in the speech for Senator Obama to win the hearts and minds of the German public and politicians.

This assignment is not totally unreal. Very soon they will be required to write speeches at work, deliver khutbah and lectures and moderate panel discussions.

The treasure hunt game they played earlier was meant for bonding.
The assignment was also a form of treasure hunt, I thought.
A hunt for gems that glitter "aha!".

Read and Write

2008-07-07T23:22:00.014+08:00

Once I wrote in my CV for the organiser of a talk which I was invited to deliver, that I dream of running a second-hand bookshop for my retirement so that I am able to continue reading the books that I have yet to read in my collection. Indeed the wall-to-wall bookself at home, is now pregnant with books, not only placed vertically but also horizontally concealing those that were already there.

Today I received another 10 books from Pascasarjana UIN Syarif Hidayatullah and its Centre for Study of Religion and Culture, when we visited senior academics and researchers at these institutes for further collaboration. These books were authored by their academics and researchers for use by their students and the reading public. Fortunately I meant it for our students and therefore I did not have to crack my head to find space on the shelf.

Before our meeting with the researchers of CSRC, I requested to visit Batu Bara - a small bookshop but lumayan (well stocked) according to Dr Fuad Jabali who accompanied us to this shop. Not obvious from the outside on the gang (narrow lane), without Dr Fuad I will never be able to locate it. I had wanted to spend more time going through the books in the shop if not for the meeting at CSRC. I left the bookshop without buying any book. I felt less-than-generous and the visit, incomplete.

Bookshop-crawling (to plagiarise the British's Pub-crawling) has always been my hobby and a must for all my trips and travels. And the consequence is obvious. I purchased (and collected) books more frequently and in larger numbers than for my wardrobe. So you can find me in Waterstones in the UK, Periplus in Jakarta, the AUC Bookshop in Cairo and certainly Borders and Kino in Singapore and KL. My latest find was Page One at Vivocity and what a wonderful view of the waterfront facing Sentosa. And the books had now taken up all available shelf space in the living room, the study and my bedroom.

As I glanced the books everyday the urge to write a book (some day) became stronger. Not for the ego, but to contribute to the existing body of knowledge in a domain that cuts across and transcends the compartmentalised faculties and subject matters. My colleagues had asked me often times when will I be writing my book. My reply for the interim was: I am still brewing it!

The young researchers at CSRC were insightful and generous with their findings. I was very impressed with their research outputs and going by the books they published, I am convinced that the educational process and intellectual drive at the tertiary institutions to produce thinkers and scholars were effective. In fact I had wanted to ask Pak Azra and his senior academics how they created the vibrant culture of intellectual development and scholarship to continuously sail in the sea of knowledge, to quote Oliver Wendel Holmes who said:

Greatness is not in where we stand,
but in what direction we are moving.
We must sail sometimes with the wind
and sometimes against it -- but sail we must,
and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

I have always maintained that in order to write one must read.
Are we (only) reading parts rather than the whole,
Or are we reading the text but not understanding its meaning?
hence we are unable to systemise our thoughts, as Dr Fuad argued.

Will I ever be admitted into the circles of local Literatis?
I will, when I set my sail and not lie at anchor indefinitely.

Let's Make Poverty History

2008-07-06T21:41:00.008+08:00

We decided to have Soto Betawi Ayam, Sate Padang and Nasi Bebek Chabe Hijau for dinner at the food court in Plaza Indonesia. I remarked that Jakarta appeared to be much cleaner than I remembered during my past visits, when we were chaffeured from Suharto-Hatta Airport to Aryaduta Hotel. The condition of the road and the taxis too were much better than it used to be. Indeed times have changed. The popular Hotel Indonesia where I used to stay on my visits and several other buildings had made way for newer hotels and shopping malls, one of which is Plaza Indonesia.

I was hoping to immerse in the traditional batik, wood-carvings, paintings, kek lapis and other Indonesian knick-knacks when the Concierge at Aryaduta Hotel recommended Plaza Indonesia for our nightout. Far from a shopping spree, I had wanted to feel local in Jakarta. Hence the smalltalk with the taxi driver on traffic condition, jalan tikus as alternative route to beat the congestion and whether there are rumah makan Nasi Padang (eating places serving Nasi Padang) in the vicinity of Plaza Indonesia.

The friendly taxi driver obliged our 4/5th-Malay and 1/5th-Bahasa Indonesia to keep the smalltalk alive and meaningful. Halfway through the conversation he asked where did we come from. I had an uneasy feeling when we told him that kita dari Singapore. Such question and its reply frequently gave me a frisson down my spine. Why? You may asked.

Earlier on the way to the hotel Ustaz Mahmoud asked me whether I make regular visits to Sumatra, where my uncles, aunties and relatives on my mother's side live. I hardly remembered the last time I visited them, in Binjai, North Sumatra. But what I remembered clearly was that they imagined and believed that we were wealthy. Hence we were expected to be and behaved as generous philantrophists and obliged to meet their overt requests for financial help. Understandably, it may be an opportunity of a lifetime to meet close relatives from Singapore, and on top of that, who had also travelled and studied overseas - perhaps a proxy for "the haves" and wealthy, to them. How I wished they were correct and that was true.

As the taxi stopped for the red light at the traffic junction, street peddlers offered their wares - newspapers, magazines, masks and gloves, and bottled drinks - approached the stationery vehicles and hoped to make a thousand rupiah or two. I lamented over how fortunate our children are - not because they are fortunate to enjoy the little luxuries of life but the taken-for-granted attitude, instead. It is almost "by default" that they get what they desire, often without having to work for it.

When we arrived at Plaza Indonesia I was both disappointed and surprised. Disappointed because it was not what I had imagined, and surprised to see rows and floors of shops carrying branded products - Armani, Vuitton, Mont Blanc, Zara, Hugo Boss, among many other names. And the plaza was buzzing with shoppers both singles and families - young, trendy and affluent. Is there an emerging upper class or increasing number of the rich and famous? I asked myself. Not for us and certainly beyond our means, we passed by the shops without making a stop until we found Periplus, my favourite bookshop. We happily browsed the books from one cluster to the last.

As the taxi exited the Plaza and the adjoining Grand Hyatt Hotel, I saw street peddlers with their mobile warongs, and an old woman in rags, sitting with her legs stretched out on the pedestrian, catching glimpses of the passers-by between intervals of hopelessness. This sight gave me a second frisson down my spine - over how two worlds existed in a single city, just within metres away from each other.

I once shared in a lecture not so long ago of the danger of a socio-economic divide and widening income gap. Left unchecked, the poor will envy the rich, and consequently the rich will be fearful of the poor.

Not an easy problem to solve, I will be the first one to admit.
But still, a problem that requires solution.
Before vulnerability overtakes and compels the inhuman.

Allahu musta'an.

Aryaduta Hotel, Jakarta.

Hawa/Nafs (Desire)

2008-07-05T15:02:00.010+08:00

Last night we discussed the hadith on hawa nafsu (Hadith 41) from Ibn Rajab al Hanbali's Jami 'ul Uloom wa'l Hikam (A Collection of Knowledge and Wisdom), after reading Surah Al-Hujurat. After a long week at work, evenings such as these serve to recharge the soul, mind and body, as Mu'adz bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) once said to his companions ijlis binaa nu'min saa 'ah (Let us sit for a second of faith).

Surah Al-Hujurat contains a number of instructions about correct behaviour to strengthen the community and protect it. The surah also draws our attention to several ignoble attributes that must be avoided. Islam rejects fault-finding, insults, slander and back-biting. The unfortunate fact is most gatherings are not free of these banes. If humans refrained from them, they would spend half their lives in silence! The Prophet (saw) himself had reminded us that nothing is more destructive to human society than our own tongues. They sometimes work more havoc in the community than all that our enemies can muster again us. The current saga up north is an example in point.

The discussion on the selected hadith that meant none is a believer until his/her desire (hawa/nafs) adheres to my (read: Prophet's) teachings took several twists and turns along different theoretics and illustrations, not to mention the metaphor of a wild/tamed horse for a negative/positive nafs respectively. Desire for power and its presupposed consequence that power corrupts also attracted much debate. It was also acknowledged that hawa/nafs stands between us and Syaitan and the winner takes it for good or otherwise. But to avoid challenges and to stay away from responsibilities so as to protect hawa is not consistent with tarbiyah and da'wah.

How do we encourage ourselves and the young to move from a hawa of idle, "couldn't care less" (or bochap, as in a Hokkien expression) and self-centredness to a hawa of zeal, dynamism, and contributive: a hawa of Rahmatan lil alamin? I asked. And by the latter, we would probably also addressed the continuous tension between the two states - good or bad hawa/nafs.

There are clear steps to tame one's hawa/nafs, one of which is highlighted in Surah Jumu'ah - yatlu 'alaihim aayatihi (reciting to them His verses), wa yuzakiihim (purifying them) wa yu 'al limuhumul kitaab wal hikmah (teaching them the Book and the Sunnah of the Prophet). It is worth mentioning here some commentators also considered al-hikmah to include modern sciences for humans to serve this world, as kitaab (the Book, referring to the Quran) implied knowledge about and for the Hereafter.

In all, it was an enriching evening that went late into the night.
A night of good hawa and humour to entertain the soul.
Souls that desire nothing but mardhatillah.

Back to the Future

2008-07-03T21:44:00.018+08:00

The book titled How Do You Know? Reading Ziauddin Sardar on Islam, Science and Cultural Relations is one of the several books selected for pre-Ramadan reading this year. Ehsan Masood introduced Sardar as a writer, thinker, scholar, theorist, broadcaster, critic, journalist and futurist; Muslim, British, Pakistani, South Asian. He has many occupations and more than one identity. Indeed, many of his critics complained that he deliberately cultivates "a carefully calculated ambiguity" projecting several things at once, yet none of them on their own. Sardar wants to be seen simultaneously as both traditionalist and modernist - while at the same time being a severe critic of both.

I stumbled upon Ziauddin Sardar's works during the literature review phase of my doctoral work more than a decade ago. He was (and still is) the editor of Futures and his papers on Islamic Futures were seminal and thought provoking. In some ways those papers sparked my interest in second-order cybernetics, syntegration, scenario planning, strategic analysis and open futures - crystal ball gazing stuff!

If my memory (still) serves me well, Sardar argued that Muslim societies have ignored the future-oriented message of their faith - the very source of the dynamism inherent in Islam. As a result, Muslim understanding of the worldview of Islam has been frozen in history. Muslims have (now) lost the capability for developing fresh insights, appreciations and interpretations of the fundamental sources of Islam: the Quran and the examples from the life of Prophet Muhammad (saw). Contemporary Muslim societies prefer to look back, wallow in nostalgia for their "golden past" rather than plan and work towards a vibrant future.

I share Sardar's assertion that Islam is intrinsically a future-orientated worldview. The Qur'an specifically asks the believers to be conscious of their history as well as their future: "Beware of what lies before and behind you, so that you may be given mercy" [Q 36:45]. The idea of the future and the notion of accountability in Islam are tied up in two fundamental concepts - akhirah (hereafter) and khilafah (trusteeship of humans over God's creation).

Our life do not end with our death and our deeds on Earth continue to impact on our life in the life to come. The concept of khilafah adds another dimension to the synthesis of accountability and future. Believers, as trustees of God's creation, are required to manage the trust (amanah) in an ethically and socially responsible way. This means that the planet and the well-being of its people must be delivered to future generations in at least as good, if not better, condition that they found it.

Islam does not only emphasise that we be aware of our future, it insists that we should actively shape our future. By the very nature of our faith, we are required both to engage with the world and change it. The Qur'an repeatedly asks us both to change ourselves and to constantly strive to change the world so that it could become a more just, equitable and peaceful abode for humanity.

Man will only have what he has worked towards, that his labour will be seen and in the end he will be paid in full for it. [Q 53:39-41]

The answer to the question "How Do You Know?" posed by the book depends on who "we" are: how we look at the world, how we shape our inquiry, the period and culture that shapes our outlook and the values that frame how we think.

Knowing is accompanied by shaping.

Countdown Ramadan

2008-07-02T21:26:00.010+08:00

My handphone rang when I was just about to lunch at Amirah Grill today. Together with colleagues we hosted a farewell lunch for a friend who will be leaving Singapore for her next foreign service posting at Colombia. I immediately answered the call, when I saw Muslim's (my son) name flashing on the phone - somewhat unusual for him to call me at this hour particularly because he is in Tekong commanding a platoon, for his NS.

I was relieved when he asked me whether I can get him the prayer and iftar (breaking of fast) schedule to organise meals for his Muslim recruits come Ramadan. The few seconds interval between our first hellos were filled with suspense. Given the recent death of NSmen during training, and the injury on his left eye during his OCS training in Thailand, I wasn't sure what to make up when the phone rang. Alhamdulillah, it was just about Ramadan schedule and nothing serious or shocking.

Interestingly, that call triggered a series of thought processes including my performance last Ramadan. Firstly, it is now apparent that we are just about less than 2 months away from it - and even if we pretend it is still a long time to come, the days will come and go in a flash and very soon before we know it, Ramadan will come knocking at our door. Secondly, I started thinking what I need to do to prepare myself adequately for Ramadan to gain its highest reward. And since Ramadan is a madrasah (school) to strengthen faith and intellect I begin to work out a plan to complete the reading of the Qur'an as well as other reflective readings for both spiritual and intellectual nourishments. Almost in a typical Kiasu Singaporean fashion, I listed all the things and tasks I intend to do, in preparation for, and during Ramadan. InsyaAllah.

My performance last Ramadan was far from satisfactory, and I could not really understand why and how it happened. Alhamdulillah, although I managed to fast the entire month and performed the night prayers during the last 10 days at the mosque to seek and hope for Laylatul Qadr, I did not finish the reading of Quran or put simply, I did not khatam Qur'an. And it was the first time in years that I failed to do it. For some years in the past, I even managed to khatam Quran twice in Ramadan. Even if this was not a good and accurate measure of the quality of my Ramadan, I felt last Ramadan came and went in a blink of an eye, without a significant impact on me. This time round I intend to savour every second of it and experience its magical effect, I promised myself.

Ramadan is very special for the blessings it bring.
It welcomes those who seek it but wait for no one.

Countdown Ramadan has begun.
May Allah give us life to meet and live through this blessed month.

Say What You Mean ..

2008-07-01T22:16:00.008+08:00

... and mean what you say, goes the expression. In an attempt to soften the impact of a direct feedback to a colleague over a piece of work, I resorted to innuendoes instead of saying exactly what I meant. I was reminded that this was not the first time but I replied that I had meant it in jest previously with no mischief or malice. I thought long and hard after the friendly exchange and admitted there was no excuse. It was simply a case of bad habits, and a delicate balancing act of using proxies to get the message across as opposed to saying it as I meant, outright.

I want to state categorically that I had no intention to demean my good colleague - one who I had relied upon for many of the successes at work. And if there was even a tinge of pain caused by it, I offer my apologies with a deep sense of remorse and regret.

One of the findings of the 360 degrees review on me was the remark by my officers (who report to me) that I don't usually given them feedback on their work or deliverables. Put simply, I did not offer my views whether the quality of work was up to mark or otherwise. However there were also many positive remarks about me, one worth mentioning was that I trusted them as professionals and therefore did not "breathe down their neck" for progress or updates to keep to deadlines.

On reflection I do admit that I am the "suffer in silence" type, often prefering to live with what's given although it may requires a major rework. Ironically, I do give feedback or comments on quality of work to a very few - and they are those that I consider them not as mere colleagues, but confidants. And I hasten to add because I value them immensely, I do not have the heart to express my disappointment or frustration outright. Hence the creative innuendoes, and it had backfired on me this morning.

Some people are better at writing rather than speaking. It is now evident that I expressed better in writing than saying it out aloud, particularly at close range. With writing, there is time to select the most appropriate words and sequence it to make an elegant arrangement. The spoken word is hazardous, and I am reminded of the Malay proverb, terlajak perahu boleh ditarik, terlajak kata buruk padahnya - it simply means that we cannot retract what we have said, quite apart from its undesirable consequences. What more with the incomprehensible "you only know what you said after it had been said" instinct, followed by the "why did I say that in the first place?" aftermath.

This explains the Hadith, "Whoever believes in Allah and His Messenger should say that which is useful or keep silent."

The art of reprimand or giving (negative) feedback calls for the use of the right words and saying it right, and not to mention with the right intentions. Conventional wisdom suggests that the most effective way to give feedback for self-improvement or development is by turning the negatives into positives.

But all positives (instead of the initial negatives) may misrepresent what was initially a quality deficit or shortfall into a praise or plaudit instead.

Alas, I am not any wiser.
Perhaps I should just stick to say what I mean, and mean what I say.

Inner Peace and Tranquility

2008-06-30T21:09:00.009+08:00

"Karma is intentional action" explained Mr Kweh Soon Han, our speaker on Buddhism this afternoon. I had to attend to other urgent matters and therefore did not arrive on time to benefit the preambles of his presentation. He eloquently elucidated many concepts and terms from Buddhist teachings which I am not familiar with. To be honest I didn't really follow or understand parts of the explanation, particularly when he made reference to concepts in Pali - the language of Buddha. Nirvana, Dharma, four noble truths and eightfold path, among others.

What struck me though was the different levels and states of enlightenment arrived through meditation. I found the idea of inner peace and tranquility attractive, and recalled the verse:

"Those who believe and whose hearts find peace in the remembrance of God -- truly it is in the remembrance of God that hearts find peace" [Q 13:28]

Inner peace and tranquility are for those who are at peace with themselves, their environment and condition, their relationships with others and not least, their Lord. It is not something that can be exchanged or purchased like other material goods. It is personal -- you either know you have it or don't. And it fluctuates over time given the externalities and challenges or trials both from others and that which is willed by Allah to elevate His servant to a higher station of faith.

We may have all the wealth in the world but that does not guarantee inner peace and tranquility. Like the Buddhist monks who lived on one meal a day and the basic minimum, there are those who may not be economically rich, but certainly not spiritually poor. I am not advocating poverty or to remain poor. On the contrary I dream to follow the footsteps of Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank and for his invaluable contributions to make poverty history, a Nobel prize winner. But wealth understood as material possessions - cash, properties, shares and stocks may skew our perception and a misunderstanding of its value and worth. It may even lead us to a lifelong preoccupation with worldly wealth as mentioned at the beginning of Surah Al-Takathur [Q 102].

Allah's blessings are in no small measure what wealth is made up of. It certainly includes a happy and loving family, pious and virtuous spouse and children, good health, great friends and bountiful sustenance - not forgetting timeful time.

Contentment and inner peace are outcomes of continuous expression of gratitude to Him, and an attitude of abundance - that we are not poor to give, even if we are the poorest of the poor.

For only by giving we will increase what we have.
Or the more we give, the more we will be able to give.

And that is good karma.

Backpacking Anyone?

2008-06-29T00:02:00.012+08:00

My wife (affectionately called Kak Mariam) and I attended Br Zalman and Sis Masyithah's sharing of experience from their 22 months studying in Hartford Seminary, Connecticut. Thanks to them for inviting us to the session, and to the younger Perdaus/SAFF brothers and sisters for receiving us, despite our intergenerational difference. Kak Mariam felt that they should be calling us uncle and auntie because many of them are of the same age as our own children (ps: I once mentioned to Aisyah - that age is in the mind, if you don't mind age, age will not mind you).

Although we arrived late (due to an accident at Chai Chee Road junction) we were able to connect with their experiences, and for me it brought back memories of my 3-week International Leaders Visitors Programme in the United States in 2004.

On particular interesting reflection shared by Sis Masyithah was the Passover she attended on invitation of the Jewish community in Hartford. She pointed out that the elaborate dinner was sequenced to re-enact the religious history of Prophet Moses and the Children of Israel. Every "course" of the dinner signified an episode of the history and tradition. What was amazing for me what that the Passover dinner was a family affair - and they involved their children to partake in the preparation of the dinner and involved games (as part of the dinner sequence) to make it exciting for them. It was a three-in-one, I told myself (or is it a trinity !?) - RFF (Religious learning, Family bonding, and Food for everyone) What a great idea ! Something we could adopt and adapt within our family.

Kak Mariam and I truly appreciate the value of living abroad. It had enriched us and our children too. They spent their vacation in New Zealand's South Island last year to appreciate the beauty and grandeur of Allah's creation. But visit as a tourist to another country can never be compared with living and be part of the community of that country. Particularly if you end up staying in the Marriotts or Le Meridiens, strolled along fancy boulevards and shopped at Dorothy Perkins, Downtown.

Have you visited a place or a country and yet never got to speak to a local throughout your stay (and getting a piece of info at the hotel reception cannot be counted - since the staff too is a foreigner herself :o) for a richer appreciation of the society - rather than beautiful (digital) photos of places, monuments and landmarks (and yourselves in the forefront, of course).

So what is a "better" way to travel? you may asked. Should we be backpackers to enmesh into the society or a community? How can we live with, and amongst them to learn and be enriched within a matter of days or weeks - short period of time (and when we actually need a good break and rest to re-charge after a year of hectic living)?

I usually stayed in the Marriotts, Le Meridiens and Royal Lancasters so that I do not trouble my local hosts or friends who I knew in the city or country. But I usually seek their help for me to visit local mosques, organisations and institutions to meet the locals or the heartlanders (- to borrow a Singaporean parlance). And even to savour the taste of local delicacies at backalleys and unfriendly nooks.

I asked Kak Mariam what was that one significant takeaway for us from the sharing session. She replied almost instantaneously (and interestingly similar to what I had in mind) that we should encourage our young to live abroad so that they may learn and experience beyond the familiar and the comfort of home.

Living with others is learning with others,
learning with others is learning together about life and living,
and not just living as next door neighbours.

Timeful Time

2008-06-27T23:15:00.004+08:00

Have you ever came across time when it appeared as if time has stopped or moved much slower than usual, hence allowing you to achieve much more at a comfortable pace? A rare exception to the rule characterised by fast paced living with no time to reflect before the next job appears on life's conveyor belt.

This week something unusual happened, alhamdulillah. I will try to elaborate but it may not be easy to describe experience as experienced. So here goes three instances ..

I took upon myself to chair-cum-moderate the Mosque Religious Officers (MRO) meeting held at Al-Istiqamah Mosque, since my colleague was on medical leave. The meeting started half-an-hour later than scheduled but we were able to end on time for lunch before everyone made their way to their workplaces. I opened the meeting with introductory remarks covering several happenings and important issues of the week. Subsequently we had two presentations, the first was a beautiful tazkirah (reminder) by Ustaz Abdul Manaf on Hati Yang Hidup (A Living Heart) followed by a briefing on Mosque Management by Hj Kassim Kamis. Although we started late, we were able to have a good discussion and additional contributions by the participants. Much to my surprise, we were able to add 2 more items to the programme, a) reflections on their visit to Khalsa Prison and b) plenary for MROs to share the happenings at their respective mosques. I felt that as more MROs took the floor to offer their updates and views, the slower the time went. It was almost as though time had given us additional 3 minutes for every minute passed. Truly blessed time!

Our meeting with Br Necmettin, Br Erkan and Br Cengzhi from the Turkish Cultural Centre took an interesting twist. We had put aside 2 hours for the meeting for this getting-to-know each other session. As expected our guests arrived on time but requested to pray Asr when they arrived at An-Nahdah Mosque. We started the meeting after the pleasantries and both parties took turns to share our activities, through video and powerpoint presentations. We were conscious that we will have to wrap-up before Maghrib prayers. Alhamdulillah, we explored several initiatives and at the of the meeting we discovered that there were 6 areas of collaboration agreed. And it was a bonus for we started without expecting any deals and were pleasantly surprised that we were able to end the meeting well ahead before Maghrib. What a Turkish delight!

III

Aisyah gently reminded me to finish the REA meeting by 10.00 pm, and understandably so since she lives in the west quite a distance from the venue in the east. We arrived at the meeting place at 8 pm sharp but no other members had arrived. And since its dinner time, we went to the nearest coffee shop for a plate of fried chicken. We were already behind schedule the moment we started, and almost with his magical touch Br Hakeem led the meeting for us to discuss several outstanding issues and seek commitment to undertake various tasks for the inaugural award ceremony sometime in October this year. Contrary to our fears that this meeting will go into the night to make up for the brief hiatus, I was personally impressed when we closed the meeting with Tasbih Kaffarah and Surah Asr at about 9.30 pm. It certainly made Aisyah's day!

How did it happen? I wondered and asked myself. What were the "right" elements that came together on the day, at the meetings and during it to achieve much more, without the stress or rush to compete with time.

Is this what is meant by Allah's blessings of time?
That made time timeful.

The All-Knower, only He knows best.

Rafiq Endeavour Award

2008-06-26T22:57:00.002+08:00

After a brief hiatus caused by busy schedules and frequent travels, the team met today to kick-start the work for the inaugural REA award this coming Syawal. Alhamdulillah, despite the no-so-great attendance, we were able to motivate ourselves and to commit to agreed deadlines.

REA is our small contribution to celebrate the life of a young man, Muhammad Rafiq Yahya.

I knew Rafiq when he was helping out at FMSA and saw him off at Changi Airport when he courageously took the journey to Pondok Moden Darussalam Gontor for a Diploma in Islamic Studies. Some years later I met him in Damascus when he continued his undergraduate study at Jami'atul Abu Nour, much to my delight and to his determination and ambition of becoming a scholar one day.

Last year during Ramadan he worked at An-Nur Mosque. And on the eve of Eid, after making sure that all preparations were done and completed for the next morning's Eid Fitr prayers he rode his motorbike to return home to Teck Whye, where he lived with his parents. But he was not destined to reach home - he fell from his bike in front of Al-Khair Mosque some minutes away from his house. He never gained consciousness and passed away on 2 Syawal 1428H.

May Allah bless his soul and place him amongst His righteous and favoured servants.

Allahyarham Muhammad Rafiq was of exemplary character and a role model for the young. He touched and mentored many young Muslims and left positive impressions over the young and old whoever he met and served. His determination and dedication in his personal transformation from an ITE student to a University undergraduate was exemplary - a young man deep in religious conviction, fluent in Arabic and passionate in his pursuit for knowledge.

Over a short period of time he had served and contributed to many organisations and youth groups, including ITE, FMSA, Pondok Moden Darussalam Gontor, Jami’atul Abu Nour, DMASYQ, PADA, Huda, RKM, An-Nur Mosque.

We have put together some visuals to remind ourselves of his joyful life.

We are saddened by his demise but resolved to keep his experiences, achievements and aspirations alive through an award in his memory.

The REA award is created to support the personal transformation and endeavours of young Muslims who have the potential to create positive change amongst youth and contribute to the community.

I invite you to join me in this endeavour.

JK Rowling's Commencement Speech

2008-06-25T22:23:00.001+08:00

Dr Siti Maryam Salasal forwarded an e-mail with the text of JK Rowling's Harvard Commencement Speech today. It was the best e-mail or rather the best read for the day, for me.

Not only because it's by the famous and renowned author of the best-selling Harry Potter books, but also the honest-to-goodness reflection of her past failure in life and how it benefited her. It was quite a long and substantive speech, and it must be - for such a significant and important moment for the graduates.

I strongly recommend a read and (re)read to enjoy the beautiful and elegant use of language as well as the profound meaning of her calling. The full text is found at the following link:

http://harvardmagazine.com/web/breaking-news/jk-rowling-commencement-2008

At the risk of copyright infringement, I append (in quote) one of the segment of the speech aimed at the graduating students.

"Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden. If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."

JK Rowling had fired the imagination of millions here and the world over. The Harry Potter books (and movies) transcended country, ethnic, culture and language. In fact it unified millions of fans and readers as a global Potter family. The power of JK Rowling's work and Harry Potter specifically is beyond measure, not to mention its commercial value.

The above extract (as quoted) is not only useful and relevant to the Harvard graduating class but also to anyone who is endowed to serve and has the power to transform reality for the better.

Are there Rowlings in the making, in our midst?

Many thanks to Dr Siti Maryam for making my day.

Rahmatan Lil Alamin (RLA)

2008-06-24T23:13:00.002+08:00

Wa ma arsalna ka illah rahmatan lil alamin. [Q 21:107]
And We have sent you not but as a mercy for all the universe.

I am not able to join my colleagues to donate blood to contribute to the RLA Blessings To All Day.

Not for the lack of blood or fear of the needle, but simply because I had once resided in the UK during the time of the Mad Cow Disease. I truly understand the safeguards put in place to prevent contamination at the blood bank and health risk to other patients due to bad blood (forgive the pun). But I am beginning to feel "stigmatised" due to the repeated publicity and expression of thanks to all who have signed up for the blood donation. Why do I feel this way? I asked. My conscience is clear - it is not that I do not want to give my blood. I should not feel guilty or awkward but I felt the urge to make my frustration known.

In reply to the staff notice which updated the number of pledgers and thanked them for the Rahmatan Lil Alamin Fund (RLAF) Blood Donation Drive I explained why my blood will not be accepted. I then asked the following question:

"Is there anything other than blood and cash that I can offer to be included in the RLAF gang - I feel marginalised if blood is the only commodity that carry the legal tender to be RLAF-ed.

Yours bloody but not wanted,
b"

I have now resigned to the fact that we (or I), blood donor "wannabes" are too small a number to justify attention and time to think of alternatives other than blood. Perhaps I should announce that I will donate my brain as substitute for blood to get the attention. But this is not about getting attention, isn't it? It is about offering choices and opportunities for all to participate and contribute.

Although demand for blood is greater than supply and a must for surgeries and critical medical conditions, Rahmatan Lil Alamin must not be reduced to blood donation.

I have thought long and hard what I would do to be blessings to all or to paraphrase, become a RLAF-ed person. I have decided to venture the following:

a) Tell others how important they have been to me - I will find one person a year and write them a letter and tell them how they had changed my life.

b) Give others a chance to do good - I will offer 50 envelopes, each with a $50 note. Anyone can have the envelope, no strings attached. All I ask is that the money be used for a good cause. I reckoned those who took the offer or picked the envelopes will ponder how best to spend the money and make a difference. I trust them to use the money wisely and pass on the trust they took from me.

c) Smile to whoever I meet at work, in the lift, on the street, even when someone stepped on my toe in the crowded MRT train.

Today, do something that will make someone's day.
And make animals, plants and the invisibles feel good (if you have access to them).

Stand up even if you are not counted!

Eggs and Chicks

2008-06-23T21:32:00.001+08:00

An energizer, as the name suggests, is a simple activity to create and inject energy during workshops when the energy level among participants is low, or to serve as a break between sessions.

For an energizer at a workshop I attended some time ago, participants were asked to draw an animal that best represents them or simply put – if you are an animal what will it be? This question may be construed to be dehumanising, hence sensitive for some. Not wanting to be difficult (or even perceived as anti-social), I diligently pondered a while before putting pen to paper.

Eventually I drew a hen and subsequently was asked to share my drawing to everyone else and more importantly (or embarrassingly) why I chose the hen.

I explained to my fellow participants that it was a good friend who pointed out to me that I am akin to a hen that laid eggs wherever I went and whoever I met. Although he clarified what he thought those metaphorical eggs were, I hesitate to reveal it for fear of self-conceit.

But he was also quick to point out that while I am very active at laying eggs, I failed to hatch these eggs and nurture the chicks.

I received my copy of the latest issue of The Economist today and the words on the promotional cover wrap brought this metaphor - the hen and the unhatched eggs, back to me. The words were from The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and it read:

Wanted:
20 people to

help change

the World.

I was struck by the bold and confident tone of the message. And I quite like the idea of inviting some 20 people to help change the World.

Then suddenly I thought I could possibly do that (too!).

By the way, that was an advert for the 20 places at the LKYSPP's Master in Public Management programme targeted at senior policymakers in the public and private sector and civil society with a proven track record of leadership in their organisations.

But will be my value proposition? For the LKYSPP's MPM programme participants will work towards a degree and a lucrative career. What value or benefit can be expected from participating in this venture or going on this journey together?

Making a difference to our lives and the people around us, I thought.
It may not appear elegant in its wording or sounding. Some may even reject it as a distasteful cliché. But that should not deter us to be useful and contribute to improve the lives of others, no matter how small or insignificant it may be.

I have yet to work out what this programme will entail. Ideally it should be designed by participants collectively as a learning community. It may sound and appear loose and unstructured at this point in time, but I make no bones of the commitment and passion needed to grow and develop together. And without doubt, high standards of discipline.

This is an invitation for 20 young leaders to help change the World.
Only those who are able to put others before self should apply.

Needless to say, this is one nest of eggs I very much like to hatch and nurture the chicks.

Awakening

2008-06-22T15:02:00.002+08:00

It is He who calls your souls back by night, knowing what you have done by day, then raises you up again in the daytime until your fixed term is fulfilled. It is to Him that you will return in the end, and He will tell you what you have done. [Q 6:60]

Sleep is an interesting phenomenon.

Some will doze off the moment their head hits the pillow while others will need to count sheep to fall asleep. I am one of those who suffer from both and usually cannot recall how and when I actually doze off into dreamland. Perhaps it is not for humans to know when our souls return to Him at night.

Beyond the physical, many strange things happen during our sleep. Depending on the state of mind, one may reveal secrets while asleep. I used to do maths while sleeping during my computing and software engineering days much to the concern and perhaps the inconvenience to my wife.

For a while now I am in search of answers on awakening rather than sleeping, per se.

How do we do our sleep (or “control” it) so that we are able to wake up at a predetermined time (and yes, I know we can rely on the alarm of the clocks – notice the plural)?

And certainly with His permission for we only continue to wake up until we meet death at the appointed time.

Why is it that when there is a place to go or a meeting to attend we are able to tune and time our body and mind to wake up early so that we will not be late or miss the taxi to the airport?

Why is it that when it’s the first day of school (and tomorrow is the beginning of the new school term) we are able to wake up in the early hours to get everything done, including breakfast, before waking the kids up for prayers and school?

Why is it that when we attend a sleepover programme in a mosque, we are able to wake up during the last hours of the night to do our Tahajjud prayers?

I am envious of those who are able to wake up for their tahajjud and spend time with their mathurat after Fajr prayers. I also admire those (Pak Azyumardi and Br Tariq Ramadan, included) who contemplate and write books in the early hours after their prayers.

Why is it that our waking-up is not much of an awakening but at best a struggle between being horizontal and vertical?

Is it a case of not consistently practicing and internalizing the do’a the Prophet taught us, before sleeping and upon waking-up as well the reminder of the three knots as in the Hadith reported in Bukhari and Muslim?

I crave a good night's sleep but I yearn to be the first to wake-up to call the morning azan. And every waking-up is a new awakening for the soul, mind and body.

There is still much to be desired before aspiring to be a warrior in the day and a monk in the night.

O Allah, I surrender myself to You and turn my face towards You, and entrust myself to You ….

….. zzzzz

The Story of My Life

2008-06-21T20:58:00.002+08:00

After celebrating the success of some 30 families who participated in Muis Empowerment Programme Scheme (EPS) and performing the Zuhr prayer, I left Sultan Mosque for One Fullerton to meet a group of students from SIM who are also EXCO members of the SIM Malay Cultural and Muslim Society. These students wanted to meet me for sometime now, but delayed due to my travels and their exam periods.

My mind was occupied with possible talking points for the meeting, to ensure that it will be worthwhile for the students, during the ride on the MRT train from Bugis to Raffles Place. I was prepared to talk about my observations on what would be necessary and useful issues for Learning the Future - which I mentally summarised as the 3-world reality: a) A Sustainable World, with its attendant issues of climate change, and its impact on energy policy, tourism planning, food security and water resource, b) A Multipolar World, with the rise of China and India, a new Europe, the turbulent Africa and the opening of Central Asia as well as the emergence of ideologies and its nexus with geopolitics and, c) A Hyperlinked World, through globalisation and issues of national identity and human migration.

It all began when Sis Nadiah, the President of the newly formed society, attended the TMSN camp at An-Naeem Mosque in March during which she invited me to meet her EXCO members for a sharing. Last Wednesday, my family and I happened to meet her and her peers at Downtown East, and to my surprise, she happens to be Muslihah's Chemistry teacher at Al-Maarif. She has taken up a part-time teaching post at the madrasah while studying for the University of London degree at SIM. Certainly her time are well spent and her commitments, exemplary!

Soon after all five students had their seats at Starbucks-One Fullerton, I was asked to share what I have done in the past, the motivations and my aspirations for the future.

On reflection after the meeting, I thought I had shared the story of my life and signposted major decisions that may have led to where and who I am today. I had never entertained this thought or attempted this task, partly because I do not believe one can be absolutely objective and accurate with autobiography. But since there may be learning points for them, I obliged and tried to be as comprehensive as possible, but aware that a 40-plus years of life history cannot be summarised in an hour without losing many of the episodes which are also significant to make the account complete and accurate.

I began with experiences of being the eldest in the family, the upbringing I had, the influences that shaped and developed my worldview, the challenging days of working-in-the-day and studying-at-night after dropping out of secondary school, right through overseas education in the UK and fulfilled my ambition to be a University lecturer.

The students listened attentively while I consistently tried to be succint and factual. It reminded me of the days I sat at the feet of (late) Prof Stafford Beer, who supervised my doctoral work when I visited him at his cottage in the valley in Mid Wales. A world renowned cybernetician, Stafford was multi-talented and a true polymath. He was conversant in English (of course), French, Latin, Spanish, Sanskrit and Hindi (which he picked up during his stint in India when he led the Gurkha contingent). He was a poet, painter, philosopher, a carpenter and taught veda and vedic yoga to his students.

But unlike Stafford who was a Guru and almost a sage to his students, I shared the story of my life with the hope that it may inspire them to discover their talents, realise their potentials, chase their dreams and break new frontiers.

I hope they too will inspire others to greater heights (and heavens)!

Friday Khutbah .... zzz

2008-06-20T22:43:00.002+08:00

Today as I listened to the Friday khutbah at An-Nadhah Mosque delivered by a young imam, I had a glimpse of many in the congregation who fell asleep or perhaps used the time to catch a nap. I had wondered for a long time now how to help the imam(s) deliver their khutbah in a manner that is captivating and interactive so that the congregation "is with the khutbah" and is not sleeping through it.

Sometime ago, when I attended Friday prayer at a mosque in Atlanta, USA, the Afro-American imam engaged his congregation by asking them questions that were spontaneously replied by some members and supported by many others with their Jamaican "Ya Man ..." expression of agreement. Initially I was taken aback with such interactivity since at home (in Singapore), we were told to maintain silence when the imam or khatib delivers the khutbah. I once mentioned to a brother that perhaps we should encourage our imam to engage his congregation by asking them to finish off or complete the verse of the Quran that he is reciting to stimulate some degree of interaction, rather than total and complete silence on the part of the congregation, and in a sense deliver a one-way monologue.

I am aware of the Hadith that reminds us to listen attentively to the khutbah and not speak a word, even to reprimand someone else who is talking, failing which the reward of the Friday prayer is lost. But listen attentively requires some effort - to concentrate and keep awake, and I am concern that it is now becoming a norm for congregation to fall asleep or catch a nap during the khutbah. Hence the intent of the khutbah would not be achieved, and the message that the imam wishes to share did not really reach the congregation.

Is someone who is asleep during and throughout the khutbah tantamount to "talking to his other self" and not within the "khutbah circle" or the "sermon space" to deserve the reward of the Friday prayer? What about those who are not asleep but sms-ing (or texting) on their handphones, or dreaming of other worldly yearnings during the khutbah? I asked myself (and in a sense while I was analysing, risk myself at the edge of the "khutbah circle", too).

But are those who fell asleep to be faulted if we continue with the practice of reading the khutbah or rather the prepared text, instead of delivering the khutbah? How do we make our imam(s) deliver from the prepared text but without reading it? Or better still, how do we develop them so that they are able to internalise the essence of the prepared text yet deliver it straight from their heart? Surely an imam who communicates from his heart will invigorate the congregation and gravitates them to his khutbah.

I fear the prospect of one who gives nothing to it will get nothing from it.

The Child On The Disused Track

2008-06-14T22:01:00.002+08:00

On the train from Oxford to London Paddington, I asked Prof Tariq Ramadan whether he had met the Grand Mufti of Bosnia, Sheikh Dr Mustafa Ceric recently. He affirmed and laughed, while mentioning that the Grand Mufti is a humorous man. At an event cited by Prof Ramadan, Sheikh Mustafa Ceric made everyone laughed by his humour through simple and innocent statements.

I told Prof Ramadan that we have invited the Grand Mufti to deliver the lecture on Prophet Muhammad's Enduring Message to Humanity, which was eventually delivered by his goodself last April, and that we have an open invitation for the Grand Mufti to visit Singapore.

I met the Grand Mufti last year at the Conference on Islam and Muslims in the World Today, organised by University of Cambridge. His presentation on Muslims in the West: Engagement and Representation was rich and profound, to say the least.

He asserted we are at the threshold of a new age in which morality must prevail; in which understanding for our neighbours, justice in our dealings, and willingness to help each other must be our command. "Neither intelligence nor atomic weapons nor nuclear threats nor institutions can serve as substitutes for moral values and human decency", he argued. "You may win the war, but that does not mean that you have won the peace. The world was promised freedom from fear, but in fact fear has increased in recent years. The world was promised freedom from want, but large parts of the world are faced with starvation while others are living in abundance. Territorial questions and arguments of power still prevail over the essential demands of common welfare and justice". Such was the profundity of his analysis.

I found his choice of the story of the great critic Leo Velski Julian to be very appropriate for this general situation. In it he tells us about a group of children playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other is disused. Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track.

The train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange. You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the children. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child. You might think the same way. To save most of the children at the expense of only one child is a rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally. But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was. This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office, community, in politics and especially in a democratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are. The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined. And in case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

The great critic Leo Velski Julian who told the story said he would not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train's sirens. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.

"Remember that what's right isn't always popular... and what's popular isn't always right."

Self-Discipline Foodstyle

2008-06-13T22:58:00.001+08:00

There were times when I was able to walk into my favourite kebab place or ice-cream counter but decided to give it a miss at the point of placing the order. I had always thought that was somewhat an exercise in sacrifice, if not self-discipline.

Self-discipline was what I wanted to teach myself by deciding to go on diet on 26 May 08, through the posting on Qawiyyal Jism. I had also intended to report back two weeks later (on 9 June) whether I achieved my target of losing 10 kg off my weight. Since I could not find a weighing scale (this is absolutely true!) on Mon the 9th in London, I decided to weigh myself the moment I arrived home.

I started at 84 kg, and alhamdulillah weighed 77 kg today. I have lost 7 kg from the day I started this lifestyle (or rather, foodstyle) but short of 3 kg from the 10 kg target.

It was quite an experience. I vividly remembered the search for a "non-rice" stall during lunch on the first day. After a tiring search and walk, I resigned to a plate of steak at an eating place in Toa Payoh - disappointingly, it was not quite the quality I had in the past and yet, pricey too. Subsequently it was much easier - bowl of Yong Tau Foo full of vegetables (and I love the soup) at Fork and Spoon, Chicken Chop at Adam Road and Salad from KFC. Not forgetting, plain water for drinks.

There were moments when I thought how could I give up the Samiramis pastries (with apricot filling) that I brought back from Damascus and my favourite ice-cream (in the fridge).

Soon I began to cope with the "no rice, no bread, no sweets and low fat" diet, and enjoy the thought of figuring and choosing what to eat. Choice is a key word here - I choose what I want to eat based on what I believed it will do to my body and health.

It was made easier in Amsterdam and London because there were many Kebab restaurants, particularly around Edgware Road. And since I did not opt for breakfast by the hotels, it was very convenient to avoid the English breakfast and its traditional orange juice. Instead, I bought a packet of fresh tomatoes - and had it one per day for breakfast.

In addition to the diet, I did a lot of walking too. My wife and I did our walk in the evening after Isya' prayer in our neighbourhood. And I walked miles in Amsterdam and London - thanks to the beautiful end-spring and early-summer breeze and weather.

I feel much lighter and healthier and at times suprised at how easy it was to bend to pick up things from the floor.

But the challenge is not over - tomorrow I will be attending a wedding of the son of my cousin, and next Monday onwards, when I am having lunch with my "lunch kakis" at work.

They have already noticed my weight loss, and remarked how I looked "run-down" from my travels. I will have to be truthful to them soon - that it was not because of the travels, lest they think I am burdened by it.

I am no longer able to eat large portions, and may not make a significant contribution to the current food shortage.

Eating by choice is my very small effort to self-discipline.
It will be my lifestyle for quite a long while now, InshaAllah.

Father's Day

2008-06-12T18:39:00.003+08:00

Selfridges, The House of Fraser, Debenhams and all other stores on Oxford Street were dressed for Father's Day. Even Waterstone's was no exception. It had shelves labelled Books for Fathers to help children decide a gift for their book-loving fathers. There were other gifts too - like mugs with Super Dad printed on it. I particularly liked some of the gift items, but thought it would not be appropriate to buy it for myself.

Neither did I present my (late) father gifts every Father's Day, except on occasions when I travelled and saw something which I believed he would appreciate. But somehow being in London, compounded by the posters and window dressing of these big stores, I suddenly missed my father immensely.

When I was in Amsterdam, I mentioned to a colleague the gift I presented to my father, when he asked me what would make a good gift. I told him I gave my father a box of cigars! The wooden box was beautiful and the cigars in it, were like art pieces and together it was impeccable. My father was delighted but my wife was not very pleased since it meant I encouraged him to smoke.

One of the things I carried with me to London was a shopping list - my family has a craving for many cakes and chocolates from Tesco. And it usually includes two items for my father - cheese and scones, a liking he developed during his visits to the UK. This time round, when I ran through the list, my father's delightful expression the last time I delivered him the cheese and scones appeared in my mind. It would be a perfect Father's Day gift for him, I thought. I felt sad and tearful - I missed him very much.

It is said that we will only cherish and value our parents (and everybody and anything else) when they are no longer around. I now understood the truth of this statement. And indeed, there were instances when we disagreed as well as the reprimand on Hari Raya Eid Fitr when I expressed my views from Liverpool over the Ramadan Bazaar at Geylang Serai.

But as days passed into the third month of his passing, I missed him even more.

There were not many occasions when my father and I had a walk together. Perhaps being the eldest child, I was meant to do my "own things", and indeed I did. I worked, served National Service, traveled to Paris and London after NS, worked again and eventually moved to the UK. It was during his second visit that we brought him to London to spend time with my family and I, together.

I retraced the walk we did along The Serpentine in Hyde Park, Constitution Hill, Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards, and the Birdcage Walk along St James Park. The squirrels, the swans and the birds in St James Park were there, just like when my father, Muslim and Muslihah tried to feed and photographed them - and each of these actions were visually replayed in my mind.

It was moments like these that I wished I had spent more time with him.

My wife told me not to repeat it and asked me to spend more time with my mother. I also intend to spend what ever little time I have, with my children. And now that they have grown up, we hardly walked together.

When I reached home, Murshidah gave me a present. I unwrapped it with excitement - it was an exercise book, autographed with good wishes. Mus'ab gave me a crumpled piece of paper with his drawing of SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon on it, for Father's Day.

Allah, please forgive me for the things I did, and for the things I did not do, for my father when he was alive.

Please grant him Your mercy, Allah.
And Your garden for his abode.

Champions

2008-06-10T06:21:00.002+08:00

I arrived early at St Pancras for the train to Leicester, and wondered whether I should get a book from the bookstore to read on the train. As I visually browsed the shelves, I saw Garry Kasparov's How Life Imitates Chess. Interestingly, I recalled Deepak Chopra's Golf For Enlightenment: The Seven Lessons for the Game of Life, when I saw Kasparov's book.

Chess was one of the two games I played when I was younger. The other is Monopoly. I picked up chess by observing how my other classmates played in class to kill time (so to speak) when teachers were busy marking exam papers during my primary school days. I felt a great sense of achievement when I played my first game, and occasionally won games played in class. Now my two sons too play chess, and they too learnt it from observing how their classmates played.

Grandmaster and World Chess Champion Gary Kasparov's pieces on strategy and winning tactics in Chess had appeared in Harvard Business Review (no less) which are useful and relevant for business. He beat his opponent, fellow Soviet Anatoly Karpov in 1985 to become world champion and went to hold the title for 15 years. Despite the win, he acknowledged Karpov as the adversary who shaped his life.

Kasparov woke up to find the best present he ever had for his 6th birthday. It was an enormous globe - he had always been fascinated by maps and geography, and his favorite stories were those of voyages of Marco Polo, Columbus and Magellan. These stories fired his own sense of pioneer spirit. He wanted to blaze new trails, even if at that point that meant little more than taking a new route on the walk home.

Every Grandmaster left behind legacies and Kasparov was no exception.

Mikhail Botvinnik who was titled "the patriarch of Soviet chess", left professional chess in 1970 to concentrate on coaching. He invited the top junior chess talents from all over the country two or three times a year to join the Botvinnik School. It went on to produce several generations of champions. In the first "graduating" cohort in the early 60s was the young Anatoly Karpov. In 1973 one of its students was the ten-year-old Gary Kasparov. By 1987 when another (future) world champion Vladimir Kramnik arrived in 1987 it had become the joint Botvinnik-Kasparov School - quite impressive record of champions.

What makes someone a better manager, a better writer, a better chess player - a champion?

For there can be no doubt that not everyone performs at the same level or has the capacity to do so. What is critical is to find our own paths to reach our peaks, to develop our talents, improve our skills, and to seek out and conquer the challenges we need to push us to the highest level.

I am not a devout chess player.

But Kasparov's lessons about mastering the strategic and emotional skills to navigate life's toughest challenges are worth more than the 8.99 Pounds Sterling price marked on the book.

And even the cashier told me that he will be reading this book on his train ride to Yorkshire, this weekend.

Clarity of Mind

2008-06-07T16:41:00.002+08:00

One of my fascination is how the mind works to organise a huge variety of information into meaningful summaries. There are many instances where the skill to summarise and report the salient points of the discussion are required - as a chairperson for a meeting, a moderator for a panel of speakers in a seminar, and even for breakout sessions or group work. Often this task is to be completed within a very short period of time, not to mention the added pressure to reflect accurately yet concisely the entire discussion and presentation made during the sessions.

The same is true for making speeches, be it opening or welcoming remarks, closing speech or way forward remarks and valecdiction - tasks that are usually assigned to me, perhaps because I am usually the most elderly at the occasion. Let me attempt to share my observations and experiences on speech-organising before we move to the more complex task of summarising discussions or conversations into meaningful and coherent statements.

There are several styles to adopt for the opening or welcoming speech. I particularly like the "many firsts" opening - particularly if we have several first to announce as the opening line, for the welcoming remarks. The "the first first, ..., the second first etc" style however, cannot be repeated for the same audience. For closing, I usually adopt a crisp, the "one-two-three" approach - 1 mission for the participants to accomplish, 2 "must-haves" to accomplish it, and 3 observations in my view that will make or break the mission. This "one-two-three" approach makes the closing pointed and mission-directed, and is also suitable when pressed for time at the end of the session.

For valecdiction, the best example I have seen thus far was the one delivered at the graduation dinner of the MPM course at LKYSPP early this year. The (overseas) student who represented the class did an excellent job by landscaping his valecdictory speech with how the group (of students) came, bonded and struggled together, and how they have benefited from the course. The speech was peppered with citations made by lecturers during their lessons to demonstrate that they remembered and internalised the points and messages taught. One of the highlights of the speech for me is how the student have managed to reflect their attitude and aptitude pre-course, the main takeaways from the course and their intention to apply what they learnt in their own operating environment, when they return to their own countries.

But my admiration goes to Father Justo Balda, a Jesuit priest who rapporteured our workgroup presentation and discussion through an interesting strategy. He captured all the keywords from the presentations and discussions as it happened and grouped them into three broad categories. The categories formed the idea while the words formed the sentences that reflected the intent, spirit and desired meaning of the discussion.

There are other interesting ways we have used (often subconciously) to organise the discussion or notes - from Buzan's mindmaps, highlighting and clustering techniques. While the tools are readily available and commonly known, they do not replace the cognitive capacity of the mind needed to organise thoughts before it is mapped on paper.

Clarity of mind is a gift.
But a greater gift is the purity of the heart.

Diverse Diversities

2008-06-05T03:32:00.003+08:00

People are diverse in so many different ways.

I visited a mosque in East Amsterdam and met the Imam, an elderly man who came from Morocco. Over a meal of cous cous and lamb, he spoke in Arabic, which was translated to Dutch by a Mosque executive and further translated to English for the international visitors (me, included). But interestingly, some words and meaning were lost in translation, as I understood from the original Arabic and verses of Quran cited. The mosque serves Moroccons, Surinames, Turks, Arabs, Dutch, Africans, Somalis, etc. They are Muslims, from different ethnic background and origin but have become Dutch nationals. Are they Dutch, I asked? Or when will a Muslim from Nigeria be identified as Dutch by the Dutch themselves? I wonder.

In South Amsterdam, there are some 80,000 people of 135 dfferent nationalities living together under his care, said the Mayor when we visited him and his councillors. I cannot imagine the challenging and complex job of managing diversity and integration and not to mention identity formation, in this local Council.

At home, I often asked my children who or what they are - ethno-culturally, I meant. They are born in the UK, from parents who are Javanese-Malay-Sumatran on one hand, and Indian-Chinese-Malay on their hand. My IC states my race as Javanese and my wife's as Indian, but neither we speak Javanese nor Indian. (And considering there are many Indian languages - from Urdu, Hindi, Tamil to Punjabi and many others). Our children speak and read English mainly, converse in spattering Malay, and read and write Arabic to pass their exams. Perhaps because of their "immigrant DNA" my children have each comtemplated settling down overseas - Murshidah (10yrs) in Jamaica (don't ask my why :o) Mus'ab (12yrs) in Spain (perhaps because of football), and Muslihah (16yrs) has developed an attraction for New Zealand.

Diversity brings with it many interesting dimensions particularly the nexus between ethnicity and religion. We are all aware that not all Arabs are Muslims and that not all Muslims are Arabs. But this distinction is not quite straightforward for many other communities. Prof Suwanna Satha-anand from Chulalangkorn University explained that Buddhism provides the "Thai-ness" to Thai people, and therefore the existence of a different "sub-culture" in the predominantly Muslim south. This also reminded me of a sharing by a sister from Austria who heads a school in Neutiftgasse. She said that when an Austrian boy (from her school) met a white Austrian male Muslim, the boy asked him why is he not a Turk.

There are many other examples. The Malays are juxtaposed with Islam in Singapore, until recent time. The same applies to Zen Buddhism to Japanese, Spanish to Catholics, and the list goes on. As human migration increases across lands and religion, and religious affiliations are better understood, these assumptions will be reformulated to form new imaginings.

As we become aware of ourselves and who we are - culturally and psychologically - we cannot but admit the fact that a single identity marker is no longer adequate and appropriate for the globalised and cosmopolitan world.

Diversity offer opportunities to learn about others, with others.
It is through others, that we know ourselves better (and truer).

Empirical (Religious) Questions ..

2008-06-05T00:05:00.005+08:00

When I shared what we did at Harmony Centre to a group of scholars of religion and academics this afternoon, as a panelist for the Workgroup on Interfaith and Religious Education, I was introduced to very interesting and empirical questions on religion, religiosity, religious affiliation and interfaith dialogue.

We acknowleged that different societies or nations have different aims for interfaith dialogue. Take for example, New Zealand, which according to a recent census 40% of NZealanders did not specify any religious affiliation, promotes interfaith dialogue in response to the new situation as the country become more multi-cultural and multi-ethnic over the past few years. This same can be said for Australia, as well as many countries in Europe.

Indonesia during the New Order era, on the hand, promoted dialogue as a tool to maintain social stability. And interestingly Indonesia was hailed as an example of "religious harmony" before the fall of President Suharto. However dialogue (as a movement led by leaders of different religions) can also be subversive, as what happened in the apartheid South Africa and in several other places. Nelson Mandela acknowledged that religious institutions - more specifically inter-religious solidarity - played a major role in the fight against apartheid in South Africa. During the 1999 Parliament of World Religions, the former political prisoner said, "Without the Church and religious institutions, I would never be here today."

Prof Jan Hjarpe who is Emeritus Professor of Islamology at the University of Lund and a scholar in the history of religion suggested that what we are doing at Harmony Centre (particularly on Engagement and Learning) and those suggested by other panelists are considered as Interfaith Diapraxis and not Interfaith Dialogue. Interfaith diapraxis are efforts and activities much like our community engagement or social capital building activities. Interfaith dialogue on the other hand, questions and analyses the belief system of the other.

There were many other interesting remarks and citations. One such comment was from the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Maxime Verhagen who said, "two monologues do not make a dialogue". FM Verhagen also quoted the noted theologian Hans Jung who once said:

There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions and no peace among the religions without dialogue among religions, and there will be no serious dialogue among the religions without common ethical standards.

The empirical approach offered by Prof Hjarpe unveiled interesting insights and different perspectives to the issue of interfaith dialogue, religion and related concepts. What we assumed as given may now take a different meaning. For example, the term religiosity and religion. It was proposed that religiosity is experienced by every human being, a personal spiritual experience at the cosmic dimension. Religion on the other hand is systemised religiosity with its attendant distinctions and boundaries. When asked by a student how many religions are there in the world, he argued that there are as many religions as there are people, and even more, since humans experience spirituality or religious experience more than once in their lifetime.

Are those who affiliate themselves to a religion, necessarily a member of a religious community? Religious affiliation and religious communities are two different categorisations and concepts altogether. And because, religion is not a fixed entity and not a closed system, he claimed, how do we associate it to these categorisations. Can a person have more than one religious affiliation at any one point?

Another assertion was that religious affiliation increases when government or public institutions do not function effectively and primarily to benefit from a "secular" function provided by religious organisation or institution - not that they are becoming more religious, or because of piety. This was advanced when we discuss the declining interest in Europe, as opposed to the increased congregations in Asia.

Many questions lingered in my mind as we adjourned for the afternoon tea.

But the three that stayed with me, even after dinner were -

a) Are we doing interfaith for a non-religious (or secular) goal?
b) Are we religious affiliates rather than religious adherents? and
c) Is there more religion (in public) and less religiosity (in private)?

These questions required an empirical approach to get its answers.

And it calls for the empiricists within ourselves.

Psychedelic Amsterdam

2008-06-04T05:23:00.001+08:00

Amsterdam was the venue of our BIS team meeting – the last before I left the university to return to Singapore, almost eight years ago. All other previous meetings were held at various cities outside Liverpool, but in the UK. It was a drama to get there – I took a chartered flight from Tripoli, Libya to London and continued a 5 hours drive from Heathrow to Liverpool the same morning, before appearing at Speke Airport at about 6 am to join my BIS team to catch the first EasyJet flight to Amsterdam.

Much to our disappointment, the EasyJet flight was delayed for 3 hours and we did not get into Amsterdam until about 11 am. So instead of the planned sit-down meeting, we decided to do it as we stroll along the canals, lunch at an Italian café, and enjoyed afternoon tea against the scenic backdrop of tram, bicycles, boat cruises, painters, tulip sellers and diamond traders.

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on Interfaith Dialogue brought me back to this beautiful city, although my (envious) colleagues nicknamed it – City of Sin. Admittedly, this city does not attempt to conceal its red-light district or Rossebuurt and sex-related tourist attractions and “Good girls go to Heaven, Bad girls go to Amsterdam” captioned T-shirts. But the city offers more than just X-rated stuff !

Amsterdam is a fascinating city offering art, culture and history in a unique location. There are some 738, 000 inhabitants with 600,000 bikes. There are 165 canals and over 1,200 bridges. On the canals are some 2,500 houses on water (and these boat houses cost a staggering Euro 500,000 each).

Apart from the interesting and unique physical landscape, it has a long and rich tradition of all sorts. The story of the East India Company are told along roads named after spices, Quays, warehouses, dockyards from "Schreierstoren" to the "Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum" via the flee market of Waterlooplein. It is the European city with the largest number of museum, so the Dutch claimed. They are very proud of their Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Anne Frank, Stedelijk and Historic Jewish Museum.

This city also prides itself of the many influences that had shaped its self-image. The Reformation, and the Alteration of 1578 caused a changed of religious architecture of the city, the Synod of Dordt, the Remonstrant Pamphlet circa 1619 stimulated debate on theological ideas, the German-Jews who came to Amsterdam in the early 18th century, the policy of forbearance that allowed Catholics to practice inside at Onze-Lieve-Heer-Op-Zolder (Our Dear Lord in the Attic) and not in public.

Enlightened Protestanism dominated Dutch life for much of 19th Century after the Freedom of Religion law was passed in 1796. However strong reactions from Catholics, Orthodox Protestants and freethinkers put an end to its domination.

Netherlands is a now country of religious minorities. The influx of new religious communities and institutions, such as the Taibah Mosque and 38 other mosques in Amsterdam (17% Muslims, in the city), and the Kandelaar Multi Church building that house 17 different Christian congregations, 15 Buddist temples and 11 Mandirs, to add the existing Protestant, Roman Catholic churches and Jewish synagogues. There is no single major religion in the country.

And the Dutch society is changing again. They are re-evaluating and debating the meaning and practice of tolerance, freedom and the ideal society.

Today I experienced that change at De Duif (The Dove) a Catholic church built in 1858. The church was the venue for this morning's lecture and lunch. I did not realise the oddity until a young diplomat from Lithuana, Aiste Marozaite pointed out to me that "it is a strange thing to have meals in the church". We later found out that the church is also used for fashion shows. But that's not all. Later, in the same Catholic church, over dinner hosted by the Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs, we were entertained by Thai dancers who performed dances potraying goddesses and demons and mythologies.

Against the movements of the dance and the music, I was wondering what might the statues of Jesus, Mary and other saints whose image formed the centrestage of the church, be thinking of.

My own thought? .. hmm

Amsterdam - Religiously Psychedelic !

With Admiration ..

2008-06-01T00:16:00.001+08:00

I was in two minds whether to attend the NTUMS' 21st Anniversary Dinner tonight, for several reasons, including the much needed preparation for the Amsterdam trip tomorrow. And somehow I felt awkward to attend as a distinguished guest and to be seated at the VIP table. But at the same time, I do not wish to disappoint the President and EXCO members of NTUMS who had invited me, to join the celebration and the launch of NTUMS Gang.

Alhamdulillah, I am glad I attended the dinner. It was an opportunity to reunite with old friends and meet new ones too. Above all, it taught me an important lesson on the value of friendship and a reflection on da'wah fardhiyah.

After the formal segment of the dinner (and after the GOH has left) there were only 4 of us left at the VIP table. And the "informal" segment sparked interesting conversations between us. A fine gentleman, Mr ASCT (his initials) moved over to the vacant seat next to me and started small-talk, which later became global, insightful and fun. He holds a very senior position at NTU (at the President's office, no less), a graduate of Cambridge and Harvard, and is an active member (ps: I am not surprise if he is the Chairman) of the Singapore Harvard Club.

He started our conversation by sharing his meeting with our Mufti and then went on to ask me where did I obtain my PhD and my specialisation. After I told him that my PhD is in cybernetics from Liverpool, he asked me what is a PhD in cybernetics doing in Muis?

I told him its a long story, but primarily because our universities operate in compartmentalised faculties - and I am a victim because of my transdisciplinary field of research: information theory, neuroscience, management, mathematics, human dynamics within a metadiscipline called cybernetics. The School of Computer Science said that I am not a computer scientist, the Faculty of Engineering did not consider me an engineer, and the Business School did not recognise me as a management theorist.

He laughed aloud and shared his observation and experience at Harvard on the Mars Project, as as well as NASA's transdisciplinary project to put man on the moon. He clearly understood my predicament, and told me that it may be a blessing in disguise for I may develop a pigeon-hole mindset if I had joined the university, to fit into the compartmentalised faculty and be moulded by it.

Our conversation went around the world - from US, to Essex, Aberystwyth (in Wales), Liverpool, Cambridge, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Korea and back to Singapore. It was truly delightful. We ended this joyful conversation almost abruptly when the dinner came to an end, with the recitation of the Quran followed by the do'a. Interestingly, he ran his hands over his face, just like we did, when Br Nu'man ended his do'a rabitah, perhaps as a gesture of respect. We continued, as we stood for handshakes and bid goodbye, to finish off with our admiration for Liverpool's Ian Rush.

When I arrived home, I saw an e-mail from him, sent through his Blackberry, timed 11:14 pm. It read:

Dear Dr Albakri,

It was my good fortune to break bread with you at NTUMS' 21st Anniversary.

As all noble callings are, they have unique circumstances lie cybernatiques!

We must get together and also celebrate to Goal Rush during Ian's golden years!

With admiration,
Anthony.

I was moved when I saw and read the mail. This gentleman, many years my senior, very accomplished, highly-connected with the Who's Who in Singapore, wrote an e-mail almost immediately after the dinner to me, to express such delight. He signed-off his short, but most elegant note, with admiration. Indeed, he is the one to be admired.

This very act of e-mailing or sms-ing, a note of thanks or an expression of gratitude soon after a meeting or an interaction, is very significant and effective for relationship and goodwill building.
It creates a positive impact and a lasting impression on the receiver - definitely a best practice for da'wah fardhiyah.

As I replied to his mail, I wondered how many of us, at this present time, value relationship, friendship and goodwill for a harmonious existence and a joyful life !

The Orion Express had brought me to places I have never been to ... but more importantly introduced me to Mr ASCT who have reminded me what li ta'arafu and being human mean.

With much admiration,
B

Requisite Variety

2008-05-29T23:07:00.001+08:00

Have we came across situations where counter service was poor and slow? And how we wish we could "do it ourselves" to expedite the process and get over with it.

Service excellence is everyone's dream. We will appreciate it when we encountered situations mentioned above. But apart from attitude and aptitude for good service, there is also a variety equation to consider. A good example of this variety equation is the departmental store - therefore products or items are stored and displayed at different departments: men's, ladies', children's, toys, electronics, housewares, etc ... And is it not for nothing they are called departmental store. The total system variety is carved up into subsystems of more reasonably sized variety. The customer who is not clear what commodity, if any, will meet her need, represents variety that cannot be trapped by this departmental arrangement; and what we need is an information desk or counter - to absorb this excess variety.

Variety? No, not quite that variety we understood to mean many and of different types. Variety here is meant to be the number of possible states of the system, and the number increases daily, for every institution because of an ever-increasing range of possibilities afforded by education, by technology, by communications, by prosperity, and by the way these possibilities interact to generate yet more variety.

The check-in counter staff, for example, cannot be less knowledgeable, less competent or less motivated that the passengers they serve - this is a simple example of a low-variety system serving a high-variety system. Another example to consider is the low attraction among youth to partake in social organisation activities. These youth inherently exist in high variety situations and systems, and organisational offerings are low-variety and will not be able to absorb the excess variety of the youth today.

So what is it that controls variety? The answer is dead simple: variety.

Only variety absorbs variety. Not only do we need variety to absorb variety, but we need the same amount of variety to do it. What we have arrived at in the departmental store is the dominant law of societary systems, Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety.

In a hypercompetitive marketplace (and in da'wah) where personalised service and attention are sought and won, variety matching is an important skill. And variety matching is a dynamic process of attenuation and amplification and getting the variety equation right.

High variety leaders may find it easier to attenuate their variety to match low variety situations, or members that they serve. But the reverse may not be true. Low variety leaders will lose their leadership role and function if they are not able to match the variety of the members they serve, or situations under their charge.

In any case, Law of Requisite Variety will exert itself.

And don't blame members or customers if we lose them !

Dum Spiro Spero

2008-05-28T20:58:00.001+08:00

Its called the bucket list. It is a list of things to do before one kicks the bucket (forgive the expression). Usually drawn-up by those who how know much time left there are for them to live. I imagined what would be listed in my bucket list, if I were to draw one. Strange, and perhaps even weird to even consider it.

Some would want to do things they had wanted to earlier in life, but never get round to doing it - visit all the wonders of the world, do extreme sports such as bungie jumping in Queenstown, NZ or skiing on the Swiss Alps, or meet-up with long-lost friends. Obviously it depends on how much wealth one has too.

Sometime ago, I chanced upon a television series called My Name is Earl. The main character, Earl committed all possible misdemeanors and petty crimes that caused physical and psychological hurt to others. He stole, cheated, lied - you named it - he's done it. Suddenly he won a lottery but as he rejoiced on the street, he was knocked down by a car, and almost lost the lottery ticket. When he recovered his ticket, he decided it was karma - and vowed to undo or correct all the wrongs he did in the past. So he listed all the good deeds he needed to do and went on doing it, striking it as he completed one item at a time, just like the bucket list, except that he did not think he was going to die anytime soon. Earl had turned over a new leaf.

Like Earl, many of us do not exactly know when we are going to die, and hence the idea of drawing-up a bucket list is remote, if not irrelevant. Perhaps knowing how much time left to live is not something one looks forward to, but it has its advantages nonetheless. But if we are not privileged to such knowledge, Earl's effort to create a list to undo previous wrongs by doing good, is certainly worth emulating.

If to do many things at once, may not be possible, we can start with an act to undo past wrong and an extra act to do good, each day. It means we negate a wrong and add a good deed too.

We need not wait to know or be told that death is near to start a bucket list.

Dum Spiro Spero, its Latin for while I am still alive.

Flight of Life

2008-05-27T21:36:00.001+08:00

I am travelling again this weekend. This time to Amsterdam, followed by London. Over the last three years I have travelled to, and visited 8 cities, making up a total of 34 cities since the first time I took the airplane in 1980, when air miles and loyalty programmes were unheard off. Sometimes I jokingly nicknamed myself Ibn Battuta to credit the air miles I have accumulated over the years.

I still remember my first long distance flight to Paris in the early 80s, on Malaysian Airlines Boeing 747. The return flight from London was truly a joy and perhaps as a young traveller, I immediately developed a romance for air travel.

After two decades of travelling, for work, vacation and visiting parents when my family and I took residence in Liverpool, I am beginning to feel the aches and pains after long flights, not to mention the stress and anxiety of excess baggage, lost luggage and missing connections.

There is an inverse relationship between my romance with air travel and the air miles I collected from my travels. There were instances when I felt enriched by the flight - through the articles found in the flight magazine, the movies offered, the food served and the conversation with the unknown passenger seated next to me. But these were rare instances. Most often, I had to live with uncomfortable seats, poor quality food, and plastic (and tiny) fork and knife to wrestle with the piece of meat or fish.

There are not many things one can do on the plane, quite apart from reading, watching the movies, walking up the aisle, sleeping or engaging in conversation with other passengers. I often wondered how I managed to survive long flights, including the one that took 23 hours to Washington DC, when I went on the US International Visitors Program. It will interesting to note and list the things I (may) do for the 13 hours of flight to Amsterdam, to reflect whether it was time well spent or otherwise. Like previous travels, it will be a spontaneous response on flight rather than a planned list of "things to do".

Interestingly, I have made several life decisions on the plane during my travels. One example, was the decision to pursue my postgraduate study, when my wife and I were in the plane to London for our honeymoon. Some years later, during the flight to Toronto, I decided to do research in Cybernetics for my PhD. Other than decisions, I have also acquired knowledge and insights of culture, society, history and civilisations through conversations with fellow passengers, the inflight magazine and documentaries.

Air travel is a perfect condition to experience absolute dependency to Allah, our Creator. It is during flight - takeoff, landing and airborne we accept the reality of our weak and powerless existence. That we can do nothing to change what may have been destined to happen. And thus we pray and hope that it will be a safe flight throughout.

One can only be a new person after every flight from the prayer and renewed acknowledgement that Allah has the power over all things.

Climate Change

2008-05-26T23:51:00.001+08:00

Climate change is uppermost in my mind, and I hope in many others' too. It is certainly the concern of many govermnents, and I was told that Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had appointed a Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator the Honourable Penny Wong to deal with this important issue and challenge. The British Government Chief Scientific Adviser was quoted to have said climate change poses a bigger threat to the world than terrorism.

Climate change affects world's habitats and ecosystems, not to mention food supply, energy consumption, health related problems and diseases, tourism and human migration. We are already witnessing frequent and repeated earthquakes, cyclones and delayed snows, the most recent was Nargis that affected Myanmar and the earthquakes at Sichuan province. I feel Singapore is getting warmer too. Perhaps this is the effect of global warming.

Since the industrial revolution, the burning of fossil fuels has increased greenhouse emissions. These gases trap more and more heat, which would otherwise escape into space. As a result, the planet's temperature is rising. Unless something is done, the world will become too hot for life as we know it.

Consider this scenario: With the global temperature now 5 deg Celcius higher than at the turn of the century, the world is now a different place. Millions have already fled from the low-lying islands in the Pacific and Asia because of an 80cm rise in sea levels. In Europe the Alps lost their snow and ice and the ski industry collapsed 20 years ago. The Himalayas have also lost about a third of their remaining ice cap, and last year the Ganges ran dry for the first time. Panic swept through India and Bangladesh, and in the biggest migration in human history, nearly 300 million people are moving towards Europe.

I shuddered at the thought of how my children and grandchildren would face black skies and yellow grass, and the sight of them putting on masks to protect themselves from pollution. Black skies from traffic pollution was one of the first thing I encountered when I arrived in Los Angeles as I travelled from the airport to Pasadena, sometime ago.

If I am able to take forward one idea, however small, to reverse global warming or to be environmentally-friendly, what would it be? I asked. Or are we doomed, as my daughter Muslihah, claimed?

There must something we can do, in addition to asking Allah, the Almighty, for His mercy.

Let's find out as much as we can about climate change and global warming: facts, figures, websites, organisations. Let's share the information gathered and talk about it whenever the opportunity arises, to play our khalific role and to create as many eco-minded saints who will save the planet.

A lot of people doing a lot of little things could have a huge impact.
And by doing something, we are demonstrating that lots of people really do care.

Qawiyyal Jism

2008-05-25T20:58:00.001+08:00

A healthy body, that is what it means. Many will try to achieve it through physical exercises or games - badminton, soccer or swimming. I had contemplated golf, only because it is not physically demanding. In fact Deepak Chopra authored a book titled Golf For Enlightenment: The Seven Lessons for the Game of Life and the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) has a course titled The Spirituality of Golf. According to UTS this course examines Golf as a "hobby life" activity and a strategy for kingdom-building. Golf can be a method of mind-body discipline, an avenue for encounter with the spirit world, and an environment for personal evangelism and network building. Students will play two rounds of golf and participate in oral and written reflection.

But after serious consideration I decided to give golf a miss and focus on my diet instead. Some weeks ago, I had considered turning vegetarian, partly to lose weight but more so to manage my temperament. But that did not materialise due to my own failings and it was difficult to play host at dinners. Tonight I am taking a bold and drastic step to go on strict diet for the next two weeks - starting tomorrow (Monday 26 May 08) I will not be having any rice, bread, potatoes, pasta or baked stuff, and no fruit as well. No sweets, cakes, biscuits or ice-cream for the next two weeks, either. My staple for the next two weeks will be vegetables (lots of them) or salad with olive oil in the dressing, meat or fish.

Staying away from rice or bread may pose a difficult challenge given our food culture and customs. Nasi Briyani, Chicken Rice, Nasi Lemak, Lontong, Soto Ayam are dishes that come with rice in one form or another. I personally cannot imagine buying chicken rice from my favourite stall but not having the rice as it is off-limits. And attending wedding function without eating the Briyani - I will need to develop an alternative strategy to ensure the host does not misunderstood me, or worst still, felt insulted by my dietary restrictions.

After the initial phase of two weeks and hopefully, the cravings for sugars and starches have gone too, I will add good carbohydrates to my diet. The idea is not to eliminate all carbohydrates, but only bad ones. Good carbohydrates are found in whole grain bread and high fibre wheat bran cereal. I hope to feel that this plan is less like a diet and more like a way of life - and I will be eating normal foods, in normal size portions (for eg, rice servings no bigger than the tennis ball).

In addition to the diet, I intend to work an exercise plan that does not require me to remake my life - something that I can incorporate easily into my routine. For a start, I will do a 20-minute brisk walk everyday, and hopefully will perspire enough to call it quits.

This is not just an exercise to lose weight and to be physically fit. It is a commitment to self-discipline, and to understand the practical nuts-and-bolts way to control blood chemistry and metabolism through food choices.

This evening, I weigh 84 kg. In two weeks time (9 June 08) I hope to lose 10 kg.

Goodbye bad carbos and bad fats !

Khutbah by Dr Yahia Abd Rahman

2008-05-23T17:16:00.002+08:00

Friday khutbah is a must for Friday prayers. Its objective to touch the jamaah and create a transformation depend on several factors, namely its content, delivery by the khatib, and other external factors such as temperature of the prayer hall and (believe it or not) weather. Today, I prayed at Al-Falah mosque, and the khatib was Dr Yahia Abdul Rahman, our guest from Pasadena, Los Angeles.

His khutbah was different from the usual style delivered weekly in Singapore. After the supplications, he shared personal experiences to demonstrate the values and teachings of Islam. But what was most interesting for me, was the optimistic tone and message of his khutbah, and he quoted successful stories of development among Muslim societies and communities.

He also brought up an interesting point - that there are a significant amount of young Muslims who are well-educated, and are contributing as captains of industry, leaders of organisations as well as those currently doing well in their studies - future economists, engineers, doctors, bankers who will soon take office in both public and private sector. "They will eventually represent the crème-de-la crème of the best minds; most educated and qualified young Muslims in the world. It is this generation of Muslims that I strongly believe will not only make a difference in Asia but also in the world through its children, grandchildren and their grandchildren" he said. This cumulative process should bring about a new Muslim renaissance in the future.

If we are serious about our faith, he said, we need to first apply it to ourselves and our families. And he listed several "must-do" to repeat what history had shown us - that after every wave of attacking Islam, a wonderful era of Islamic renaissance emerged.

> We need to be the model that others would envy and emulate.

> We want our neighbours, our colleagues and our friends of all faiths to admire who we are. How husbands are good to their wives and wives to their husbands, How the Muslims families project the example of the better families in our communities.

> We want the professionals, the students and the Muslim citizens at large to be the examples of what excellence is all about.

> We want to see our children to be the best students at school not only in their scholastics but in their leadership in all aspects of school life, be it school organizations or sports activities.

> We want members of our communities of all faith to prefer the services of the Muslim doctors, the Muslim Bankers, the Muslim accountants, the Muslim merchants and the Muslim politicians.
The world will benefit from their values of decency, hard work, dedication, truthfulness, care for all people, and respect of all faiths and love all people.

Dr Yahia Abdul Rahman ended his khutbah with a beautiful do'a to Allah, to ask Allah to forgive us for our ignorance, and to shower His blessings and bounties to the world. Many in the prayer hall shed tears when he asked to Allah to grant us spouses and offsprings that will work in His cause. He also asked Allah to grant every single man, a believing woman to be his spouse so that he may complete his religion, and for every single woman, a believing man to be her spouse so that she may complete her religion.

This khutbah had achieved its objective (for me, at least).

Lead, Dream and Be Happy :-)

2008-05-22T00:28:00.001+08:00

I've had a long and a heavy day, just like many other working days except the breadth and depth of conversations over lunch and dinner today. Interestingly, lunch and dinner were at the same restaurant - Garuda Padang Cuisine at Bideford Road, but with different set of guests.

Over lemak nangka (I hope the spelling is correct), sambal telor, ikan kering and ais cendol, we attempted to rescue a school that is currently overwhelmed by expectations from patrons and parties. The lady who found and currently runs the school are struggling with external demands and organisational challenges. At the end of a lengthy update, we concluded the best advice to offer are a) that the interest of the students must be first and foremost over any other considerations, and b) a management team of competent professionals must be formed to help run the school. The discussion then moved to other local issues, including the leadership deficit that exists in organisations which we are familiar with. I am not sure whether we are short of leaders, but certainly leadership for da'wah requires serious attention.

Alhamdulillah, despite the concerns over leaders and leadership, we have among the younger colleagues and tertiary students, good and high potential leaders for the future. Being young however, some require interpersonal skills and tact, to win the hearts of their peers and seniors (too). Admittedly it is not easy to please everyone - but everyone love someone who is gentle, gracious and good-natured. It may also be difficult to transfer such admirable skills and attributes other than by role modelling and perhaps, reflective self-critique.

Leaders and leadership will remain to be critical success factors for da'wah, organisations and human activity systems.

Dinner was longer and varied - both the food and the company. Seated around the table in an enclosed area are trainers of the Awqaf workshop, who have travelled from different countries to lead the various sessions. We had an Iranian, an American of Arab descent, a Kuwaiti and a Pakistani as our guests.

The conversation spanned over many issues and many cities - from food, state of the Muslim world, price of oil, Tehran, Cairo, Dubai, religions - in between good humour and laughter.

There were several interesting points exchanged during the conversations. I thought the following were worthy of reflection and deliberation:

The approach to view Islam as an expansion of other monothesistic religions, namely Judaism and Christianity. This approach implies recognition and acceptance of Judaism and Christianity, instead of nullification and rejection. I particularly like this approach and will give it more thought over time.

That many Muslim families are not happy, and at the same time pretend to be happy (and loving couples) when they are in public or among friends and relatives. This borders on hypocrisy, and is detrimental for the children, who knew that their parents are driving each other mad at home. Unhappy parents and families will raise unhappy children, and the vicious cycle goes on. This may be one of the causes of the difficult state that we are experiencing. Let's start a happy family movement :-)

And we have stopped dreaming .. We don't dream big things anymore. Perhaps because we are fire-fighting everyday, and caught up with the inside and now instead of the outside and future. Examples of dreamers who combined perspiration and aspiration to make their own unique contribution include Leonardo Da Vinci, who vowed "I shall become of the greatest artists the world has ever known and one day I shall live kings and walk with princes" at the age of 12, Napolean who spent long hours conquering Europe in his mind, dreaming of how he would lead his troops, and the Wright brothers who turned their dreams into aeroplanes.

Everything starts with a dream. Dreams are seedlings of realities. If you never have a dream. you'll never have a dream come true.

Lead, dream and be happy (family)!

2nd Workout Session

2008-05-19T00:16:00.001+08:00

Brothers and Sisters,
Assalamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Alhamdulillah, we praise Allah for His mercy and for allowing us to spend time together for this workout. Peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet, his family, his companions and the companions of his companions, and to all who strive in His cause.

Today is Vesak Day. On this day devout Buddhist reiterate their determination to lead noble lives, to develop their minds, to practise loving-kindness and to bring peace and harmony to humanity. In many ways, we are also aiming to do that, and more, including to seek Allah's pleasures, to strengthen our ukhuwwah, to renew our commitment to Islam, to increase our contributions to our community and to preserve the well-being of Singapore, our beautiful country.

The first workout that took place during the Chinese New Year holiday in 2006 at the Boys Brigade Campsite was a watershed for us. It was the first time we had participants from several and different organisations coming together to offer ideas and later follow-through the initiatives developed through the workout. The first workout had a lasting impact on me - it was a gathering of minds and souls and a reunion of sorts; brothers and sisters who once were together in campus, met again after taking different journeys of tarbiyah and da'wah. The ta'aruf session took much longer that the time allocated - a testimony of renewed friendship and brotherhood or sisterhood. And the workout ended with a long list of ideas and initiatives for participants to develop and implement where viable. Beyond the list of ideas, we also broke the glass ceiling that shapes our previous organisation-centric approach to da'wah.

I am pleased to report that several of these ideas and initiatives have taken a life of its own, in different platforms and programmes. Some are embedded in existing programmes, while others shaped new programmes and pushed the envelope much to the discomfort and complaints from some members of our community. The most significant achievement are the work done with NTUMS and NUSMS, the BRMY and TMSN camps. A direct outcome of this initiative is our Breakfast Club@Kassim, and alhamdulillah, the club has managed to sustain interest among the brothers. Some sisters are now asking us why they are not invited - a testimony of success and usefulness of the club.

Another success story is the creative use of media for da'wah. We discussed the need to have groups of artistic talent to reach out to youth and the creative young. We may not be able to claim all credits, but alhamdulillah, there were several initiatives to achieve this goal, including the 8-minute film making competition, the alunan kasih song writing competition, Sis Lieja's attempt at cerpen writing for Suria and many others. And on working with specific influence groups, we have started conversations with polytechnic lecturers, renewed our relationship with teachers and partnered with theatre and silat groups. Since we have left the implementation of the ideas and initiatives to interested participants and groups, along with its loose and laisser-faire modus operandi, there are no verifiable means to measure success accurately.

There were other initiatives that did not take off: mentoring programme for students in campus, networking with university academics, and development of (tarbiyah) content for all the initiatives and programmes created by the workout to develop potential du'at and leaders for da'wah. But this must not discourage us from moving forward - in fact it should motivate us further.

Our thanks and appreciation goes to all who have in one way or another helped implement those ideas and initiatives.

But as we move forward, we must also take cognizant of the changing landscape and the aspirations of the young. The traditional attraction and affiliation to formal da'wah and social organisations are no longer prevalent in our community. Many young persons aspire to do something and contribute, but at their own time, through their specific interests and by themselves. How do we response to these aspirations, including other black swans and unknown unknowns?

This workout session hopes to create new stimuli, energy and interest groups that will embrace many young persons and others who may not find a calling to participate through programmes and membership of existing da'wah organisations. For this workout, we intend to discuss and develop a business plan of sorts on four initiatives: a) the tarbiyah triangle, b) rumahtangga dakwah, c) outdoor programmes, d) new media.

We may not be able to delve substantively into all four initiatives today, but I am confident that we will have enough inputs to develop these initiatives and implement it in the near future.

May Allah (swt) guide us in our journey today, and grant us a good outcome for this workout.

Messenger of God for Mankind

2008-05-18T00:04:00.001+08:00

I wanted to write about my visit to the Cave of the Seven Sleepers (referred to in Surah Al-Kahf) and the Dead Sea, which I made during my short stay in Amman and Irbid, Jordan, but I have yet to put my thoughts together. The other piece that I wanted to write was my reflections on my meeting with the Hadramis, the Yemeni society and Yemen, but this too will take some time for me to weave it into a meaningful tapestry ... and in the meantime many other life stories are unfolded as days passed by ...

Today, we had our inaugural International Hajj Seminar attended by delegates from some 19 countries. Alhamdulillah, I am grateful to be able to chair the presentations by delegates from Singapore, Philippines and South Africa. But I was both overjoyed and moved when the delegate from Albania, Dr Ramiz Zekaj, General Director of the Albanian Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation gave me 3 books on Albania and Kosovo, as well as a set of books titled This is Prophet Muhammad (saw), Messenger of God for Mankind in 5 European languages -- Italian, German, French, Albanian and English. This 90-page book which has been translated into 12 languages, including Russian and Spanish, consists of 4 chapters, a) Let us get to know the last Messenger, b) The Prophet who perfected the human virtues, c) The Prophet in the view of world personalities, and d) A few lessons derived from the life of the Prophet.

What intrigued me was the simplicity and the poetic style used to present the life of the Prophet and his virtues. At the end of the book, readers are served with a chapter of Prophetic sayings. This chapter features a set of colourful drawings of roses each accompanying a hadith (sayings) of the Prophet to correspond the single red rose against a colourful wave that serves as the cover of the book. Let me try to explain what I meant through the introduction at the beginning of the book:

Personalities resemble high mountains. They stand above the others, are easily visible from the distance, but climbing up is a long and tiring road. The traveller, aiming to reach the top, should walk across the footpaths and uphill and rocky roads and cope with patience and persistence the difficulties and tiredness. Up high, the air is fresher and cleaner, and the horizon is vast. In the people's conscience, the mountains symbolize pride, greatness, beauty and eternity. Views from all the points of horizon cross on top of the mountains.

The personality of Prophet Muhammad (saw) is the highest of all mountains. From their peaks one can see in all directions. The fields look toward this peak, as well the hills and the high mountains look towards this point as a point of orientation. The road towards this peak is the longest but not tiresome - soft and nice, as was also the Prophet Muhammad (saw).

During the climbing, the traveller walks across valleys full of colourful flowers, where thousands of bees gather nectar and pollen; taste the pleasure and freshness of pure water running down the water continuously; listens to the songs of the birds mixed with the whistling sound of centuries old forests. All these amazing beauties spiritually lift the traveller to a world as pure as the water and air of this mountain ...

Prophet Muhammad (saw) is the personality that God equipped with all the beauties and heights of the spirit, with the best and special virtues, with the wisest mind and purest heart. Viewed from any direction, he (saw) radiates and serves as a model the people of his time and the following generation of mankind.

Several books including Professor Tariq Ramadan's The Messenger are waiting patiently to engage and interact with me. Dr Ramiz Zekaj's gift adds to this collection.

Dr Zekaj has also introduced me to the Albanians and to "remind the civilised world about this forgotten people", through these books.

Clay and Water

2008-05-11T08:14:00.003+08:00

In my younger years, sometime around 1975, I was introduced to Lin Yutang’s book titled Importance of Living by my (then) boss David Tay, a renowned interior designer, when I was working in his design firm after dropping out from school.

When I had my fingers on the clay at Cikgu Iskandar Jalil’s clay and pottery workshop yesterday morning (together with my son Mus’ab and my colleagues) Lin Yutang’s work that I read decades ago suddenly came to mind.

One of the flashes was on the analogy of clay and water in human marriage.

Madame Kuan, wife of the great Yuan painter Chao Mengfu, expressed the analogy a very long time ago. Madame Kuan was herself a painter and teacher at the Imperial Court. When Chao was thinking of taking a mistress, Madame Kuan wrote the following poem, which touched his heart and changed his mind:

Twixt you and me
There’s too much emotion.
That’s the reason why
There’s such a commotion!
Take a lump of clay,
Wet it, pat it,
And make an image of me,
And make an image of you.
Then smash them, crash them,
And add a little water.
Break them and re-make them,
Into an image of you,
And an image of me,
Then in my clay, there’s a little of you,
And in your clay, there’s a little of me,
And nothing ever shall we sever;
Living, we’ll sleep in the same quilt,
And dead, we’ll be buried together.

{Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living}

I shared this very poem with my wife when we got married in 1983.
Today, 25 years on and with 5 beautiful children,
I (re)dedicate this poem to her – and wish her a Happy Mother’s Day.

11 May 2008

Fountains of Wisdom

2008-05-10T19:52:00.001+08:00

Subhanallah. To say that I was honoured to be able to meet not one but several religious luminaries, scholars and leaders of Syria (and Sham) would not be doing justice to the experience, given my (low) standing and worth. Alhamdulillah.

Sheikh Dr Hussam-Eddin Farfour received us on arrival and insisted that we have tea at the airport café before we proceeded to Le Meridien. Sheikh Farfour, who is the Rector of Al-Fath Al-Islami Institute, was our Visiting Scholar for the Asatizah Seminar in 2007. He had the opportunity to meet the Most Revd Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams when the latter was in Singapore for the Diocese of Singapore and Muis Lecture. Sheikh Farfour is an active participant and co-organiser for interfaith dialogues and study visits in Damascus. The institute that was founded by his father, Sheikh Mohamed Saleh Al Farfour had co-organised interfaith meetings with Hartford Seminary and other institutions in the West. Sheikh Hussam Farfour had delivered lectures and seminars in Princeton, Boston and other Ivy-league universities. During tea at the café, Sheikh Farfour welcomed us to Syria – and to consider it as our home, too.

Both Sheikh Farfour and the Mufti of Damascus Sheikh Dr Abdul Fatah Basm were consistently warm and generous. They never failed to insist that we do a “pit-stop” at their houses for a meal on our way to the airport. They are also very generous with their wisdom, time and humour. When asked about relations between Muslims and others, they explained the significance of “wa laqad karamna bani adam” (in Surah Al-Isra’: 70) – that Allah gives dignity and honour to each and every human being and all of us are in one human family. Kindness, compassion, mercy and all good deeds are not only for Muslims but also to all human beings. This resonates with our understanding of “wa ma arsalna ka illa rahmatan lil alamin”.

They helped us to confirm our meetings with the Grand Mufti of Syria, Sheikh Dr Baduruddin Hassoun, and the Minister of Awqaf, who is a religious scholar himself, Sheikh Dr Muhammad Abdul Sattar As-Syed. The Grand Mufti shared his recent invitation by the European Parliament to deliver a speech to them, after they gave him the highest vote among the rest of astute religious scholars. The Grand Mufti asserted Islam is founded on the basis of benevolence and does not restrict the rights of other faiths to exist. He further elaborated that the most honoured person would be someone who is God-conscious, pious, beneficial to mankind and ready to serve all humanity.

Later during the meeting when the Grand Mufti took a phone call in the adjacent room, Sheikh Farfour informed us that the Grand Mufti would be leaving to Aleppo immediately after our meeting to attend to his elder brother’s funeral. When the Grand Mufti returned to our meeting, we expressed our condolences to him, extended our do’a to his late brother and our appreciation for receiving us, despite the circumstance. There was a deep sense of calmness and acceptance of the Divine will from his look and expression. Words cannot really describe the profundity of his presence, wisdom and emotion.

The Minister of Awqaf, Sheikh Dr Muhammad Abdul Sattar As-Syed, himself a religious scholar, is from the lineage of the Prophet (saw). I was told that his religious scholar peers nominated him for the Minister’s job to the President of Syria. And this also applies to other high offices, including the appointment of the Mufti. It can be inferred that there is a highly connected and cohesive group of ulama’ or religious scholars to lead the Syrian society. It however does not imply that they always agree with each other. They differ views and intellectual opinions but that did not, and will not affect their relationship and respect for each other.

Sheikh Salahuddin Kuftaro remarked that if there are those who said that we should die for Islam, it is time for us to say that we should live for Islam. His message to seek knowledge, exude best akhlaq (character) and contribute to humanity and its attendant ethos form the basis of the Foundation that was founded by his late father, Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro. The Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro Islamic Foundation was established 70 years ago as a small mosque at the foot of the Kaasyoun Mountain. Today it is an educational complex (and the Abou-Noor mosque within it) that house three colleges, schools, student hostels, and an orphanage.

Sheikh Salahudin also shared the normal practice of allowing other religious leaders to deliver a talk before the Friday khutbah at the Abou-Noor Mosque (similar to our Pre-Khutbah talk in Singapore). The Friday congregation is used to listening to Bishops from the Orthodox Church before the azan to commence the Friday prayer proper. When this was mentioned, I cannot help but imagine the furor this may cause in our mosque in Singapore.

I was impressed with the consistent messaging of interfaith dialogue and co-existence from the religious scholars and other non-government officials and wondered at the plausible reasons for such views to have taken root in Syria. Sheik Kuftaro said that the historical land of Sham that stretched from Syria, Jordan and Lebanon and Palestine has a long history and was the cradle of civilization for Muslims, Christians and Jews. The people therefore had been used to the idea of co-existence and mutual respect. He recalled that when the pioneer of the foundation, Sheik Ahmad Kuftaro passed away, there was sadness even from prominent Christian leaders in Syria who declared through the local newspaper that the Mufti for the Muslims and Christians had passed away.

Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro, during his visit to Pakistan, was asked by the (then) President of Pakistan to offer his observations of the development of the country. He replied with immense wisdom through the following words – If the building of madrasah are not complemented by the building of factories, and the minarets are not accompanied by warehouses to store food, then development will not be realized.

These scholars including Sheikh Dr Wahbah Zuhaily and Sheikh Dr Taufiq Al-Buti are a class of their own – mutamassikun bil asal wal munfatihun. Indeed they are fountains of knowledge and wisdom: deep in tradition, inclusive and embrace new knowledge and modern sciences.

And from these fountains, streams flow to water far away lands and enrich life.

Find Your Strength

2008-05-10T12:48:00.001+08:00

Mus'ab and I had a wonderful experience, this morning.

Together with other colleagues, we spent some two hours at Cikgu Iskandar Jalil's pottery workshop at Taman Warisan. After an introduction to clay and the overview of the "project". Cikgu Iskandar showed us how he did it, on a tile of clay - for us to get a look and feel of what was to come. It really looked simple. He stressed repeatedly that there was no need to think when we worked on the clay tile, but to let our hands do the job.

Using all sorts of tools, some looked like (hair) comb, pointed screw drivers, scrappers, etc, Mus'ab and I tried to create our masterpiece. We raked, poked, drew to create textures and design of sorts - and to be honest we did not have a clear goal of what we intend to create. We worked on our instincts, and it did produce a tile of diverse subdesigns and objects - blobs on surface, waves of lines, etches and small holes interspersed with a myriad of objects of different shapes. We even penned our name in Arabic at the two end of the tile.

Cikgu Iskandar Jalil was generous with his wisdom and philosophy of life. He is an extraordinary person -- a winner of the Anugerah Jauhari, a Guru at pottery and with clay, lectures at several universities in Japan, Helsinki, Copenhagen, among others, ran several marathons, travelled widely, had several books on him and his works. And as he demonstrated how to work on the tile and later on a vase, he shared some of his views of life and told us to "find your strength".

When I first met Cikgu Iskandar at his house at Kembangan, I was both afraid and awed of him. Afraid because of his high standard and strict discipline to life, and awed because he appeared casual and personal. He showed us pages of the books written on his works, pottery art pieces that he brought back from an exhibition held in Korea. We were served tea in mugs made of clay and moulded by his hands. I was also attracted to his koi (fish) pond as we entered into his house. Cikgu said that the state of the koi is indicative of what is to come - when the koi is not its usual self, Cikgu will expect and be prepared for a not-so-good-news. The pond is clean and well-taken care of, unlike many ponds I came across. It showed that Cikgu had spent time, patience and discipline to maintain it, and to keep the koi alive and healthy.

During that meeting, I was not sure whether he would consider our request for his work to be mounted at our new Singapore Islamic Hub reception lobby. After explaining to him why we wanted Iskandar Jalil's work at the SIH, he proposed that we involved everyone - staff and stakeholders to do a tile of clay - and he will put it all together on the wall. It was a brilliant idea and consistent with our intent that the SIH represents contribution and achievement of the Muslim community. But he had yet to give his commitment then.

Cikgu also brought us to the kiln area where the pieces were burnt to specified heat. Interestingly he reminded us an important lesson in life - of pace and stages. He showed the broken pieces of clay tile when it was heated before it was adequately dried. To rush a tile to the kiln before it is ready is futile - almost similar to many things we do in life, including human development. He also said that through clay and pottery work, he was able to detect health deficiencies and conditions. The speed of the spinning machine, the functioning of fingers on the clay and the trembling of hands whilst working on the pieces are all indicators or signs of hypertension and related conditions. But pottery work is also therapeutic for many.

While on the spinning machine to mould a vase, at the end of our session, Cikgu encouraged us to consider pottery making for leisure and to prepare for our old-age. He commented that it only requires an hour a day of discipline to produce vases and other objects. But he also asked us to find our strengths to choose and decide whether it is plates, mugs, or vases that we should focus on, and create. Only then the quality will be superior and we will be known for our art pieces.

Cikgu's sharing this morning, reminded me of a Buddhist saying which goes - when the student is ready the teacher appears. Cikgu Iskandar Jalil is a Master-teacher who is ever ready for students who are willing to appear.

Thank you, Cikgu.

Singapore Seminar @ Damascus

2008-05-09T17:06:00.001+08:00

This was not my first visit to Damascus, but my fourth. However there were several firsts this time round – the first Singapore Minister to visit Syria, the first Singapore Seminar to be held here and the first attempt to pack in as much meetings, dialogues and calls on religious scholars, academic and national leaders, over two days.

We went straight into the function room at Le Meridien Hotel from the airport, for Minister to keynote the seminar, followed by our presentation and dialogue sessions with about 65 Singaporeans who are studying in Damascus. These students led by DIMASYQ (the Singaporean student society) were very well prepared for the seminar. Emceed by Br Muhammad Fizar, the seminar was engaging throughout and full of surprises. It was not like other student seminars I had attended. Dressed in lounge suits and formal wear to accord Minister’s presence, the ambience matched the standards of many similar events organized in Singapore.

There were 4 presentations in all, each followed by a dialogue session. The students were candid in their questions – covering broad areas and issues, perhaps best summarized with the 4 futures – a) challenges and career opportunities within and beyond the religious sector; b) community with a progressive outlook and strong Singaporean Muslim identity (SMI); c) madrasah and religious education, and d) religious leadership through a progressive culture of ijtihad.

I had to rework my presentation almost on the spot, after much of what I intend to deliver was also covered by the keynote address, but also to share the other attributes of the SMI since the earlier Q+A session focused mainly on interfaith and its imperatives.

Apart from those serious questions, there were also the odd “what-was-that-all about?” surprises such as a question on how to reconcile the call to continue and pursue studies at postgraduate level on the one hand, and the need to work to save money for marriage on the other (*hmm*), the Master of Ceremony’s metaphorical ship (although I initially thought he meant sheep – the korban saga still lingered in my mind, obviously) and his reference to the pilot of a plane upon which their (students) life depended on, to the incoming President of DIMASYQ at the dinner (I am not certain whether the phrase “no pressure intended” for Br Faizal, the newly appointed President, can be used here) .

I was told that the students reflected, and discussed the issues raised during the day (at the seminar) into the late night after the closing dinner and a group of students went into it till about 3 am next morning, much to my surprise and delight. Many students were pleased that many of their questions were answered and doubts addressed. It certainly gave me great satisfaction to learn that our efforts to stimulate their thoughts and challenge prevailing assumptions were not in vain.

After my presentation the participating students had their breakout sessions for group-work. Each group was asked to discuss and offer responses to the issues discussed during the presentation, as well as to the recent incidents affecting Islam and Muslims. One group shared their discussion and presented their thoughts and responses to the issue on how best to deal with incidents such as the Danish caricature on Prophet Muhammad (saw) and the recent Fitna Video by Geert Wilders.

To react with anger, hatred and violence, is to provide Wilders and his supporters, the evidence (or as a journalist would put it – the ammunition) they needed to substantiate their assertions – that Islam promotes hatred and that Muslims are violent. Hence, this group reminded us to response with good deeds (the phrase – wa idhaa kho thobahumul jaahiluna qalu salaama – in Surah Furqan, suddenly came to mind) and echoed the need to increase efforts to reach-out in friendship with many others who may not have a positive view on Islam and the Muslims.

I closed the seminar proper by summarizing what I considered to be the salient points presented by the speakers and discussed in the Q+A sessions as well as my reflections for participants to take as Way Forward.

The day ended with a dinner with all the participants, much to their delight and gratitude. The spread was tantalising and we were spoilt for choice. Aisyah told me that Le Meridien asked us to choose 16 types of salad for the dinner. During dinner, I managed to catch-up with a former colleague from MAS who is now studying in Damascus, and accepted our invitation at a very short notice. It was a walk down nostalgia lane when she gave me potted updates of many friends who mentored me at work during my younger days.

But the dinner was more than just food. Sis Hadijah shared her reflections in somewhat a valedictory mood, Br Zahid, the outgoing President presented DIMASYQ’s report card for his term of office and asked Minister to present appointment letters to the newly elected President and members. The highlight of the dinner was the qasidah and nasyeed by Br Zahid and group of students (some in their tarbus *the red head dress usually worn by Turkish men) – it was spiritually uplifting. I had tears in eyes as we recited the selawat of the Prophet, despite not fully comprehending all the words in the nasyeed. Indeed, the meaning is superior to the words.

I had said in previous seminars and workshops, that one of the measures of success for such events was whether participants stayed on long after the closing and photo-takings. Organisers should worry if participants kept looking at their watches, as if they felt that event was not meeting their expectations or that they had other better things to do.

The Singapore Seminar in Damascus did not “stand down” until we were persistently ushered out of the function room by the staff of Le Meridien. It must be way past their working hours, and participants kept glued to the conversations and questions, amidst more photo-takings with Minister and officials.

From the Le Meridien function room, the conversation and issues discussed at the seminar resonated and reverberated at a cafe, on the minibus and in students’ living rooms….

Sunday 27 April 08

Organisations and Organising

2008-04-20T19:42:00.001+08:00

We are not short of organisations. But whether these organisations are purposeful and effective is another question altogether. To ensure that organisations function as purposive dynamic entities, the organising is as significant, if not more important than the organisation itself.

During the recent TMSN camp at An-Naeem Mosque, I was asked to deliver a presentation on building effective organisation. Before I elaborate the necessary elements to make an organisation effective, it may be apt to ponder over the ayah in the Quran which states: Verily, Allah loves those who fight in His cause in rows as if they were a solid structure [As-Saff:4]. This ayah is often used to assert the need to work as a collective, as a jamaah. Although the terms saff (row) and bunyanum marsus [solid structure] implied a static state or object, it is argued that for any activity, such as a battle [following the use of the word qital in the ayah] the structure cannot and must not operate as a single static unit. It is therefore imperative to consider the significance of organising as a process, rather than the overemphasis on the structure.

An example to illustrate the importance of organising is the lesson from the hijrah of the Prophet (saw) from Makkah to Madinah. Our beloved Prophet (saw) organised his journey meticulously to include provision of supply and logistics, transportation, intelligence-gathering and the removal of any trace of footsteps of Abdullah and Asmaa' by the flock of sheeps handled by Amir ibn Fuhairah, the shepherd. A detail study of this episode will reveal aspects of directing, planning, coordinating, monitoring and doing.

So how should organisations organise? The human neurophysiology offers us structure and information loops that make us humans viable [and indeed the best of creations!]. Allah has provided us with cerebral cortex, which functions as an override autonomic system [S5]. Humans are also provided with the sensory functions of sight, touch, hearing, etc so as to improve existing condition and anticipate future state [S4]. The central nervous system acts as an autonomic controller to instruct or maintain bodily functions [S1] such as the movement of arms, legs to lift, sit, run, etc. The control of local muscular and organic functions [S3] are supported by, on the one hand, and parasympathetic nervous system [S3*] that deals with, for example detecting stress, and by the sympathetic nervous system [S2] that perhaps deal with the rationing of oxygen intake, during a long distance run. These systems bracketed as S5, S4, S3, S3*, S2 and S1 can be substituted with functions and terms such as Direct, Develop, Execute, Monitor, Coordinate and Act, respectively. Professor Stafford Beer described this model as the Viable System Model in several of his books on managerial cybernetics.

The S1 activities those that produce the organisations. It focus on the relationship between operations and their "customers". These activities may be grouped by stakeholders, by geographical location or by any other distinctions, Since they have more information than anyone else does about their units, S1 management should be able to exercise as much autonomy as they can without interfering with the interests if the whole. Examples of S1 activities include Media and Publicity, Education and Training, Youth and Student Activities. These operations have their own focus and local "environment".

S2 is a coordination function. It is also referred to as the anti-oscillatory function because it dampens the oscillations that occur when two or more S1 activities share common resource, S2 deconflict and bring order to anticipated resource crunch. S2 will prevent "double-booking" of resources, and manage budgets and schedules effectively.

S3 is where cross-functional management must occur; where membership, accounting, legal aspects and other internal management tasks are integrated. S3 maintains the perspective of the whole on all current operations. This usually calls for different decision that taken at S1 or one which forgoes unit optimisation in favour of smoother overall operation. Threats or opportunities for synergy may call for a review of distribution of resources or priorities. S3* is a monitoring or an audit function for S3 to delve deeply and sporadically into the operation of S1. It does not interface with the operation of S1 but to gain information needed to manage the information as a whole.

S4 is a development function. While S3 is concerned with the inside and now, S4 looks to the outside and future. S4 uses two internal models to guide its activities. The first contains a complete model of its own activities and their connections. This prevents different perspectives on the future from acting at cross-purposes; for example it make sure that membership campaigns are related to the programmes and activities formulated by research on changing needs of the public, and that both are consistent with the strategic plan. S4 launches external investigations of its near and longer term environments and attempts to predict or anticipate future conditions. Although S4 has an external focus it also looks to the organisation's internal fitness for change and adaption.

S5 maintains the organisation's identity and balances its present and future requirements. The built-in tensions between S3 (present operational needs) and S4 (future development needs) require a function to mediate between them and resolve the issues they cannot settle on their own. By bringing this resolution S5 provides closure to the organisation. Who forms the S5 varies, depending on the context and frame of reference. The Shura Council, or in other cases, the Board of Directors may represent S5, Its function in either case are to speak for the whole of organisation.

The Muslim Societies (MSs) of the universities and polytechnics may form the S1s of the TMSN system. Representatives from these MSs may sit on the TMSN team to form the S3 to ensure maximum synergy and coherence. A group of alumni and former office bearers may be persuaded to perform the function of S4 and S5.

The Intelligence-gathering function (S4) is absent in most organisations, and without an effective metasystem (S3-S4-S5) any organisation will not be able to grow, adapt and become more potent in its environment.

TMSN -- the time to organise is long overdue !

Breakfast Club@Kassim

2008-04-20T10:38:00.001+08:00

No, not that Breakfast Sessions by leading thinkers and academics for busy CEOs.

This is a meeting of friends who actively contribute to the development of young Muslims through their own organisations or initiatives. Almost self-organising, they meet to discuss, share and compare notes to achieve greater synergy and more importantly renewed commitment and stronger ukhuwwah.

Guess what? Yes, prata and teh tarik opposite Masjid Kassim is part of the agenda, hence the Breakfast Club @ Kassim.

This morning's discussion was interesting, to say the least. Apart from agreeing to have a workout session (the 1st was in 2005) to deal with big issues, such as YMLDP, new media and outdoor outfit, the concern on Rumahtangga Dakwah was also raised.

YMLDP is an attempt to take stock of all training programmes for our young (and young at heart) and to cohere within a comprehensive framework -- currently referred to as the Tarbiyah Triangle. It will also identify existing gaps and enrich existing muwassofat (attributes) to develop leaders for tomorrow, today.

Many among us are now active bloggers, socially-networked through facebook and contributes our views, ideas and creative juices through youtube, multiply, etc. The New Media is here to stay, and provides an alternative platform for da'wah. However, a strategy of sorts is required to ensure that our blogs, facebooks, podcasts, youtubes are linked and maximised to create and share content for our media savvy young and wider reach.

Outdoor is another life-style activity that interests the young. There is a recognition of the significance of experiential learning through outdoor activities (and this is incorporated in aLIVE programmes). Outdoor programmes such as Perkasa and Ramadan Rocks (by Perdaus-SAFF) are useful for character development. There is a large pool of (human) resources within the community, going by our sport trainers/coaches, NS officers, facilitators, who can provide expertise to create an alternative programme for character development -- perhaps an Outdoor aLIVE Programme -- where the learning and teaching is all and entirely done outdoor, not in the confines of the conventional four-walled classroom.

One of our clubmember subsequently raised an issue to be discussed at the workout. There is a concern that our young activists are becoming less active once they got married, even though their spouse is also an activist for da'wah. Instead of (their marriage) becoming a multiplier for da'wah, the two of them (husband and wife) are no longer giving as much as they used to (when they were singles). The challenges facing a newly married couple are real and this is no exception for da'wah activists. For the seniors, their challenges are no less, albeit different -- parenting skills for the growing teens, how to ensure their children partake in tarbiyah to continue their parents' contribution to da'wah, etc.

Over prata and teh tarik, we traded week-long experiences of life and takeaways from our younger days.

Unlike those led by academics on high-sounding concepts for busy CEOs, the Breakfast Club @ Kassim is a metasystem to cohere and synergise so as to gain greater blessings of Allah.

Tribute to Perkemas and Al-Azhar Students

2008-04-18T22:54:00.001+08:00

Alhamdulillah, it went very well: from visits to students' homes, the dialogue session with Perkemas, the Singapore Seminar held at the Singapore Embassy and finally, the sending-off at Cairo Airport.

My schedule in Cairo from 6 to 9 April (after AMED II) was packed with activities to connect with the students and to offer our insights for them to prepare for their careers after their study at Al-Azhar. Immediately after touching down at the airport at 8 pm, Ust KZ, Aisyah and I visited 6 students' homes -- and we returned to Sonesta Hotel at about 2 am. I was deeply touched by their reception, staying up late and waiting for us to arrive, not to mention their cooking and the food they served us. And many of them had classes next morning and preparing for their exams. Jazakumullahu khairan kathiran.

The dialogue with Perkemas was very enriching for me. The EXCO members are bright, resourceful and talented. They benefitted from the previous EXCOs and showed that they are able to try out new ideas and approaches to reach-out to the students, and to generate revenue for their activities. I always believe that one gains strength through a good sparing, and a good sparing partner, and our dialogue with Perkemas EXCO did just that -- both the EXCO and us were enriched by our dialogue and the follow-ups to act upon.

I promised to blog the points I made for the closing of the seminar. So here it is, and I hope students who attended the seminar can reflect, ponder and act on some of these. There were four points:

a) Asatizah of National Standing (ANS) -- we want students to see themselves as, and work towards becoming ANS -- those who are cognizant of contemporary issues, those who are intellectually progressive, who act as sources of, or referred to for religious guidance, who contributes beyond Muslim community and who are nationally recognised.

b) Perkemas -- support and participate Perkemas' activities including that which will help members to do well in their studies. Students should come forward to support Perkemas, to be drivers and not just passengers.

c) Yourself! -- know what you want! Aisyah reminded me to ask students to start thinking what they really want. I always believed that once students know what they want, half of the battle (so to speak) is won. "Beyond knowing what you want, you should also start thinking beyond Al-Azhar including your specialisation so that you can seek and attend additional courses while in Cairo" (ps: we are assuming that some are not fully challenged at Al-Azhar and have the potential to do more, and have the time to do it).

d) Collective Identity -- what is an Al-Azhar graduate? Is an Al-Azhar graduate one who is multi-lingual, a scholar of contemporary issues, a thought leader, etc? Given the large number of students in Al-Azhar, their varied academic background and points of entry, it is difficult to describe a collective identity for Al-Azhar graduate, if and when this is necessary.

But these questions should not haunt Perkemas or the students at Al-Azhar. Suffice to trigger an exercise of self-reflection and discovery.

Given the enormous and strong support from Perkemas and more than 100 students who attended the seminar, I am optimistic of the future.

Our tribute and thanks to Perkemas, all students who invited us to their houses, and all who attended the seminar.

A Glimpse into Nursi's Life and Thought

2008-04-17T21:57:00.002+08:00

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1876-1960) was one of the most brilliant Islamic thinkers in the modern era, a man who consistently fought for his ideals by keeping Islam a dynamic religion in the modern world.

Nursi’s magnum opus Risale-i Nur (widely known as the Risale) written over six decades, exemplifies the scope of his intellectual and religious dynamism (Vahide, 2005). Nursi’s life and the Risale elucidate concepts of Islamic identity in the modern era, shed light on questions of power and authority, and modernity and tradition, and relate it to this life and the hereafter.

Enlisted in the army as a religious functionary when the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in 1914, Nursi formed a militia force and commanded this force. Subsequently he was arrested, poisoned and held in Kastamanou police station for some two to three weeks.

He spent twenty months in Afyon Prison when he was over seventy years of age – wrote numerous letters to his students in the prison to urge them to look on their imprisonment in positive terms in the light of divine wisdom, as a trial and test, which presented new possibilities for service to the Quran through the Risale.

Nursi led a life devoted to the advancement and prosperity of all of humanity. His subject of the study was the Quran and his tool for the exposition of his understanding was the Risale. His message was meant for all, and not just Muslims. He was a keen observer of the environment around him and was critical of the social morass engulfing societies due to, in his conception, the rise of atheist and materialist philosophies in society. He dedicated his life to revitalize faith in his society for he held the view that it is through faith that humanity would solve its problems.

Nursi empowered Muslims by updating Islamic terminology and language. He provided them with a new vocabulary to enable them participate in discussions and debates on issues such as constitutionalism, science, freedom and democracy. In this sense, he empowered Muslims with a new cognitive map. With a new cognitive map, a contextualized Muslim identity was unfolded and the assertion that religion and science are not in conflict or tension, that science and religion are not mutually exclusive. Yavuz asserts that in a way Nursi tried to vernacularise science and modern discourses in an Islamic idiom, to facilitate the dissemination of scientific knowledge in Muslim countries (Yavuz, 2005).

Tarhan (2004) asserts that Nursi stands out as a thinker and a man of action who proved in theory and practice, his thesis that “people can modernize while preserving their own religions and cultures”.

Whilst Risale is said to be a commentary of the Quran, it is also offers deep insights into Nursi’s feelings and how evil and suffering are confronted through revelation and belief in Divine Unity (Tawhid). Nursi’s solutions to evil and suffering are outcome of his life experience. In this sense it more that simply a “theodicy” but an experience that the reader can find himself and his most hidden feelings.

Through the insight of Divine Unity, Nursi realized that nothing occurs on its own haphazardly. Everything is directly under the control of his Merciful Lord. Nursi saw the reality of the seemingly harsh and hostile conditions in which he found himself, and through it he was made to realize his boundless weakness and his absolute need to seek refuge with his Omnipotent and Merciful Sustainer.

As Prophet Yunus (peace be upon him) transformed the belly of the whale into a submarine through the mystery of Divine Unity. Nursi was able to transform the prison into a “School of Yusuf” (Medrese-i Yusufiye).

Nursi was aware that illness and suffering, the dislike for it, the love for well-being and good, and the recourse to treatment and worldly causes in seeking health, as well as health itself, are all meaningful pointers toward Divine mercy and wisdom and witnesses to Divine mercy. Such awareness is patience; it is worship. Instead of putting God on trial for allowing evil, sufferings and pain, such awareness direct a mental attitude, a worldview and a behavior that affirm the Divine Names, attributes and qualities.

Belief in the Hereafter is one of the most important lessons taught by the Quran. The Prophets (may God be pleased with all of them) have reported and taught their people that the Hereafter exists and that all beings will be taken there, just as the Creator has promised.

The Tenth Word first written when Nursi arrived in Barla circa 1926 is a treatise on resurrection and the hereafter. It was reported that the following verse came to Nursi’s mind as he was walking through the orchards on the slopes to the east of Barla down toward Lake Egirdir.

“So think on the signs of God’s mercy, how He gives life to the earth after its death; indeed, He it is who will give life to the dead, and He is powerful over all things.” (Quran, 30:50)

Nursi's theological reflections still inspire an entire generation of Muslims throughout the world.

Sinai's Religious Heritage

2008-04-16T16:28:00.001+08:00

We set off very early to St Catherine from Sharm El Sheikh to visit St Catherine Monastery and climb Mount Moses, as it's called by the locals. The mountain rises at the height of about 2,240 metres and a three hour climb from the monastery. The monks and many visitors believed this is the sacred site where Moses received from Almighty God the Tablets of the Law with The Decalogue.

St Catherine Monastery is a Christian Greek Orthodox monastic centre with an uninterrupted spiritual life of seventeen centuries. According to the Archbishop of Sinai, Father Damianos, ascetic life on the midst of the desert of Sinai Peninsula sets out as of the end of the 3rd Century, maintaining its special characteristics unaltered ever since its erection during the era of Justinian (527-565 AD). Prophet Muhammad (saw), the Caliphs and Sultans, as well as Napolean all placed the monastery under their protection, thereby preserving it from pillage.

According to the monastery's tradition, a delegation of monks were sent to Madinah in 625 AD to request Prophet Muhammad's political protection. The Prophet (saw) accepted the request and signed the Document with his palm "... In Aid of the Christians ..." This was "The Ahtiname" of Prophet Muhammad's "Testament" in which he (saw) ordered his companions to protect the Sinai Monks, in case of need, as well as letting them free to exercise their religious functions and assured them of tax exemption. A copy of "The Ahtiname" is found in the Monastery's Sacristy.

Thus ever since, the monks and the monastery continued to live and practice their faith. However their number continued to decrease and at the beginning of the 8th century there were no more than 30 of them left in the monastery. Many of the Sinai Christians either converted to Islam or left the peninsula. The Mosque within the compound of the monastery (its minaret stood side by side with the bell-tower also known as the Belfry, as in the photo above) was built circa 9th century -- served the Muslims who were the local guardians of the monastery.

Sinai's isolated grandeur has a fascinating beauty that is untainted by the ravages of modern world. Few men (and women) live in the desert. Apart from the coastal towns the peninsula is inhabited by a handful of bedouins who eke out a living from their small flocks, by growing vegetables and dates. The el-Tih region at the centre of the Sinai Peninsula is a broad calcareous plateau. Its southernmost part, within the triangular tip of the peninsula is a moonscape of gigantic mountains amongst which the most important peaks are those of Mount Sinai, of Mount St Catherine, of the Mount St Episteme, of the Mount Ser Baal as well as that of Umm Shumar.

A region through which the Children of Israel wandered 35 centuries ago!

Charmingly Chaotic Cairo

2008-04-15T15:55:00.001+08:00

It was my 6th visit to Cairo -- my first was sometime back in 2004 and it left an indelible mark on my mind and heart -- I was terrified to travel on the street, even when I was chauffeured by a driver from the Singapore mission. Every vehicle on the street was dented with scratched marks almost giving the impression that it had gone through a rite of passage, a baptism of sorts.

Traffic was chaos at best -- every car or vehicle was zig-zagging between each other and squeezing in between two vehicles to pass through. With almost 24-hour of honks from cars on the streets in a city that never sleeps, I thought I would never be coming back to the city and that the first visit would be my last.

But as I made my second and subsequent visits, I began to appreciate Cairo better: the Egyptians I met and worked with, the chaos on the streets, the intellectuals whom I had the privileged engaging, and the beggars and peddlers near the famous Zainab's mosque and Khan Khalili. Indeed, I was also enriched by our Singapore students who are studying at Al-Azhar University. These young students were able to withstand the difficult living and travelling conditions to seek knowledge. Often, they had to endure demanding landlords, unsafe homes, and ambiguous procedures to live in the city and gain admission to the university.

Neither these challenges nor the less than satisfactory reception of the city affected their yearning and passion for knowledge. Many had graduated and returned to Singapore to serve as religious teachers in the community. Like a vow to their alma mater, none will speak ill of the city and the university.

Cairo is almost like an acquired taste -- you may begin to like it after several tries. Many will find the city chaotic, particularly those who are bent on regulation and governance. I find the city charming, or perhaps charmingly chaotic because while regulation as we know it, through traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, overhead bridges and bus lanes does not exist, a good and careful observer will discover that self-regulation is intrinsic in the dynamics both on the streets and in society. Otherwise, how could some millions of people and millions of vehicles (including donkey-carts) negotiate to ensure everyone get to where they are going and avoid a standstill.

As I looked over the Nile from the balcony of my hotel room in Zamalek, I am convinced that beyond the noise, dust and crowded streets, Cairo and indeed Egypt, are rich with historical significance and certainly intellectually vibrant yet no less, spiritually uplifting.

Here I am again, Cairo.
Let me discover your treasures and deserve your bounties.

1 Apr 08

Resilience

2008-04-13T12:14:00.001+08:00

Islam taught us to be progressive and resilient. These concepts are not foreign or alien to Muslims as the Quran and the Prophet (saw) demonstrated injunctions and traditions to be of service to mankind, to be useful members of society and to face challenges and difficulties as trials for a higher station of iman and taqwa.

Resilient may be a relatively new term in our life vocabulary, but it certainly is not new in terms of how the Prophet (saw) and his Companions dealt with various challenges and trials, some worth mentioning include the blows the Prophet suffered at Taif and the repeated attempts to seek support for the eventual migration of the Muslim community. The Prophet and his Companions did not lament and despair over the difficulties. In fact the Quran contained verses to remind believers not to despair, and that every difficulty comes ease.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book, The Tipping Point gave an interesting example of how the City of New York eradicated street crime. Every train that was vandalized during the night (at the depot) will be repainted to its original paintwork before it is used for passenger service. Similarly all glass windows that are broken will be replaced and fixed as no trains with broken windows by vandals were allowed to run for passenger service.

It will appear that this approach will incur high cost, as each act of vandalism will be replaced by new paintwork, new glass windows or any repairs needed. To allow the trains to operate with graffiti and broken windows will reinforce the perception that the authorities are not in control of the city, and will only encourage vandals to do more, and worse.

When a vandal graffitised a train, he or she felt elated to see their graffiti on the train. But when the vandals did not get to see their graffiti and realized that the authority had repainted the train even before it got out of the depot, they eventually gave up their vandal act, as it no longer served their misplaced pride.

Malcolm Gladwell attributed the eradication of such crime to the idea of tipping point, a point at which transformations happed. We could also infer that the City of New York demonstrated resilience to reach the tipping point. Resilience is evident if the organisation or entity become stronger and more effective when faced with, or overcoming a challenge. Resilience, in this example, means to bounce back stronger (than before) from a crisis or calamity.

In Tel Aviv, debris and clear blood stains immediately are immediately cleared and cleaned when a bombing incident happened. Damaged buildings are repaired almost instantly to return to normalcy. When citizens knew that their government was able to turnaround situations at fast speed it created confidence and renewed strength to handle similar difficulties and challenges in the future.

A resilient community is also defined as one that does not lose its identity, belief, principles or set of values when faced with external challenges. A Muslim community that is religiously resilient, therefore, holds strongly to Islamic principles, morally and spiritually strong and are top of the changing context and the challenges of modern society.

This however does not imply that the community creates enclaves to self-preserve or protects itself. Rather than becoming a hermit, the community contributes to, and benefits from the interaction and engagement with others. A resilient community deals with the challenges as positives and views it as opportunities to develop and grow.

Through it, the community become more self-confident and stronger.

Alhambra

2008-03-20T16:32:00.001+08:00

It is called, "a utopia, the brightest memory of a lost golden age of learning, art, poetry and tolerance". One Muslim poet wrote:

"A sun dwells in this palace and even its shadow is blessed. In this palace a multitude of pleasures capture the eye and suspend the intellect. Here a crystal world teaches marvels. Everywhere Beauty is carved, opulence manifest".

The Islamic civilization had reached its peak in the 10th century, and by 1100, the number of Muslims rose to 5.6 million. There existed in Cordoba alone, 200,000 houses, 600 mosques, 900 public baths, 10,000 lamps, 50 hospitals, lighted and paved streets. Muslims introduced public baths because of their need to to wash in preparation for prayer 5 times a day. Libraries and research institutions grew rapidly in Muslim Spain, while the rest of Europe remained illiterate.

Spain and the West stand forever in their debt. The Muslims were instrumental in making Spain a "Paradise on Earth" and issuing forth the Renaissance. Muslim Spain is hardly spoken of, while the works of Muslims in Al-Andalus remain unknown and unappreciated.

(Do) We have the potential to recreate the dynamic legacy which existed in Al-Andalus (?)

Proud to be Muslim

2008-03-11T00:22:00.001+08:00

I have been invited to deliver an opening address to Perdaus' MIC camp on Sat 15 Mar 08. Perdaus' madrasah has introduced experiential-based learning and assessment including project work as an alternative to conventional examination.

This 2-days 1-night camp is organised and run by Secondary Four students of Madrasah Perdaus as their Semester One assessment for Aqidah, Akhlak and Hadith.

This camp will also provide students (as organisers) hands-on learning experience to apply knowledge and lessons in class to the everyday life of a typical Singaporean teenager.

What's the title given to me?
A simple title, yet a challenging task to say the least.
The title -- Proud to be Muslim.
The audience -- students about to go to post-secondary institutions, hence 16 to 18 years of age

Since the audience are teens who may not be terribly excited over a formal address -- I have decided to play the music video by Sami Yusuf (below) to set the stage for the opening.

The music video will show the singer performing everyday's life activities: travelling, working, playing the violin, playing football with the young, etc. to demonstrate his active participation in society and vibrant attitude to life.

A close and careful observation of his actions will also reveal his close relationship with Allah and his good character.

There are also several attributes demonstrated in the video --

A Muslim that is:

Pleasant, cheerful, helpful, fun ...
Multilingual --- English, Turkish, Hindi, Arabic
Cosmopolitan --- at home with different cities, from London to Cairo
Multiskilled -- corporate executive, violinist, teacher, craftsman

So how do we make our teenagers feel and act proud to be Muslim?
Not an easy question to answer,
but I hope the video will stimulate responses from the audience
for their insights on how they can be, and are Proud to be Muslim.

Opening for BRMY Camp

2008-03-08T22:31:00.002+08:00

Talking Points for the Opening of BRMY Camp
NACLI, 16 Feb 07

Thank organizers for the opportunity to set the stage for the camp.

Welcome all participants – indeed this and other similar camps has brought about personal transformations of many participants who sought to understand the meaning and purpose of life and what it means to be Muslims.

The dialogue that took place between Allah and the angels on the creation of mankind is an important reminder for us as angels had asserted “will You place therein those who will make mischief and shed blood” [al-Baqarah : 30].

“Evil has appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of men have earned (by oppression and evil deeds), that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they may return (by repenting to Allah, and begging His Pardon)” [ar-Rum : 41].

The angels have warned Allah of our potential to make mischief, shed blood, oppression and evil deeds.

But many of us are not even aware of the looming environmental crisis and a world of injustice resulting from ignorance, arrogance and disobedience.

How is it possible that human beings created as Khalifah (Vicegerent) yet disobey his Creator and caused destruction on earth? Put simply how could we destroy or burn the very house that we live in? How could we be indifferent to the Creator that creates us, make us in the best of fashion and honour us?

This camp is a journey into our world today – a world that neglects its Creator, and exploited by men (and women) who acted as the modern-day Pharaohs and ruthless masters of “dominion” instead of moral and legal trustees of the Creator.

I hope through this camp, you will engage on issues confronting us as Muslims, find your place in the Divine order and inspired to act – to play your khalific role by being role models who turns to Allah in humility for guidance and forgiveness while giving his best for the service and good of mankind. His service to mankind is an act of ibadah – an articulation of his submission to His Creator.

But all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, or Jill a dull girl – and we will definitely infuse play into work and work by playing. Our playing will be the discussions and creative sessions to develop viable strategies and actions to lead, guide and motivate ourselves and others to become a God-conscious society and blessings to all.

Have a enriching and fulfilling camp ahead.

Festschrift for Syed Haroon Aljunied

2008-03-08T22:13:00.001+08:00

A Muis Icon

Syed Haroon Aljunied, our longest serving secretary is, by all measure, an icon. He served Muis for 20 years, 3 Ministers, 5 Presidents and 7 Councils. Not many in Muis, and certainly not the post-65ers have gone through the thick and thin of Muis’ managing of Muslim affairs – but Syed Haroon had been instrumental for many of the what (we) Muis officers, and the Muslim community take for granted now.

From kampong mosque demolition to mosque development at HDB estates, exhumation of graves, different days of Eid Fitr in Singapore, amendments to AMLA, charter of planes for Haj pilgrims, non-arrival of kambing, Madrasah and the CE issue, SARS, JI and the list goes on – he had been there, and done it.

He is an icon – simply because for many of us, Syed Haroon is a walking encyclopedia of AMLA, Muis, and to a large extent, the historiography of Muslim organisations and the community.

Best Kept Secret

How many of us are aware that it was Syed Haroon who spearheaded the computerization of Muis administration to transform Muis from an electric typewriter outfit with a typing pool and stenos into what is now a fully computerized “every person with a PC on their desktop” organisation. How many in the community know that it was his idea to engage architects from the private sector to make our mosques architecturally superior.

What is that best kept secret that makes and moves the man? Allow me to offer my take – first, his soul partner and wife, Kak Saleha, and second, his missionary zeal that can be traced back to his WAMY-HBI Islamic work training during his younger days.

Syed Haroon has taught us that our spouse and children are a significant source of energy for our work in Muis – and their support and sacrifices are key and crucial to our well-being and organizational performance. For this, we can never adequately thank Kak Saleha and his children for their sacrifices and support and for sharing Syed Haroon’s 20 years of his working life with Muis.

Secondly, beyond the meetings, papers, functions, salaries and bonuses, Syed Haroon has always reminded us, that there is greater and higher purpose for working in Muis – to serve Allah as His vicegerent. And that we must never lose sight of this purpose or diminish it through bigger pay packets.

For this, we ask Allah to reward him with the best of rewards.

The Raging Flesh and Spirit

Physically, Syed Haroon is no Arnold Schwarzenegger. But this has not prevented him from long-distance air travel and trekking difficult terrains and climate – snow and sleet in Chicago to negotiate with IQRA Foundation and hot and dry weather in Saudi Arabia to serve as Head of Delegation for Haj in 2003. When I fetched him at the airport on his return from Saudi, I felt humbled by his strength – both his physical and spiritual strength, both in the flesh and spirit.

Syed Haroon never fails to amaze me with his delightful sharing of his overseas travel and holidays. His last sharing was about his trip to Geneva, Paris and Istanbul, although his last overseas trip was to Myanmar. Most of us do not know that he is almost a modern-day Ibn Battuta – he had traveled from one city to another across countries and continents, from New Zealand in the South, to Canada in the North, from Hawaii in the East, to Scotland in the West.

Syed Haroon has defied the age-old adage – the flesh is weak but the spirit is willing. Giving it a new twist – to him, I say, your flesh and spirit not only are willing, but also raging, my friend.

And A Big Heart

Syed Haroon despite his small frame has a big heart – if measurable, it may exceed the XXL size mark! Let me ask a question and cite an example: Whom do we see for approval when Muslim organisations appeal to us to buy a table for their charity dinner? More recently, Syed Haroon took upon himself to gather funds amongst friends to help a first year medical student when she wrote to Muis for a loan and donation to pay for her fees.

If I am limited to one trait to attribute Syed Haroon, it will have to be his generosity. He pays special attention to humanitarian efforts, the orphans and the poor and needy. For humanitarian effort, Syed Haroon traveled to Medan and Aceh on a Mercy Relief mission to deliver aids to Tsunami victims. For orphans, he sits on the MTFA board and through his generosity I got to travel on a sampan over choppy waters with the late Hj Sidek (Ust Mahmoud Matlub’s father) and Nazirin to deliver fidyah funds to feed poor students at a pesantren in Riau.

Minister in-charge of Indian Muslim Community

One of the many Syed Haroon’s achievement was undoubtedly his ability to lead and motivate leaders of the Indian Muslim community to produce the IMC plan with the intent to help the community. For this assignment, he earned the honorific title of Muis’ Minister in-charge of Indian Muslim Community.

One would expect that he deserved unqualified support from the leaders of the community, but the relationship is at best one of love-hate. Let me cite an incident – once I was on the MRT train on my way home from a dialogue session for community leaders chaired by PM Goh at Kallang Theatre, I bumped into a former chairman of an Indian mosque. It appeared that he too was at the session but instead of reflecting on the messages and issues discussed during the dialogue, I had a non-stop late night Syed Haroon bashing session from Kallang to Tampines MRT station for the redevelopment project of the mosque which he chaired.

But Syed Haroon never gave up on the IMC. He represented them and sought every opportunity to advance their interest, be it making our full-time madrasah Indian Muslim children friendly, aLIVE classes delivered in Tamil, ROSS for Indian Muslim students at Gontor and asatizah development and networking with imam and religious teachers of Indian Muslim mosques.

Like the icing on the cake, he demonstrated mastery when he answered a query from a participant during the recent Workplan Seminar. Syed Haroon’s convincing reply had a turnaround effect on the participant when he thanked Muis for all the efforts to help the Indian Muslim community. And for that, Syed Haroon deserved the man-of-the-match title for our Workplan Seminar 2007.

Syed Haroon will always be remembered as our “Minister in-charge” of Indian Muslim Community for his contribution and dedication to align and mainstream IMC.

Passion for Arabic

When I joined Muis some seven years ago, Syed Haroon was studying Arabic, every Wednesday evening after the Muis usrah, on the 7th floor – and out of ignorance, I asked a colleague who was working very closely with Syed Haroon, then – isn’t he an Arab? This colleague replied jokingly but affectionately – I quote, “Syed Haroon can only swear in Arabic!”

His unrelenting pursuit to master the Arabic Language is exemplary – he is still attending classes till today. But language, particularly Arabic is not for any Nazirin, Samad and Bakri (the Malay equivalent for the proverbial Tom, Dick and Harry, and by the way – they are also the dropouts from Ust Syed Mustafa’s Arabic class at Al-Falah Mosque sometime ago) and Syed Haroon gives us hope that someday we too will be able to converse and read in Arabic, if we persevere and emulate his passion for learning and for the language.

I thank him for giving us confidence that as dropouts, we can one day eventually speak Arabic, and for me, it reaffirmed my belief that I not stupid!

Festschrift

One of Syed Haroon’s many creative sparks in Muis is in the area of asset development and revenue generation. After corporatisation of Warees, Syed Haroon’s current interest is in social entrepreneurship. His concern over mosque financial sustainability drives him to think of ways to pool surplus mosque funds to create sustainable revenue streams in addition to public donations.

Social entrepreneurship indeed is one of the potential breakthroughs for financial sustainability but it requires creative capabilities including a kind of synthetic creativity. To quote Landry and Bianchini (1995), “…we need a completely different type of creativity, as increasingly we know more facts but understand less. In particular, we need the creativity of being able to synthesise, to connect, to gauge impacts across different spheres of life, to see holistically, to understand how material changes affect our perceptions, to grasp the subtle ecologies of our systems of life and how to make them sustainable”.

Many ideas are floating about – including pooling all available and unused mosque ancillary spaces particularly classrooms for rent to training providers. This idea is now realized when I saw Al-Nitak (Faizal’s company for learning astronomy and Islam) now based in one of the rooms at An-Nadhah mosque.

Syed Haroon has repeatedly asked us to create VWO-type outfits for our kindergartens and part-time Islamic education classes so that we may benefit from national funding and insisted that all programmes should be self-funded.

Muis has benefited significantly from Syed Haroon’s synthetic creativity and his self-funding mantra.

Syed Haroon is a social entrepreneur before social entrepreneurship.

Albakri Ahmad
11 May 07

Reviving Da'wah On Campus

2008-03-08T22:07:00.001+08:00

A Bygone Glory?

Circa 70s to early 90s hailed a period of vibrant student activism on campuses and within societies of universities and polytechnics. Many former student leaders and activists from that period are currently community leaders or holding offices in organisations and institutions.

Muslim societies on university campuses and polytechnics served as laboratories with thoughts and ideologies as chemicals and compounds to inflame idealism and the sense of purpose for the future.

However the situation on campuses and polytechnics today is bleak, at best. There is a dearth of ideas and the level of activism as well as sense of purpose both of individual students and of the student societies are much to be desired.

For the sentimental souls (now in their late 40s and early 50s) who benefited from the training programmes and activities on campuses, and enriched by these invaluable life experiences, the question utmost in their minds is whether that is now a bygone glory.

Ideological Lifeline

Student activism, the emphasis on cadre training and development and international affiliation as characteristics of societies then, were inspired by post-colonial Islamic revivalism and movements. There was neither fear nor stigma for student societies to ideologise overtly through circles, camps, talks and study visits. WAMY, IIFSO and regional student organizations provided the ideological lifeline to student societies.

Several local organisations and individuals later renewed that lifeline by way of providing training curriculum and materials. Former student leaders who were active in these organisations supported the office bearers and their student societies on campuses and polytechnics by leading study circles and conducting training camps.

When former leaders acting as mentors to student societies actively recruit and influence students for their organisations so as to ensure continued contribution, engagement and ideological dominance, the atmosphere degenerated into one of competition, suspicion, distrust and fear. The natural response of student leaders and societies to these negative atmospherics is to stay unaligned, independent, closed and self-creating.

The effect of this response has now created yet another negative atmosphere and a climate of malaise, indifference and stagnation on campuses and in student body politic.

Student Societies on Campuses and Polytechnics: A Requiem?

Student societies are finding it difficult to attract membership and activism among the students. This may be attributed to the prevailing indifference, lack of idealism and stagnation of student societies as well as the demands of shorter semesters, informal employment to pay for expenses and the pressures to succeed in exams, on the students.

Therefore it is inferred that students who are potential leaders and high achievers may not necessarily be members or affiliated to student societies. These individual students will need to be identified, befriended and supported to clarify purpose, sharpen skills and inject idealism for a lifelong contribution to the community and nation.

The assertion that intervention through support and assistance to student societies on campuses yields maximum return for da’wah may no longer be defensible. It is noted however that all efforts to strengthen and rejuvenate student societies must be supported to prevent its death.

Idealism and Value-Based Da’wah

This present reality of value propositions and pragmatic choices makes it an imperative for da’wah to extend beyond spiritual and intellectual development, although what is spiritual and intellectual differ among the philosophers and sociologists.

Students and societies will weigh their choices based on what they perceive to be of value for the present and their future. The content and curriculum to develop students must be comprehensive to include soft and emotional skills and competencies, including high-end innovation and futuristic plotting. The days of relying solely on books by Fathi Yakan, Maududi and Sayyid Qutb are over.

So what is the endgame?

There isn’t one. But if the question is about idealism and what is urgent and important for the Muslims and the Muslim world to do today, it must be none other than to restore and uphold the dignity and honour of Islam.

Students and student societies of various universities and polytechnics will need a great amount of convincing on the why, what and how to revive da’wah on campus, quite apart from the numerous excuses they can lay their hands on, to reject any move that is perceived to compromise their independence or add to their current social-educational predicament.

Da’wah on campus demands serious, concerted and consistent effort of many willing and capable contributors. It requires trust, confidence and integrity to revive it.

Are we up to it?

Let the healing in Aceh begin

2008-03-08T09:00:00.001+08:00

Let the healing in Aceh begin
To help residents get on with their lives, foreign aid groups must build up trust

By Albakri Ahmad
For The Straits Times

Straits Times Feb 2, 2005

OVER a month has passed since the tsunami tragedy struck Aceh province in Sumatra. For Banda Aceh and Meulaboh, rescue work is almost coming to an end; the emphasis now is on recovery and rehabilitation.

This second phase of relief work is as daunting as the first, if not more emotionally demanding. For this is the phase in which helpers try to assist survivors who are 'stuck in time' to disconnect from the trauma and reconnect with life.The landscape of action is now also a landscape of meaning. For many Acehnese, a typical response to offers of foreign aid or help during this phase would be 'leave us alone'.

They are grateful for the assistance and relief supplies but are wary of the long-term implications of the presence of international non-governmental organisations.Some Acehnese say cynically that these international communities and foreign governments are helping only so as to secure a 'piece of the pie' for reconstruction projects worth billions of dollars. What could be worse than the perception that foreign agencies are benefiting from the disaster and at the expense of victims or survivors? Adding insult to injury, media coverage has focused largely on the work of international relief agencies and the work of foreign governments. Local and Indonesian relief efforts did not get much media attention.

Continuous reporting of the presence of foreign military personnel does not help in recovery and rehabilitation efforts. It gives the impression that the locals and the Indonesians are helpless and must rely on foreign governments to provide manpower and resources to rebuild the affected areas. Negative sentiment against foreign presence - some Acehnese interpret it as a foreign invasion - may also hinder attempts by the Acehnese to disconnect from their trauma. Helping the Acehnese to recover from their trauma requires both mental and physiological treatment. The basic rule is to establish trust and safety, and earn the right to gain access to work with the survivors.

But emotional and trauma counselling will not be fully effective if survivors are not moved from their temporary shelters to permanent or at least semi-permanent homes. Connecting with life means to do the very things one used to do under normal conditions - going to work, earning a living, schooling, cleaning, cooking, evening chats with neighbours and village folks, etc. Connecting with life also means connecting with the future. While the Acehnese may need time to heal, they have demonstrated the will to live and to start anew. Many activities have resumed. The marketplace is buzzing with village traders and customers, schools are open, and mosques are filled with worshippers for the five daily prayers.

Banda Aceh and other affected areas are being redeveloped. Blueprints for housing and community development, including education and other essential services, are being drawn up by the respective Indonesian ministries and national agencies.These developments are timely to unify and strengthen the spirit and resolve of the Acehnese as they deal with their loss and create their collective future. The fruits of these efforts will not only redefine the landscape and demography of Aceh but also shape its socio-political future, especially in relation to the longstanding issue of self-determination and autonomy.

For us Singaporeans, from a distance, we can only contribute in cash and in kind, and work together with the locals in the recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction phase. We empathise, but we can never truly understand and feel what the survivors have gone through.We can define what trauma is, but we cannot pretend to understand the trauma of the survivors and its impact on their lives. If it is any comfort, there is evidence to show that the Acehnese are an emotionally strong people. Far from their grief being uncontrollable, many among them consider the earthquake and tsunami as timely reminders for them to renew their faith. For many Singaporeans who volunteered to do relief work, they too need help to connect back to life in Singapore.

Trauma is not a word found often in our life vocabulary, and therefore even short stints in those affected areas left indelible imprints on minds and souls. Even if not affected much by the trauma, many volunteers felt pangs of guilt as they boarded their planes home. There is a lingering guilt at not being able to spend more time with the survivors to ensure that they return to normal life. Or it may be a case of not giving up that seat on a flight to another person who pleaded for it in order to collect food supplies for affected communities. But guilt can have a positive outcome if it accelerates our efforts to assist the survivors to return to a normal life as soon as possible.

We must continue to extend helping hands so that what may take years to rebuild can be completed sooner. From that fateful day of Dec 26, 2004, the Acehnese people are finding and creating meanings to serve as psychological anchors to help them hold on to their past and at the same time navigate into the future. Far from losing perspective of reality, they offer a landscape for us to find meaning for our own existence and to discover ourselves in humanity.

Albakri Ahmad is director of corporate development and education at Muis, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore. The views expressed here are his own.

Rejoinder to Project Zip! @ Daman's Blog

2008-03-08T08:45:00.001+08:00

It is human instinct to feel with the time, but also move with the time, but there are some extraordinary individuals who remained steadfast on the cause ...

The Tsunami of Dec 04 taught us many important lessons on and about ourselves as well the nature of human instincts.

It brought with it sufferings and the lost of human lives. But it also created opportunities for love and friendship to bloom among strangers.

Many individuals came together to help humanitarian efforts, and to demonstrate the human spirit of sharing and caring.

While many humanitarian agencies collected hundred of millions of dollars for aid for various affected places, groups of individuals took upon themselves to contribute in their own creative ways.

The human instinct works in unexpected ways – in response to human tragedy such as the Tsunami.

When I was in Banda Aceh with Br Damanhuri, Br Helmy and Ustaz Jakfar, two weeks after the Tsunami to deliver several containers of supplies from Project Zip, we met an Indonesian lady at a school-turned-medical base to provide medical services to survivors.

She had traveled alone from Germany where lives with her husband with a container full of medical supplies to set-up a medical base to assist the survivors.

When she heard the news of the Tsunami and its impact, she raised funds to purchase medical supplies in Germany and airfreight it to Jakarta.

But it was not to be an easy journey.

When she arrived at Jakarta, the immigration and customs formalities were overwhelming. She had no necessary papers and therefore had to convince all government officers she had to deal with, of her intentions and her cargo, and to allow her passage to Banda Aceh by land.

Single-handedly, she braved her way from Germany to Aceh with a container load of medical supplies and eventually set-up a medical base.

What is more intriguing is that she is not even a medical doctor or a person of any form of medical training – what she had was pure human instinct. Her story is but one of many more moving and enriching human stories on the Tsunami.

We also have a story of a group of concerned individuals who work together to find sponsors in Singapore for Aceh orphans for their education and daily expenses.

This group expands and contracts as time passes and indeed it is extremely difficult to keep the momentum and the passion going year after year.

Whilst many will come forward to volunteer at the point of time when tragedy strikes and when pictures of human suffering comes to live, very few will continue to work on the cause.

It is human instinct to feel with the time, but also move with the time.

Three years on, very few special individuals remain attached to the Tsunami survivors and are working to improve their human condition.

One of these special individuals is Kamariah Ahmad. To say that Kamariah is a volunteer-extraordinaire is even an understatement.

She has traveled numerous times to Medan and Banda Aceh to help orphans and needy families to recover and resume life.

And from her travels she brought back with her interesting and exciting ideas to uplift the human spirit.

Her book titled Ombak Samudera is a testimony of her passion to document the orphans’ inner thoughts and encounters with the Tsunami and to present Aceh’s religious historiography.

This book contains chapters and pages of the works of orphans and affected children. It is a book of art, a book of poetry and a book of spirituality combined.

But apart from history and the past, Kamariah attempts to ensure that the orphans and the affected children have a future.

Ombak Samudera is Kamariah’s contribution to uplifting the human spirit and the condition of the orphans, affected children and parents in Medan and Aceh.

She has done, and is still doing her part, selflessly and with utmost generosity.

What about us?

Seperti ikan di laut ... by Helmy Isa

2008-03-08T00:56:00.001+08:00

...walaupun hidup di air masin, isinya tetap lemak..

(Like the fish in the seas, its flesh remains tasty even though it lives in the saltish seas)

Just a few days ago, we witnessed another death of a person who have made a lasting impression on me..

Allahyarham Ahmad Sirat or more affectionately known as 'Pak Mat Sirat' passed away on 4 Mar 2008. Allahyarham were among those who were active in nurturing and helping young people like me then, to rediscover ourselves, who we are, why are we on this earth, what is our aim and purpose oin life and how do we live as Muslims. I first knew Allahyarham Pak Mat when I was 16.

Many will remember him by the above-mentioned phrase. Indeed very profound, meaningful and especially relevant to this very challenging times. We must remain pure and true despite living in this age.

I will always remember Pak Mat by the words... "Kita ni mesti jadi seperti ikan di laut. Isinya tetap tawar dan sedap, walaupun hidup di laut yang masin'

As people who work with young people, how do we like to be remembered by? What phrase (s) we want the people to associate with us?. What words wd we want people to have as they watch our jenazah being lowered into the grave? .... I wonder..

I want draw your attention to another person who have made a lasting impression on the people he come into contact with. Please click on the link below to know more about him.. See what the youths described him at the end of the video..

http://alivesg.multiply.com/video/item/10/Allahyarham_Ustaz_Rafiq_Yahya

May Allah s.w.t. bless the souls of Allahyarham Pak Mat Sirat and Allahyarham Ustaz Rafiq bin Yahya.

Ameen, ya rabbal 'alamin.

ps. Allahyarham Pak Mat Sirat is the father of Dr Albakri Ahmad

{by Helmy Isa, 7 March 08}

Tazkirah Yang Tidak Ternilai

2008-03-08T00:51:00.001+08:00

Ikhwah/Akhawat yang ana kasihi
Assalamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh

Ana bagi pihak ibu dan adik-adik serta zaujah sekeluarga ingin merakamkan ribuan terima kasih atas semua do'a, ucapan takziah serta kehadiran antum sehingga jenazah ayahanda kami selamat dikebumikan.

Kami sekeluarga bersyukur kepada Allah (swt) kerana digolongkan bersama antum di dalam saff jamaah dan dakwah, dan dengan do'a antum, kami yakin Allah (swt) akan memberi rahmatNya keatas arwah ayahanda kami.

Antum bukan saja telah memberi kami kekuatan untuk tabah menghadapi pemergian ayahanda kami, malah bermurah hati memberi kami tazkirah untuk terus beriltizam menjadi anak anak yang soleh untuk ayahanda mendapat tempat bersama para syuhada' dan syodiqqin.

Jazakumullahu khairan kathiran jiddan jazak.

Salam ukhuwwah,

By Your Love, Care and Concern ..

2008-03-08T00:44:00.001+08:00

Dear brothers/sisters
Assalamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh

Everytime I attended a funeral of the loved ones of friends and families, I shivered at the thought when I have to face the loss of my own parents. Many "what ifs" were rehearsed and each permutation of the decision tree were played out to mentally prepare myself for the eventual day.

Yes, such preparation did help, but the single most important factor that gave my mum, my siblings, my family and I, the much needed strength to overcome our grief and accept the will of Allah, was you - your do'a, comforting words, presence and contributions can never be reciprocated by my mum and her children.

Our thanks are beyond words. In fact, we are deeply indebted to you.

May Allah strengthen our resolve to become anak anak yang soleh so that our parents are granted Allah's mercy by our iman and good deeds.

Jazakamullahu khairan kathiran jiddan jazak.

Salam ukhuwwah,

A'zhomAllahu ajrakum ...

2008-03-08T00:21:00.001+08:00

INNA-LILLAH WA INNA ‘ILLAIHI ROJI’UN

HAJI AHMAD BIN SIRAT
Kembali ke Rahmatullah
pada 4 March 2008 bersamaan 25 Safar 1429H

Kami sekeluarga mengucapkan ribuan terima kasih kepada saudara-mara dan sahabat handai di atas semua do’a, kehadiran dan sumbangan.

Penghargaan khas kepada:

Menteri Negara Kanan, Tuan Hj Zainul Abidin Rasheed
Presiden, Mufti dan staf Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Muis)
AP En Masagos Zulkifli serta Jawatankuasa Palmspring RC
Para Doktor dan Jururawat wad MICU, 25 dan 29 Changi General Hospital
MSW Puan Noriana dari CGH
Pengerusi, Imam dan staf Masjid Darul Ghufran
Pimpinan Fellowship of Muslim Students Association (FMSA)
Pimpinan Persatuan Muhammadiyah Singapura
Presiden dan staf PERGAS
Pimpinan SAMRAH Family Club
Pimpinan Perdaus
Asatizah Masjid (MROs)

Kami sekeluarga mohon maaf atas segala kesilapan Allahyarham semasa hayatnya. Semoga ALLAH S.W.T mencucuri rahmat ke atas rohnya. Amin.

Dari:

Hjh Rukiah Hj Nurdin Lubis
Dr Albakri Ahmad sekeluarga
Noraini Ahmad sekeluarga
Hjh Alwiah Ahmad sekeluarga
Aljefreen Ahmad sekeluarga
Sabariah Kassim sekeluarga

{Berita Harian, 7 March 08}

A Tribute to the late Pak Amat Sirat

2008-03-07T23:41:00.001+08:00

Life & Death, by Damanhuri Abas

Someone remarked, "Its amazing how death can pull people together." For it is one of those rare moment in life when we suddenly realise what life is really all about.

Pak Amat Sirat, the late father of Dr Albakri, was the first President of the Muslim Fellowship of Singapore, the forerunner of what became FMSA in 1994. He was remembered by many for his laborious patience in listening to the young minds and their fervour for Islam. Seeing his face for the last time at the cemetary bring back fond memories of the man who has seen through all the difficult times of the early struggles of the Jamaah. It needed his generational wisdom and fatherly fortitude to bring together such a diverse group of young people with such energy and unique set of individual characteristics and ideas.

When I prayed at his open grave after the soil has been laid on his wooden coffin, I uttered instantaneously the following words in my heart, "O Allah, be kind and merciful to Pak Amat, I do witness that he has done a wonderful job to bring us together in Your cause. He was a father to all of us in our little-little struggles in life. We will continue the work he started and may he be continously rewarded for inspiring us to do Your work, O Allah. Forgive him O Allah and let us meet again in Jannah one day. Amin

I am pleased to see so many brothers who are part of the Jamaah in one way or another through the years of our struggles and dakwah. Through the hugs I see hope for ukhuwah Islamiah and it must be heartening for the memory of Pak Amat to witness in his passing, the coming together of hearts that remain apart for a while ....

The Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. in his final sermon made a truly remarkable reminder of keeping ourselves as one. He said among other things, " ... All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves. ..." At death, we all will wish and hope to see again the ones that we have left behind someday. The door has closed for the moment and we seek for the future when we will be reunited again with all our brothers who share the path of our journey before.

Like Pak Amat, when we die one day, we would by now has seen the truth of life beyond this material world. We would have been shown the prelude of our life to come and hopefully it is one that offers a rewarding tear in our eyes and a smile in our face. We too would have had a glimpse of the agonising pain of those who defied the nikmah of his Creator. In that state, we will surely hope that those still living get over the trivialities of divisive words of differences, as what matters at death far exceed such issues in the eyes of our Creator.A life of a beloved fatherly brother has just ended .... let those still alive rise up to live life again.

Let Allah s.w.t. unite our hearts to work together through the diversity of where we are and strive for Him in a unified way to bring our small ummah in Singapore to be a living embodiment of the shinning spirit of the akhlak of Rasulullah s.a.w. "And hold fast, all together, unto the bond with God, and do not draw apart from one another. And remember the blessings which God has bestowed upon you: how, when you were enemies, He brought your hearts together, so that through His blessing you became brethren; and [how, when] you were on the brink of a fiery abyss. He saved you from it. In this way God makes clear His messages unto you, so that you might find guidance," (Surah Al-Imran 3:103)

{by Damanhuri Abas, 5 March 08}

A One More Knowing

2008-03-07T23:10:00.003+08:00

Wa fawqa kulli dhi 'ilmin 'alim

"So he searched their saddle-bags before his brother's, then produced the cup from his brother's bag. This is how We planned for Yusuf, for he could not take his brother under the law of the king unless Allah so willed. We raise in status whom We please. And over everyone endowed with knowledge is one/One more knowing."

Does it mean that over everyone endowed with knowledge is a person more knowing, or that over everyone endowed with knowledge is the One who is All-Knowing?

The one does not exclude the other.

In either case, the impact upon us is the same.

When it comes to knowledge we are tormented by our status, taunted by the status of others,
and confronted by the status of God.

Knowledge belongs to God, and we carry the burden of lucidity in understanding and expressing God's knowledge. The infinite ability of human beings to produce absurdities only reminds us of our status. Over everyone endowed with knowledge is The One who is more knowing. The burden of lucidity taunts and torments us. The knowledge of the All-Knowing comforts us.

And we pray, "God ease the burdens of my heart and lift the impediments of my tongue so that they may understand what I say" (20:25-28)

{Khaled Abou El-Fadl, Conference of the Books}