Hijrah - Nowseeheart
Dingin malam menusuk tulang insan,
Dan kesejukan malam dan ketakutan
resah yang dibalut kegelisahan
mengiringi suatu perjalanan
meninggalkan kota penuh kegelapan
menuju ke kota cahaya kebenaran.

Bermulalah hijrah yang agung,
Pengorbanan insan tak ternilai
harga kepayahan, kesusahan
menempuh dugaan dan rintangan
dalam kehidupan.

Mereka tak punya apa.
Harta, sanak saudara.
Tetapi mereka percaya
hanya janji Rasul Nya.

Masihkah kau mengerja
merebut dinar yang dijanjikan
Allah melindungi perjalanan
kekasih Nya yang tercinta

Debaran, debaran, debaran.
Hijrah ke kota jauh yang kebenaran.
Inilah sebuah hijrah yang agung

There are few things I like to write or talk about but for some unknown reasons, I have this writer's block. Shit! I hate when this happens to me because then I have to write in loop in order to generate ideas. That's the technique I learnt from Mr Hakikat Singh, my English lecturer back in PPP/ITM.

Anyway, yeah, I was at my room before I decided to come to Pollock Computer Lab. My ever-troublesome Powerbook quits on me for today. It was after the twilight when I suddenly looked at my book shelf. I realized there are few religious books, nicely stacked on the shelve of mine. Yeah, I own those books. Do I read them? Sometimes. But most of the time, I just let them where they are.

I own Fil Zilal Quran (Under the Shades of Quran) written by As Syahid Syed Qutb, Asas-Asas Panduan Usrah, Fiqh Sunnah, Tafseer Quran (two different books by different commentators), How to win the heart of wive in Islam, and I borrow Leadership in Islam book from the Islamic center here. I also have another religious book which was given to me as a gift when I left PPP/UiTM but I can't remember its name. Probably that book is at home now. Another book is Risalah Ta'lim - a book describes the doctrine of Ikhwanul Muslimin written by one of well-know muslim scholars whom I can't remember his name.

Then I came to realization that it is extremely easy to seek Islamic knowledge here compare to Malaysia. Well maybe because we just dont have the urge to study Islam more compare when you are outside of your comfortable zone. Or perhaps we choose to ignore the fact that what we learnt in high school is enough for us to go through with our daily life. Hmmm..it's pretty short-sighted view and pre-mature to assume that Islam is profess the testimony of faith, pray for 5 times daily, paying the zakaah, fasting in Ramadhan and finally perform the pilgrimage once in your lifetime.

See..maybe because we are not being tested here. We always have this belief that our Islamic knowledge is much superior compare to the others, especially the non-Muslim or the infidels - not politically right word to use here, but who gives a damn about it though. Don't be surprise if you go out from Malaysia and come to a place like here in the States or maybe in Europe and get yourself acquainted with some knowledgeable people just to find out that they know more about Islam compare to us.

Maybe we choose not to know some parts of our religion because we think they are not necessary for our life. They are just not compatible to our life style especially in the 21st century where everyone is entitled to his/her own interpretation of religioun. What could be more necessary than to indulge ourselves in the perfect teaching of this religion? Oh well, some people say if you study too much about Islam, you will turn into fundamentalist aka mullah. Some say you are just wasting your time. Hmmm..another shallow minded people I guess.

The perception of studying Islam rigorously will transform you into fundamentalist or Mullah is consistently be played by the media and unfortunately it is supported by liberal Muslims themselves. Some muslims think Islamic Studies will not lead the muslim community into the 21st century. In fact, it will only bring de-modernization back into Islam itself.

On the other hand, there are some people who think that studying Islamic knowledge is the only necessary thing to do in this world. They abandon the need of worldly knowledge such as engineering and medicine, just to name a few. Okay, this kind of people are virtually believe that this alone will gives them happiness.

Ah yes, I can't deny that committing to something that we believe unconditionally is very rewarding. Especially when you encounter such turmoil moment in your life when the spiritual factor is needed to heal your own stress or depressed state. But to solely depend on this factor will only lead your to more desperate attempt to become 'fundamentalist'. Eventually, it will lead you to the stage of 'holier than thou'.

You begin to believe that your knowledge about the religion is far above than anyone else and you don't heed to anyone's advice. Ahhh..that's bad man...real bad! Even the top sheikhs who truly commit themselves to the real Islamic teaching are down to earth and very humble. How can an ordinary person who just gain the knowledge from reading books and listening to 'ceramah' can act such that?

Hehehehe..now I am starting to write without the real point.

Okay, my point is we need to learn about Islam because we might need it one day. For instance, when you go out travel and you need to perform salaah, you can just take the ablution and end it with wiping the water at your socks or sandal completely provided you take the ablution before you start the journey, instead having to take off your socks and soak your feet with water. Or when you stumble with a question whether your ablution is nullified or not when you touch your spouse (with no intention to have sex with him/her). The answer is, you can go proceed and perform the salaah because prophet Muhammad did kiss one of his wives and he went to pray afterwards. Don't mention about the difference in school of thought (mazhab) because if we really know about our madzhab, Imam As Syafi'e actually said whoever finds a saheeh hadith, that is my madzhab. Unfortunately since we only know the basic of Islam and we have no clue what does that mean to be a saheed hadith or where to find them or how to verify them, we will only depend on others. Imagine when we have our own family in future, what will happen? Hmmm..it will be a bizarre case I think!

So..start reading some Islamic book. Anything. Anything that relates to Islam. Doesn't matter if it's fiqh, history of prophet Muhammad, his hadith and sunnah or anything. But beware of the books written by the Orientalist like Bernard Lewis and a few others. They claim their writings are the products of true scholar and they analyze Islam objectively but it's far from the truth.

Hmmm..I guess that's about it. I dont want to linger more on this issue because I have something else to work on. See, you balance the study of worldly knowledge and the knowledge of Islam. Of course by studying the Islamic teaching is eventually improving ourselves albeit we are prone to do mistake. We are simply human and to err is one of the humanistic values. Islam gives us a true outline and we try as best as we could to stick to it. However, it doesnt restrict us until it suffocates us - there are also some leeway in Islam if we study more about it. So...think about it.