Forgetful? Write More.

In the study of hadeeth (or the science of hadeeth), there is one category of weak hadeeth called "soo.ul-hifz" (it's from an arabic which I couldn't extract here...it literally means weak memory).

One who is "sayyi.ul-hifz" is the one who is mistaken more than he is correct.

There are two types:
1. One whose memory was always bad throughout his life.
2. One whose memory became weak, either due to old age, he became blind, or his books were burnt (this type is called al-mukhtalat).

The ruling for their narrations:
1. For the first type, his narrations are rejected.
2. For the second type, then:
     1. what he is known to have reported before the "ikhtilat" is acceptable.
     2. what he reported after the "ikhtilat" is rejected.
     3. that which is not known whether it was before or after, then judgement is                    suspended until it is clear which is the case.

(The above short notes are extracted verbatim, except the underlined part, which I added, from Tayseer Mustalahil Hadeeth, written by Dr Mahmood at-Tahhaan)

*******

1. The short extract above briefly tells us the need to write more if we have a short memory span.

2. It always startle me when I try to recall a memory from the past, I always try to equate it with something totally different from what it was supposed to be.

3. Emotion plays a big part in our memory relapse. Due to our emotional attachment, our facts become massively distorted from the truth.

4. For a quick example, when asked about her present state of marriage, one girl rejoiced immediately and told the questioner with glowing excitement that she was always happy with her state of marriage from the start.

5. Well, that is further from the truth. She is happy now, but not then. In fact, in the early period of her marriage, she was clearly unhappy and poured her disappointment to somebody (which unfortunately was the questioner himself). Over time, her marriage becomes a lot better and she unconsciously loses her early memory of her disappointing start to her marriage.

6. Sometimes we have a reservation about something...be it towards people, situation or our own feeling. Almost all of the time, we tend to forget it when things get better. When these things rear their ugly heads and come back to haunt us, it's maybe too late to turn things around.

7. So to avoid this distorted truth, write more. I am always interested by truth and emotion, but for me, truth always comes first before emotion.

August!

Well it's been almost a full-length month since I last posted on this clandestine blog called Pancasara.

I am re-adjusting my life to a new tune. I must admit that Prof Bouchet and Dr Ellen have permanently stamped a big mark on me during our short stint together.

Not a single day passes by without me remembering every minutes of our short stay together.

Those moments were temporary, but the memories that come with it will last forever.

As I said before, I should be writing numerously, but time constraint keeps strangling me. I now have an unrelated job to keep my mind off things, I still need to prepare my overdue proposal, and I must keep my mind fresh to absorb new knowledge as they come.

I am meeting new people now on a daily basis, and it includes those that are half my age. It is awkward to hear yourself being called uncle for the first time, but I must accept the harsh reality that I'm getting old.

So I'm bracing myself for the new month of August. This is my favourite month; throughout my life, good and magical things always happened in August. So hopefully this time it won't be of any difference from the yesteryears.

Till then.

Aidilfitri 2016

"Taqabbalallahu minna wa minkum"

I received this raya greeting from somebody, which I personally thought was a bit odd (because it sounded different).

I have limited number of friends, and I rarely sent out raya greeting except to my confidants. So I have little idea about what constitutes a good raya greeting, except for the usual Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin.

Today, I found out that this greeting is indeed a sunnah, words that were uttered by the prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) during Aidilfitri.

So, I learned a new thing today.

I will be actively writing and learning new things starting this week, as I am about to embark into a long journey with a known expert in his field (malacology).

He is Prof Philippe Bouchet and his wife, Prof Dr Ellen Strong.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I'll make sure it will turn out into a memorable experience.

So, this may be a bit too late, but better late than never. Selamat Hari Raya, Taqabbalallahu minna wa minkum.

P/S : During our journey, I was corrected by Prof Bouchet that Dr Ellen is not a prof as was initially told to me by Dr Aileen, so I've made a minor correction above.

Too Hard...

Tanggung Dosa

This simple cartoon still makes me chuckle to this day ( I think it's a month old...I received it in May).

We need more shrewd sketches as this one...filled with nuggets of wisdom without neglecting the humour, in order for us to be a more informed society. 

There are many misconceptions and outright lies flying around these days, sometimes without any traces of basis to weigh its claim. The worst of it all is when they tagged Islam along the way to further their cause.

Melayu

Interesting points from the above article (I'll only summarize key points since I do not possess much time now) :

1. Humans moved out from Africa since 200,000 years ago, believed to be originated from a woman known as "Hawa". 

Christians believe that human dates as far back as 5000 years ago (based on their calculations from the Bible). This belief is shared by certain sects of Muslim (I remember seeing a big chart in a local mosque where it shows a depiction of chronological events from Prophet Adam (a.s) right through our last Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h). It's calculation didn't differ much from the Bible, which puts the age of human roughly around 5000-6000 years old (from the time of Prophet of Adam (a.s)). This view, however, is criticized by Perlis Mufti Dr Asri, who argues it's illogical for the age of human to be only 5000 years old when scientific dating clearly proves otherwise. Quran never specifically mentions the exact age of human today from the time of Prophet Adam (a.s).

2. Research indicates that the settlements in China move from south to north.

This directly contradicts the Yunnan Theory, which states that Malay ancestors came from China. This Yunnan Theory is widely mis-used by chauvinist Chinese to propagate the impression that Malay race is indeed originated from China, so the Chinese is the rightful ancestor of the Malay archipelago. With this new finding, the opposite is true...Malays seemed to migrate northwards through Thailand and Indo-China before settling down in China. So Chinese indeed is descended from Malay. This scientifically-backed theory must be a bitter pill for the chauvinists to swallow.

3. Kelantan Malay and Javanese share a closely-matched genetic resemblance, and they are older.

I am secretly hoping that Kedah would be proven to be the oldest of the Malay lineage, but remembering that my great great grandparents were from Kelantan, so it's not a bad deal for me. And to be scientifically linked with Javanese is a great honour, as I have very good friends from Javanese descent. 

Dr Zafarina is the most intelligent and down-to-earth woman I've ever seen in my entire life. She is also deeply religious. There were, on numerous occasions, that I encountered her reciting Quran privately in her office. Hopefully more women would aspire to reach her monumental height, as we are currently in a dire need to have more women of her quality.     

I think that's all for today.

Ramadan

Tomorrow is a start of a blessed month in Islam...the sacred month of Ramadan.

Muslims all over the world generally, and Malaysia particularly, will be observing a month full of religious duty.

Fasting is the fourth pillar of Islam, although some would say it's the third pillar, as was widely taught during our school days.

I have asked this question many great times to my fellow friends, whether fasting or zakat is the third pillar of Islam? 

To date, none could have answered this seemingly basic question properly.

I do not know about our current syllabus, but during my school days, we were practically drilled to fully observed our fasting period, as our ustaz/ustazah continually stressed, that fasting is the third pillar of Islam behind syahadah and prayer.

But just recently, I watched one officer from JAIS on national television (TV1), emphasizing that zakat is the third pillar of Islam.

Of course I was stumped and perplexed upon hearing his bold statement. This ran contrary to what I've been taught all along. 

He seemed to base his statement from the following hadeeth (sahih), popularly known as the hadeeth of Jibril:

 

"Daripada Umar r.a. katanya: Pada suatu hari sedang kami duduk di sisi Rasulullah s.a.w. tiba-tiba datang kepada kami seorang lelaki yang sangat putih kainnya, sangat hitam rambutnya, tidaklah kelihatan atasnya tanda-tanda orang yang sedang dalam perjalanan, dan tidak seorang pun daripada kami yang mengenalinya sehingga dia duduk berdekatan dengan Rasulullah s.a.w. lalu dia menyandarkan kedua-dua lututnya kepada kedua-dua lutut Rasulullah s.a.w. dan meletakkan kedua-dua telapak tangannya ke atas kedua-dua paha Nabi s.a.w.

Kemudian dia berkata: Hai Nabi Muhammad! Khabarkanlah kepadaku darihal Islam. Maka Rasulullah s.a.w. menjawab: Islam itu ialah bahawa engkau mengakui tiada tuhan melainkan Allah dan bahawasanya Muhammad itu pesuruh Allah, dan engkau mendirikan sembahyang, dan engkau keluarkan zakat, dan engkau puasa bulan Ramadan, dan engkau mengerjakan haji di Baitullah jika engkau sanggup pergi kepadanya. Dia berkata: Benarlah engkau! Maka kami pun tercengang kerana dia yang bertanya dan dia pula yang membenarkannya.

Katanya lagi: Maka khabarkan kepadaku darihal Iman. Rasulullah s.a.w. menjawab: Iman itu ialah bahawa engkau beriman kepada Allah, dan malaikat-Nya, dan segala kitab-Nya, dan para Rasul-Nya, dan engkau beriman kepada takdir baik-Nya dan jahat-Nya. Dia berkata: Benarlah engkau!

Kemudian dia bertanya lagi: Maka sekarang khabarkanlah kepadaku darihal Ihsan. Rasulullah s.a.w. menjawab: Ihsan ialah bahawa engkau menyembah Allah seolah-olah engkau melihat-Nya, tetapi jika engkau tidak melihat-Nya maka sesungguhnya Ia melihat engkau."

(HR. Muslim)

And the learned JAIS officer is not alone on this. A number of people are also advocating this belief, particularly those who hold fast to hadeeth.

So, which is which?

Personally, I think we should follow the hadeeth, although this ran afoul of my earlier belief, which was taught to me from such a tender age.

All in all, hope this year's Ramadan would bring new spirit. Let us all light this Ramadan with a new spark of enthusiasm to do better in whatever we wish to endeavour.

Salam Ramadan!