Saturday 23 April 2011

Jejak Nabi Musa (as)- Part 3

Sesungguhnya Aku inilah Tuhanmu, maka tanggalkanlah kedua terompahmu; sesungguhnya kamu berada di lembah yang suci, Tuwa.    (Surah Taha: 12)

Ini yang difirmankan Allah swt kepada Nabi Musa (as) ketika baginda berhenti rehat di kawasan Sinai dalam perjalanan kembali ke Mesir dari Madyan. Ia wahyu pertama untuk Nabi Musa (as). Signifikannya sama seperti peristiwa di Gua Hira'. Kemudian di sinilah Nabi Musa (as) diberikan mukjizat tongkat ularnya dan cahaya dari tangannya dan diperintahkan menghadap Firaun. Kali kedua Nabi Musa (as) ke sini ialah selepas berjaya selamat dari Firaun untuk bermunajat selama 40 hari dan diberikan Kitab Taurat.

Lembah Suci ini terletak di Bandar St Katherine, Sinai. Kami ke kaki Gunung Sinai pada waktu tengah malam. Pukul 1 pagi kami mulakan pendakian. Saya dan Papaboyz, Adik dan 2 ustaz. Pemandu pendaki kami, seorang remaja bernama Muhamad, Arab Badwi yang fasih berbahasa Inggeris. MasyaAllah laju dia berjalan tak mengah. Saya mula2 mendaki dengan unta hinggalah 3/4 dari seluruh perjalanan, kemudian kena panjat sendiri kerana curam dan tidak sesuai untuk unta naik.
Muhammad dan Ustaz Badrul
Papaboyz di papan tanda kaki Gunung Sinai


(Budak-budak mana? Diorang tidur di hotel bersama Atuk, Wan dan Maklong. Terima kasih Atuk, Wan dan Maklong jaga hero-hero)

Kami beruntung. Malam pendakian kami adalah malam bulan mengambang dan langit cerah. Lembah Suci ini sunyi sepi tetapi 'hidup'. Gunung-ganang sekitar berwarna perak disebalik kehitaman malam. Mungkin refleksi dari cahaya bulan. Saya cuba ambil gambar tetapi hanya retina mata yang dapat merakamnya. Tidak lensa kamera. Saya harap saya tak akan lupakan imej itu.

Di kaki lembah ini terdapat St Katherine Monastery, antara biara Kristian Orthodox yang tertua di dunia.

St Katherine Monastery


Semasa di atas unta saya hanya memerhatikan lembah ini. Saya bawa MP3 player kerana takut kebosanan mendaki tetapi langsung tak pasang. Kerana kesunyian (ketenangan?) itu sendiri telah membunuh kebosanan yang saya takuti. Hanya derap tapak kaki unta dan sesekali arahan dari penggembala unta itu memecah kesunyian. Langit malam sangat cerah penuh bintang. Patutlah Nabi Musa (as) ke sini untuk bermunajat.

Sepanjang perjalanan terdapat beberapa kedai Pak Arab yang menjual air, dan makanan, termasuk minuman panas. Dan indomie panas :) . Pandai betul. Tapi kami khuatiri punca air dan kebersihannya.

Salah satu kedai dalam perjalanan ke puncak. Lengkap dengan tempat istirehat.
Sembang pagi
Sempat baring

Kami sambung mendaki. Sampai di puncak masih belum ramai orang. Di puncak Gunung Sinai ada sebuah masjid dan sebuah gereja. Di tepi masjid terdapat sebuah ruang bawah tanah yang dikatakan tempat Nabi Musa (as) duduk bermunajat. Tak tahulah betul atau tidak sebab memanglah tiada kesan apa-apa. Wallahualam. Yang penting bukan tempatnya, tetapi apa yang berlaku, betul tak?

Gereja
Masjid- diambil waktu siang

Kawasan yg dikatakan tempat Nabi Musa (as) bermunajat

Sampai di masjid kami berehat menunggu solat Subuh. Kami berjumpa dengan satu keluarga dari Malaysia. Seorang pakcik, isteri dan anak-anak perempuannya. Ini kali kedua pakcik itu mendaki Gunung Sinai. Solat Subuh diimami Ustaz Badrul yang membacakan Surah At-Tur. Penuh masjid, hingga ada yang menunggu di luar dan mereka terpaksa membuat jemaah kedua.
Aktiviti memeriksa masjid
Tempat imam
Bertafakur?

Yang beragama lain pula kedengaran mendendangkan lagu-lagu keagamaan mereka di luar.

Kemudian kami menunggu matahari terbit. Ada ramai juga peniaga di puncak ini. Bukan sahaja minuman panas, mereka juga menyewakan selimut dan tilam. Memang sangat sejuk di atas sana. Tapi tilam itu pernah dibasuh atau tidak? :P
Penjual di puncak Gunung Sinai
Matahari terbit. Romantik? Oh tidak. Ramai orang yer. :)

Antara yang bersidai menunggu matahari terbit

Ramai lagi
Subhanallah! (what else to say)



Lembah Suci disimbahi cahaya matahari

Adik.. merenung masa depan?

Kemudian kami turun, bayar Mohammad, balik hotel dan pengsan :D

Yang bertongkat pun ada- pilgrimage untuk mereka?

Eh, sempat lagi berdating yer....

Meninggalkan bayang dan tapak kaki di Lembah Suci

Ada apa lagi di Semenanjung Sinai? Kami melawat Makam Nabi Harun (as), Makam Nabi Saleh (as) dan batu pada bukit yang dikatakan Lembu Samiri.

"Lembu Samiri"

Tak pasti lah betul ke ini lembunya atau diukir rakyat tempatan, sebab dalam Surah Taha Nabi Musa (as) berjanji untuk membakar patung itu dan menabur abunya di lautan. 

Makam Nabi Harun (as)

Makam Nabi Harun (as) dan gereja di sebelahnya
Makam Nabi Saleh (as)

Pintu masuk makam

Dalam makam

Kawasan perkuburan di sekitar Makam Nabi Saleh (as)
Berakhirlah kami menjejaki sebahagian hidup Nabi Musa (as). Makam baginda di Baitul Muqaddis. Sekiranya ke Mesir, jangan lupa peruntukkan 3 hari di Semenanjung Sinai.

Friday 22 April 2011

Zeitoun

Dulu saya cari buku tentang Taufan Katrina yang melanda New Orleans, Amerika pada tahun 2005. Bila saya terjumpa buku ini, sukanya hati sebab ia kisah sebuah keluarga muslim disitu.


Sebab malas nak tulis banyak, saya copy ringkasan ini dari satu review di Amazon:

This is a non fiction account of Abdulrahman Zeitoun an immigrant from Syria and his wife Kathy who in 2005 owned a successful house-painting business in New Orleans. When Katrina hits Abdulrahman stays behind to watch out for his property. Eggers was not present at the disaster but has essentially ghost written this book for the Zeitoun's. And what a story it is. There are no great rants against Bush or the incompetent New Orleans authorities. Eggers doesn't need to do this since the facts as presented are the most massive indictment in their own right and speak for themselves. 

Abdurrahman tinggal seorang diri untuk mempertahankan rumahnya semasa Katrina melanda (baiki lubang, alih perabot etc. Setiap hari dia berkayuh dengan sampannya membantu jiran-jiran yang terkandas dan memberi makan anjing-anjing yang ditinggalkan. Ye lah, tuan punya anjing selamatkan diri sendiri je. Pada satu hari tiba-tiba dia ditahan tanpa bicara oleh penguatkuasa yang lengkap bersenjata M16 dan bullet proof vest. Dia dipenjara di penjara maksimum sekuriti, yang tak ada beza dengan Guantanamo Bay. Tiada ahli keluarganya yang tahu dia di mana.

Siapakah orang pertama membantu Abdurrahman di penjara? Seorang paderi Kristian. Memang paderi itu berhati mulia. Apa yang dia buat boleh membahayakan dirinya, tapi dia mengoyakkan secebis kertas dari Biblenya, menulis nombor telefon isteri Abdurrahman dan memberi khabar pertama dari Abdurrahman kepada isterinya.

Amerika memang takutkan bayang-bayang sendiri. Ketika amaran taufan akan melanda, pekeliling yang dikeluarkan ialah tentang kebarangkalian ancaman pengganas. Skuad-skuad tentera diletakkan di New Orleans, malah ada yang diimport  dari Israel. Bukan nasib penduduk yang didahulukan. Betullah kata Sheikh Yusuf Estes, siapa yang tak takut pada Allah, akan takut kepada makhluk ciptaan Allah.

Walaupun orang kata Abdurrahman berada di tempat salah pada masa yang salah, tapi Abdurrahman kata "Allah masukkan saya dalam penjara untuk menyelamatkan saya dari perkara yg lebih buruk". Tabik hormat. Semoga berkat Allah sentiasa bersamamu, Abdurrahman.

Gambar terbaru Abdurrahman dan isteri, Kathy Zeitoun dihadapan rumah mereka. Saya cilok dari sini.


Buku ini telah memenangi beberapa anugerah, antaranya ialah American Book Award, Dayton Literary Peace Prize, LA Times Book Award dan Northern California Book Award. Malah jualan buku disalurkan kepada The Zeitoun Foundation, yang membiayai pembangunan semula New Orleans.

Bacalah. Perangai sesetengah manusia lebih teruk dari binatang.

Sunday 3 April 2011

Teka-teki budak 4 tahun

Semalam melayan Ammar main teka-teki. Ammar tukang bagi soalan, Mama kena jawab. Jawapan hanya yes or no saja. Antara soalannya:

Ammar: Can you eat toast and beans with your mama? Yes or no?
Mama  : Yes.
Ammar: Wrong!
Mama  : Why wrong? (tak puas hati)
Ammar: Because you can not eat your mama!


Ammar: Can you drink water with lots of food? Yes or no?
Mama  : Yes.
Ammar: Wrong!
Mama  : huh?
Ammar: you can not drink food!

Ammar: Can your mama sit on your small puzzle? Yes or no?
Mama  : errr...(susah jugak soalan ni)..No.
Ammar: Correct!
Mama  : (lega)

Ammar: Can you put your mama on your blocks? Yes or no?
Mama  : No.
Ammar: Wrong! You can build your blocks big enough to put your mama on it.
Mama  : oooooo really?

Saturday 2 April 2011

A veil lifted

Can't afford to lose this article. The author just defined me.

".......feeble are those who seek and those sought"
(Al-Hajj:73)

A person who seek for something other than Allah (wealth, fame, positions, relationships, etc etc) are weak, and so are the things he sought.

If you think you don't really love this world for its wealth and materials, look again. You may be attached to something else. As for me, I'm deeply attached to outcomes, people's perception, self-control, results. Now what will happen to me if I lose one of those? I will be shattered beyond repair. How true are Allah's words. How feeble are the things I attached myself to.

JazakAllahu khair Sister Yasmin.

Why do people have to leave each other?

By Yasmin Mogahed

When I was 17 years old, I had a dream. I dreamt that I was sitting inside a masjid and a little girl walked up to ask me a question. She asked me: “Why do people have to leave each other?” The question was a personal one, but it seemed clear to me why the question was chosen for me.

I was one to get attached.

Ever since I was a child, this temperament was clear. While other children in preschool could easily recover once their parents left, I could not. My tears, once set in motion, did not stop easily. As I grew up, I learned to become attached to everything around me. From the time I was in first grade, I needed a best friend. As I got older, any fall-out with a friend shattered me. I couldn’t let go of anything. People, places, events, photographs, moments—even outcomes became objects of strong attachment. If things didn’t work out the way I wanted or imagined they should, I was devastated. And disappointment for me wasn’t an ordinary emotion. It was catastrophic. Once let down, I never fully recovered. I could never forget, and the break never mended. Like a glass vase that you place on the edge of a table, once broken, the pieces never quite fit again.



But the problem wasn’t with the vase. Or even that the vases kept breaking. The problem was that I kept putting them on the edge of tables. Through my attachments, I was dependent on my relationships to fulfill my needs. I allowed those relationships to define my happiness or my sadness, my fulfillment or my emptiness, my security, and even my self-worth. And so, like the vase placed where it will inevitably fall, through those dependencies I set myself up for disappointment. I set myself up to be broken. And that’s exactly what I found: one disappointment, one break after another.

But the people who broke me were not to blame any more than gravity can be blamed for breaking the vase. We can’t blame the laws of physics when a twig snaps because we leaned on it for support. The twig was never created to carry us.

Our weight was only meant to be carried by God. We are told in the Quran: “…whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And God hears and knows all things.” (Qur’an 2: 256)

There is a crucial lesson in this verse: that there is only one handhold that never breaks. There is only one place where we can lay our dependencies. There is only one relationship that should define our self-worth and only one source from which to seek our ultimate happiness, fulfillment, and security. That place is Allah.

But this world is all about seeking those things everywhere else. Some of us seek it in our careers, some seek it in wealth, some in status. Some, like me, seek it in our relationships. In her book, Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert describes her own quest for happiness. She describes moving in and out of relationships, and even traveling the globe in search of this fulfillment. She seeks that fulfillment—unsuccessfully—in her relationships, in meditation, even in food.

And that’s exactly where I spent much of my own life: seeking a way to fill my inner void. So it was no wonder that the little girl in my dream asked me this question. It was a question about loss, about disappointment. It was a question about being let down. A question about seeking something and coming back empty handed. It was about what happens when you try to dig in concrete with your bare hands: not only do you come back with nothing—you break your fingers in the process. And I learned this not by reading it, not by hearing it from a wise sage. I learned it by trying it again, and again, and again.
And so, the little girl’s question was essentially my own question…being asked to myself.

Ultimately, the question was about the nature of the dunya as a place of fleeting moments and temporary attachments. As a place where people are with you today, and leave or die tomorrow. But this reality hurts our very being because it goes against our nature. We, as humans, are made to seek, love, and strive for what is perfect and what is permanent. We are made to seek what’s eternal. We seek this because we were not made for this life. Our first and true home was Paradise: a land that is both perfect and eternal. So the yearning for that type of life is a part of our being. The problem is that we try to find that here. And so we create ageless creams and cosmetic surgery in a desperate attempt to hold on—in an attempt to mold this world into what it is not, and will never be.

And that’s why if we live in dunya with our hearts, it breaks us. That’s why this dunya hurts. It is because the definition of dunya, as something temporary and imperfect, goes against everything we are made to yearn for. Allah put a yearning in us that can only be fulfilled by what is eternal and perfect. By trying to find fulfillment in what is fleeting, we are running after a hologram…a mirage. We are digging into concrete with our bare hands. Seeking to turn what is by its very nature temporary into something eternal is like trying to extract from fire, water.  You just get burned. Only when we stop putting our hopes in dunya, only when we stop trying to make the dunya into what it is not—and was never meant to be (jannah)—will this life finally stop breaking our hearts.

We must also realize that nothing happens without a purpose. Nothing. Not even broken hearts. Not even pain. That broken heart and that pain are lessons and signs for us. They are warnings that something is wrong. They are warnings that we need to make a change. Just like the pain of being burned is what warns us to remove our hand from the fire, emotional pain warns us that we need to make an internal change. That we need to detach. Pain is a form of forced detachment. Like the loved one who hurts you again and again and again, the more dunya hurts us, the more we inevitably detach from it. The more we inevitably stop loving it.
And pain is a pointer to our attachments. That which makes us cry, that which causes us most pain is where our false attachments lie. And it is those things which we are attached to as we should only be attached to Allah which become barriers on our path to God. But the pain itself is what makes the false attachment evident. The pain creates a condition in our life that we seek to change, and if there is anything about our condition that we don’t like, there is a divine formula to change it. God says: “Verily never will God change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves.” (Qur’an, 13:11)

(kalau terjumpa ayat ni di mana2, selalu yg saya faham ialah Allah tak akan mengubah keadaan sesuatu kaum hingga mereka mengubah keadaan mereka sendiri- tapi bukan begitu? bukannya mengubah keadaan mereka ie situasi, pelan tindakan etc tetapi apa yang ada dalam diri mereka)

After years of falling into the same pattern of disappointments and heartbreak, I finally began to realize something profound. I had always thought that love of dunya meant being attached to material things. And I was not attached to material things. I was attached to people. I was attached to moments. I was attached to emotions (that's me!--hantuk kepala). So I thought that the love of dunya just did not apply to me. What I didn’t realize was that people, moments, emotions are all a part of dunya. What I didn’t realize is that all the pain I had experienced in life was due to one thing, and one thing only: love of dunya.

As soon as I began to have that realization, a veil was lifted from my eyes. I started to see what my problem was. I was expecting this life to be what it is not, and was never meant to be: perfect. And being the idealist that I am, I was struggling with every cell in my body to make it so. It had to be perfect (that's me again). And I would not stop until it was. I gave my blood, sweat, and tears to this endeavor: making the dunya into jannah. This meant expecting people around me to be perfect. Expecting my relationships to be perfect. Expecting so much from those around me and from this life. Expectations. Expectations. Expectations (ME AGAIN). And if there is one recipe for unhappiness it is that: expectations. But herein lay my fatal mistake. My mistake was not in having expectations; as humans, we should never lose hope. The problem was in *where* I was placing those expectations and that hope (that's my BIG problem). At the end of the day, my hope and expectations were not being placed in God. My hope and expectations were in people, relationships, means. Ultimately, my hope was in this dunya rather than Allah.

And so I came to realize a very deep Truth. An ayah began to cross my mind. It was an ayah I had heard before, but for the first time I realized that it was actually describing me:  “Those who rest not their hope on their meeting with Us, but are pleased and satisfied with the life of the present, and those who heed not Our Signs.” (Qur’an, 10:7)

By thinking that I can have everything here, my hope was not in my meeting with God. My hope was in dunya. But what does it mean to place your hope in dunya? How can this be avoided? It means when you have friends, don’t expect your friends to fill your emptiness. When you get married, don’t expect your spouse to fulfill your every need. When you’re an activist, don’t put your hope in the results (these are all my expectations). When you’re in trouble don’t depend on yourself. Don’t depend on people. Depend on God.

Seek the help of people—but realize that it is not the people (or even your own self) that can save you. Only Allah can do these things. The people are only tools, a means used by God. But they are not the source of help, aid, or salvation of any kind. Only God is. The people cannot even create the wing of a fly (22:73).  And so, even while you interact with people externally, turn your heart towards God. Face Him alone, as Prophet Ibrahim (as) said so beautifully: “For me, I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah.” (Qur’an, 6:79)
But how does Prophet Ibrahim (as) explain coming to that point? He explains his study of the stars, the moon, and the sun, and the fact that they were not perfect.

They set.

So he was thereby led to face Allah alone. Like prophet Ibrahim (as), we need to put our full hope, trust, and dependency on God. And God alone. And if we do that, we will learn what it means to finally find peace and stability of heart. Only then will the roller coaster that once defined our lives finally come to an end. That is because if our inner state is dependent on something that is by definition inconstant, that inner state will also be inconstant. If our inner state is dependent on something changing and temporary, that inner state will be in a constant state of instability, agitation, and unrest. This means that one moment we’re happy, but as soon as that which our happiness depended upon changes, our happiness also changes. And we become sad. We remain always swinging from one extreme to another and not realizing why.

We experience this emotional roller coaster because we can never find stability and lasting peace until our attachment and dependency is on what is stable and lasting. How can we hope to find constancy if what we hold on to is inconstant and perishing? In the statement of Abu Bakr is a deep illustration of this truth. After the Prophet Muhammad ï·º died, the people went into shock and could not handle the news. But although no one loved the Prophet ï·º like Abu Bakr, Abu Bakr understood well the only place where one’s dependency should lie. He said: “If you worshipped Muhammad, know that Muhammad is dead. But if you worshipped Allah, know that Allah never dies.”

(He was the one who loved the Prophet the most, how would we feel if the person we love the most died? But how could he be the most calm? No wonder he was As-Siddiq)

To attain that state, don’t let your source of fulfillment be anything other than your relationship with God. Don’t let your definition of success, failure, or self-worth be anything other than your position with Him (Qur’an, 49:13). And if you do this, you become unbreakable, because your handhold is unbreakable. You become unconquerable, because your supporter can never be conquered. And you will never become empty, because your source of fulfillment is unending and never diminishes.

Looking back at the dream I had when I was 17, I wonder if that little girl was me. I wonder this because the answer I gave her was a lesson I would need to spend the next painful years of my life learning. My answer to her question of why people have to leave each other was: “because this life isn’t perfect; for if it was, what would the next be called?”