Tuesday, November 30, 2010

of terror and changed perceptions...

so, i stumbled upon a curious series tonight, The Future Express on australian network (channel 521 on astro). astro info told me that the series followed people traveling by train through 26 countries in 6 continents. seeing the fact that i am in the missing-my-traveling-days mode (and missing australia t00), i gleefully switched channel from whatever the heck i was watching before that in the hope that i'll be greeted with the beautiful scenery of the koala-and-kangaroo-inhabitated continent.
and then i was practically gaping at the screen. ngee...
first of all, it was not english. not even australian english. curious, curious, seeing that it was aired on australian network. how did i know it was not english? they provided english subtitles, you dope! heh, sorry!
second, it showed the cameraman going around in a moving train, interviewing people, mostly muslims. and after a while, i came to understand that they were algerian muslims. and the topic of discussions between the cameraman and whoever was with him with the passengers was about terrorism.
curious, curious...
and yes, curiosity got the better of me so i stuck with the series till its end.
numerous people were interviewed as the train kept going. some with the right definition of islam, some not so much.
one particular girl and what she said caught my attention. i couldn't remember her exact words now, but what she said was pretty much this: she scolded the wearing of veil for muslimah, saying it limits a woman's freedom (yes, she didn't wear any). i don't know now whether she's actually a muslim or not since she laughed and blushed when telling a story of a few men clapping their hands at her when she walked around in miniskirt. curious...
she also kinda scolded the terrorists which she said ruined the image of islam, and wondered out loud how muslims can say islam is so holy when those people (the terrorists, she meant) killed people in the name of jihad and raped women.
my level of curiosity increased at that so i yahooed (you have googled if you searched for info in google, so when i searched for info in yahoo, it's yahooed, yeah? heh!)
i didn't find so much on algeria and its relation with terrorists, and i am not a fan of newspaper, so i really have no idea what that was all about, until i read this short q&a session :http://infad.usim.edu.my/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=10781
so, there was a twin bombing happened in algeria sometime ago, (i think in 2007) involving the al-qaeda group claiming it to be a 'badr battle', which is an insult to islam, seriously.
so, the girl's perception on islam changed because of some stupid terrorist's act. can we truly blame her?
so, yeah, maybe it's because her understanding of islam is not as deep as it should be. because there were people on the train who understood and discussed that terrorism is not jihad. one man said that islam is a religion of peace, a religion of tolerance, which is absolutely true. islam is about cherishing our neighbours and uniting brothers and sisters with peace, not war. some understood that. some, with a bitter experience, i suspect, might find that concept a bit difficult to grasp.
see how terrorism is a danger to us? orang islam sendiri yang bawak bahaya pada orang islam lain. yang terlalu fanatik dan dah terpesong. that is sad.
it's sad knowing that wearing veil, or hijab, or tudung for muslimah is considered limiting their freedom, and it's sad knowing that a woman (and many more out there, i'm sure) think like that. because it is clearly stated in the qur'an (surah an-nisa and an-nur, specifically) that for muslimah to wear hijab is for the sole purpose of protecting them from harm, guarding their honor. that's the beauty of it. it is so sad knowing that a woman can misunderstand that. or not realising that.
it's sad knowing that one man or a group of men's wrongdoings tarnish the whole population of islam and the fact that muslims all around the world are being watched like a hawk. its sad knowing that in some countries, they bane the wearing of hijab for fear of them carrying weapons inside. it's sad knowing that muslims can't travel much around the world, especially muslimah, since they with their tudung create a wave of paranoia so great, that people stare at them with fear and hold their children tighter around them.
it's sad knowing that when that is clearly not islam is about. islam does not promote fear among people. because it is about peace, and not war. even there is no force in converting into it. we've learned that 'tiada paksaan untuk memeluk islam' since our form four pendidikan islam.
it's so sad knowing that people can misjudge this beautiful religion so greatly.
islam guides women closely to protect them. please, do understand that. i read in the iluvislam's paper today, an article saying that women are created with 9/10 shyness, and 1/10 wisdom, while men are created with 9/10 wisdom and 1/10 shyness. when women lose their shame, she's done, so do men when they lose their wit and mind. and it is so easy to lose that these days. so many distractions and bad influences, secular thoughts and perceptions. nauzubillah...
i'd like to share something else. supplications from ustaz zaharudin website. he encouraged people to share, so here it is, for muslimah out there: http://zaharuddin.blogspot.com/2010/11/doa-elak-cabul-dan-rogol.html
in case the link is broken: here's the copy-and-paste's version of it:
'DALAM sebutan rumi : BISMILLAH ALLAZI LA YADURRU MA’ASMIHI SYAIUN FIL ARDI WA LA FIS SAMAIE , WAHUWAS SAMI’UL ‘ALIM
Ertinya : Rasulullah s.a.w didengari berkata sesiapa yang berdoa : “Dengan nama Allah yang tiada dimudaratkan sesuatu apapun dengan namaNya samada di bumi dan di langit, dan Dialah maha mendengar dan maha mengetahui” sebanyak 3 kali, maka ia tidak ditimpa kesusahan bala dan musibah sehinggalah subuh esoknya, dan barangsiapa membacanya ketika subuh 3 kali, ia tidak ditimpa kesusahan bala dan musibah sehingga petangnya” ( Riwayat Abu Daud, 4/323 ; At-Tirmidizi, 5/465 dan Ahmad ; Tirmizi : Hasan – Teks doa berwarna Merah Syeikh Syuaib ; Hasan)
Ingin saya utarakan satu lagi doa sohih yang dibaca oleh isteri Nabi Ibrahim a.s (iaitu Siti Sarah) yang menyebabkan para lelaki zalim termasuk rajanya melarikan diri, saya sertakan sekali sumber rujukannya dari hadis Nabi s.a.w:

DALAM SEBUTAN RUMI : ALLAHUMMA IN KUNTA TA’LAMU INNI AAMANTU BIKA, WA BIRASULIKA WA AHSONTU FARJI ILLA ‘ALA ZAWJI FALA TUSALLIT ‘ALAYYA AL-KAFIR WA AZ-ZALIM
Ertinya : Ya Allah, jika engkau mengetahui bahawa aku beriman kepada Mu dan Rasul Mu, dan aku menjaga kehormatanku hanya untuk suamiku, maka lindungilah aku daripada dikuasai oleh orang-orang kafir dan zalim” ( Riwayat Al-Bukhari, no 2104, 2/722 ; Sunan Al-Baihaqi, 5/97; Musnad ahmad, 2/403 ; Fath Al-Bari, 6/393; Umdat Al-Qari, 12/30 ; Sohih )
Semoga ia dapat dihafaz dan di amalkan oleh semua wanita Muslimah, Cuma jangan lupa bahawa doa ini bersoifat tawassul dengan amal soleh anda, iaitu apabila diikat dengan imannya dengan Allah s.w.t dan RasulNya dan telah dijaga kehormatannya dan sudah tentu auratnya.
Justeru, seolah-olah kemaqbulan doa ini juga diikat tentang kewajiban untuk beriman dengan Allah dan rasulNya dan menutup aurat anda. Tanpanya, doa ini masih amat digalakkan untuk dilakukan, cuma jaminan seolah-olah lebih pasti bagi yang apa yang dikatanya (dalam doa ini) menepati apa yang sebenarnya penampilan fizikal anda.
Justeru, jika berbaju kebaya terbelah, baju sendat menampakkan susuk tubuh, berpakaian nipis seolah telanjang, bersolek canggih seperti artis bukan Islam..sudah tentu doa ini sahaja belum cukup mampu menjaga anda. Bukan kerana Allah s.w.t tidak mampu, tetapi Allah s.w.t tidak anggap wanita itu layak dek kerana kedegilannya sendiri.'

~i quoted a few ending words from ustaz too. just as a reminder. fikir-fikirkanlah. saya ni pun bukanlah baik sangat nak menasihati orang, still dalam usaha nak memperbaiki diri jugak lagi. sama-sama la kita saling ingat-mengingati, kay... wallahualam.

Monday, November 29, 2010

not my style. full stop.

not that i'm a stylish person.
okay, to elaborate on the topic, i posted this on my facebook status a few days ago: 'i'm sorry, but i'm not going to use my appearance to snatch a man. that's just not my style'.
sounds like i was lashing out at somebody, isn't it? the answer is yes.
at the risk of having that certain someone reading this (which i highly doubt), that was me trying to answer her (yes, it's a she!) when i couldn't do that verbally right to her face. so, i did that on fb shoutout, instead. you know me, i told you previously, i'm not good at responding verbally to people. i'm more the kind of a person who swallows it at the time and argues it over in my head (or in facebook) later.
so, okay, the origin of that statement. the cause of it is because i grew tired of that certain someone bragging me about getting married. haha.. what a topic. you'd thought i've grown over that, didn't you? as a matter of fact, i have. apparently, however, people around me haven't.
she kept on provoking me to look more, shall i say, presentable to guys, wear some make-up, dress in a more flashing, atttraction-seeking clothes, talk softer (to men, of course!), walk slower, behave more like a dara pingitan than the selamba, suka-hati-aku-la-nak-buat-apa-nak-cakap-macam-mana-apa-kau-kisah kind of girl that i am. and the list goes on..
i take it her intention is good. she's worried about me being single when the rest of my friends there are all married and happily snuggling their babies (ignore the sarcastic note there, sorry) and snuggling their husbands (not necessarily in that order, ignore the sarcasm again, please). there. i sounded angry. finally. i mean, come on. is that all that a woman's duty in this world got to do? find a man?
yeah, i know it's nature. dah Tuhan jadikan benda tu fitrah, who am i to go against it? and no, i'm not going to go against it, at all. i do want to get married someday, have children. make my family happy. be the best, loving, muslimah wife and mother that i can be. i love babies. and toddlers. and even my overly-talkative, too-fast-growing-up nieces and overly-brilliant, also-too-fast-growing-up nephews. heh. which could be prove enough that i love children. i do want that. most heartedly (is that even an existing word? never mind). i mean, wholeheartedly, yeah.
but, it takes time. and how long it's gonna be is not for me to decide. tu ketentuan Dia. why is it so hard for people to understand?
yeah, you can say that i can hasten the process by being more presentable to guys, wear make-up, dress flashier, talk softer and mushier, behave and walk slower, but heck, i'm sorry, that is totally not me.
and seriously, is that even the right thing to do? is that what our religion urges us, muslim women to do? parade ourselves for men to choose? certainly not and i know you agree with me.
for the time being, i'm happy being the way i am. i found love that matters and that's the only thing i'm working out for now. the love that matters here and in the hereafter. Alhamdulillah, Allah guides me through. Alhamdulillah, He protected me from being trapped in empty love during these 26 years of me breathing in this world. and i pray He'll continue to protect me in the future, insya Allah.
i found a purpose in my life now, and i'm working towards it. there is something better for a woman to do than trying to bat her eyelashes to make a man fall flat on his face, drooling over her. yes, quite a yucky description, but hey, i am an overly-imaginative person. heh. so yeah, i have better thing to do with my life.
so there, i'm sorry again, but i'm not going to use my appearance to snatch a man. that is not a muslimah's style and despite what you might see, i'm really trying to be one. a true muslimah. end of discussion.
verses that made me smile today, despite the bragging:
'Dan lagi wahai kaumku! Siapakah yang akan menolongku dari azab Allah jika aku menghalau mereka? Maka mengapa kamu tidak mahu ingatkan kekuasaan Allah? (30) Dan aku tidak pernah berkata kepada kamu: Di sisiku ada perbendaharaan Allah, dan tidaklah aku mendakwa mengetahui perkara-perkara yang ghaib dan aku tidak mengatakan bahawa aku ini malaikat dan aku juga tidak berkata terhadap orang-orang yang beriman yang kamu pandang hina itu, bahawa Allah tidak akan memberi kebaikan kepada mereka. Allah lebih mengetahui akan apa yang ada di dalam hati mereka. Sesungguhnya aku jika bertindak demikian, nescaya menjadilah aku dari orang-orang yang zalim. (31)'
~ ayat 30 dan 31, surah Hud.