Salji Semalam

Snow in College Green, Bristol
Pic credit : Momad

Salji semalam,
Terurai senandung ilham,
Andai insan sanggup berbekam,
Menyuci hati hitam nan kelam,
Membersih dosa-dosa semalam.

Salji semalam,
Laksana Iman Ku Umpama,
Bila lebat - kan timbul putihnya,
Jika renyai - kan cair tanda alpa,
Melicin denai menagih waspada.

Salji semalam,
Laksana Iman Ku Umpama,
Datangnya dihambat ribut melintang,
Jarang diusung bayu menatang.
Salji semalam,
Laksana Iman Ku Umpama,
Indahnya tak terhibur setiap insan,
Anak-anak suci - ketawa riang,
Dewasa benci - kecewa berang.

Salji semalam,
Laksana mukmin ku umpama,
Tersurat meninggalkan bumi Tuhan,
Menghidup tanah yang kering punah,
Memekar kuntum semerbak harum.

Bath Royal United Hospital, 03/02/2009

The Story of the Sorcerer, the Monk, the Boy and Those Who were forced to enter the Ditch

The story of ashabul-uhdud.

"Verily, those who put into trial the believing men and believing women, and then do not turn in repentence, then they will have the torment of Hell, and they will have the punishment of the burning Fire."

Surah Al-Buruj, ayah 10.

Imam Ahmad recorded from Suhayb that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسل said,

"Among the people who came before you, there was a king who had a sorcerer, and when the sorcerer became old, he said to the king, 'I have become old and my time is nearly over, so please send me a boy whom I can teach magic.'

So he (the king) sent him a boy and the sorcerer taught him magic. Whenever the boy went to the sorcerer, he sat with a monk who was on the way and listened to his speech and admired them.

So when he went to the sorcerer, he passed by the monk and sat there with him; and on visiting the sorcerer the latter (the sorcerer) would thrash him. So the boy complained about this to the monk.

The monk said to him, ' Whenever you are afraid of the sorcerer, say to him: 'My people kept me busy.' And whenever you are afraid of your people, say to them: 'The sorcerer kept me busy.' So the boy carried on like that (for some time).

Then a huge terrible creature appeared on the road and the poeple were unable to pass by. The boy said, 'Today I shall know whether the sorcerer is better or the monk is better.'

So he took a stone and said, 'O Allah! If the deeds and actions of the monk are liked by You better than those of the sorcerer, then kill this creature so that the people can cross (the road).' Then he struck it with a stone killing it and the people passed by on the road.

The boy came to the monk and informed him about it. The monk said to him, 'O my son! Today you are better than I, and you have achieved what I see! You will be put to trial. And in case you are put to trial, do not inform (them) about me.'

The boy used to treat the people suffering from congenital blindness, leprosy, and other diseases. There was a courtier of the king who had become blind and he heard about the boy. He came and brought a number of gifts for the boy and said, 'All these gifts are for you on the condition that you cure me.'

The boy said, 'I do not cure anybody; it is only Allah who cures people. So, if you believe in Allah and supplicate to Him, He will cure you.' So he believed and supplicated to Allah, and Allah cured him.

Later, the courtier came to the king and sat at the place where he used to sit before. The king said, 'Who gave you back your sight?'

The courtier replied, 'My Lord.'

The king then said, 'I did?'

The courtier said, 'My Lord and your Lord - Allah'

The king said, 'Do you have another Lord besied me?'

The courtier said, 'Yes, your Lord and my Lord is Allah.'

The king tortured him and did not stop until he told him about the boy. So the boy was brought to the king and he said to him, 'O boy! Has your magic reached to the extent that you cure congenital blindness, leprosy and other diseases?'

He said, 'I do not cure anyone. Only Allah can cure.'

The king said, 'Me?'

The boy replied, 'No.'

The king asked, 'Do you have another Lord besides me?'

The boy answered, 'My Lord and your Lord is Allah.'

So he tortured him also until he told about the monk. Then the monk was brought to him and the king said to him, 'Abandon your religion.'

The monk refused and so the king ordered a saw to be brought which was placed in the middle of his head and he fell, sawn in two.

Then it was said to the man who used to be blind, 'Abandon your religion.' He refused to do so, and so a saw was brought and placed in the middle of his head and he fell, sawn in two.

Then the boy was brought nd it was said to him, ' Abandon your religion.'
He refused and so the king sent him to the top of such and such mountain with some people. He told the people, 'Ascend to the mountain with him till you reach its peak, then see if he abandons his religion; otherwise throw him from the top.'

They took him and when they ascended to the top, he said, 'O Allah! Save me from them by any means that You wish.' So the mountain shook and they all fell down and the boy came back walking to the king.

The king said, 'What did your companions (the people I sent with you) do?'

The boy said, 'Allah saved me from them.'

So the king ordered some people to take the boy on a boat to the middle of the sea, saying, 'If he renounces his religion (well and good), but if he refuses, drown him.' So they took him to sea and he said, 'O Allah! Save me from them by any means that you wish.' So they were all drowned in the sea.

Then the boy returned to the king and the king said, 'What did your companions (the people I sent with you) do?'

The boy said, 'Allah saved me from them.'

Then he said to the king, 'You will not be able to kill me until you do as I order you. And if you do as I order you, you will be able to kill me.'

The king asked, 'And what is that?'

The boy said, 'Gather the people in one elevated place and tie me to the trunk of a tree; then take an arrow from my quiver and say, 'In the Name of Allah, the Lord of the boy.' If you do this, you will be able to kill me.'

So he did this and placing an arrow in the bow, he shot it, saying, 'In the Name of Allah, the Lord of the boy.' The arrow hit the boy in the temple, and the boy placed his hand over the arrow wound and died.

The people proclaimed, 'We believe in the Lord of the boy!'

Then it was said to the king, 'Do you see what has happened? That which you feared has taken place. By Allah, all the people have believed (in the Lord of the boy).'


So he ordered that ditches be dug at the entrances to the roads, and it was done, and fires were kindled in them. Then the king said, 'Whoever abandons his religion, let him go, and whoever does not, throw him into the fire.'

They were struggling and scuffling in the fire, until a woman and her baby whom she was breastfeeding came and it was as if she was being somewhat hesitant of falling into the fire, so her baby said to her, 'Be patient mother! For verily, you are following the truth!'"

This hadith was also recorded by Imam Muslim at the end of the Sahih.




Had an interesting meeting today. Amongst others, we reminded ourselves of a story which was unfortunately quite distant in my memory at the time of the meet.

So I decided to remind myself :)

Pics credit: Al-Jazeera, BBC News

Return of the Pharaoh

"The Vision

I do not know how but I fell asleep while invoking Allah, and it was then that I experienced the first of four visions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) that I was to see during my stay in prison. There in front of me, praise be to Allah, was a vast desert and camels with hawdahs as if made of light. On each hawdah were four men, all with luminous faces. I found myself behind this huge train of camels in that vast, endless desert, and standing behind a great reverent man. This man was holding a halter which passed through the neck of each camel. I wondered silently:
Could this man be the Prophet (peace be upon him)?

Silence has no safeguard with the Prophet, who replied: 'Zainab! You are following the footsteps of Muhammad, Allah's Servant and Messenger.' ....

.... I woke up feeling I owned the world. "

Above was an extract from the book Return of the Pharaoh by Zainab Al-Ghazali (1917-2005). Return of the Pharaoh is an autobiographical piece of literature which tells the story in first person the prison tortures and humiliation that occured during the reign of Jamal Abdul Nasir's regime.

What's her contribution to Islam till she was blessed with such an honour (dream above)? As related by the author, she was whipped, flogged, tortured using savage dogs and snakes, forced to stand for days, immersed in cold water for hours etc. All was done to coerce the members of the Muslim Brotherhood into giving false allegations. Not content with tortures, Nasir's goons resorted to various trickery and worldly offers (including ministership) which were all rejected with great Iman and dignity.

This book opened my eye towards 2 contrasting situation.

On one side, a supremely unyielding, unbending, sagaciously vehement Iman potrayed by the torturees.

On the other, how a person (the torturers) can lack even an iota of humanity, let alone 'Belief'.

*Spoiler* In the end, the torturees won... you just can't beat 'this people'. Either they win the battle, or they die in the pleasure of Allah. How can one lose? :)

All in all, a very well translated version of the book, excellent reading and relatively short. Although the tortures tend to be repetitive (graphical but suitably gruesome), it was told (and translated) in such a way that the repetitions were lost in 'transliteration'. A must read for those who want to understand the history of contemporary Islamic movement.

It has roughly 200 pages but I finished it in a total time of no more than half a day. Just as a proof; it is 'quite' good :)

Zikir kosong / Zikr Allah

"Jangan meninggalkan zikir
kerana engkau belum selalu ingat kepada Allah sewaktu zikir

Sebab kelalaian kamu terhadap Allah ketika tidak berzikir
lebih berbahaya dari kelalaian kamu terhadap Allah semasa berzikir

Semoga Allah menaikkan darjat kamu
daripada zikir dengan kelalaian
kepada zikir yang disertai sedar (ingat) kepada Allah

Kemudian naik pula dari zikir dengan kesedaran ingat
kepada zikir yang disertai rasa hadir

Dan dari zikir yang disertai rasa hadir kepada Allah
kepada lupa terhadap segala sesuatu selain Allah

Dan yang demikian itu bagi Allah tidak sukar"

Hikmah 47, Hikam Ibnu Ata'illah

Duduk termangu sebelum mega subuh mencuit, teringat (zikr)... Cantik hikam nih... cantik lagi benar, subhanallah :)

Allah al-Mighty - Missing lake

One of the many lakes in Magallanes region in Southern Chile, Lake Pehoe

Dried up lake in Magallanes - sink-hole effect?

Missing: Large lake in southern Chile


Wed Jun 20, 6:44 PM ET

SANTIAGO - A lake in southern Chile has mysteriously disappeared, prompting speculation the ground has simply opened up and swallowed it whole.

The lake was situated in the Magallanes region in Patagonia and was fed by water, mostly from melting glaciers.

It had a surface area of between 4 and 5 hectares (10-12 acres) -- about the size of 10 soccer pitches.

"In March we patrolled the area and everything was normal ... we went again in May and to our surprise we found the lake had completely disappeared," said Juan Jose Romero, regional director of Chile's National Forestry Corporation CONAF.

"The only things left were chunks of ice on the dry lake-bed and an enormous fissure," he told Reuters.

CONAF is investigating the disappearance.

One theory is that the area was hit by an earth tremor that opened a crack in the ground which acted like a drain.

Southern Chile has been shaken by thousands of minor earth tremors this year. (Reuters)

taken from http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070620/sc_nm/chile_lake_dc