Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Good Health

by AhmedGood Health is an oft forgotten blessing and MercyFrom our Lord and Creator Allah AlmightyNot being able to hide behind a maskOn the day of judgement we will be taken to taskDid you use for good this health?Or were you too busy acquiring wealth?Whilst you were young you were strong and ableToo scared to take on the Muslim labelInstead you chose to chill and relaxIn your prayers and

Ode to repression

No, not in the political sense, in the psychological one... Just thought I'd share a piece of an excellent Siwi poem that struck me as characteristically North African, with a theme reminding me strongly of Dahmane el Harrachi's song "Khabbi serrek yalghafel" (Hide your secret, neglectful one). Obviously, it doesn't work as well in my attempt at translation, but here goes:
Whatever you can, tie up and hide,
Don't give anyone a secret, on any side,
Just swallow it, it won't hurt inside.
If you let it out, it'll do the rounds.
Keep what happens to you underground,
By God alone to be finally found.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Mufti Ismail Menk

Mufti Ismail Menk of Zimbabwe commenced hifz at the tender age of nine years and completed at the age of twelve. He studied Arabic, Urdu and the Hanafi Mazhab from a young age with his father Maulana Musa Menk who graduated in Mazahirul Uloom Shahjahanpur under Hazrat Shaikh Maulana Zakaria (Rahmatullahi Alaihi) in the late 1950’s.Having studied the Hanafi Mazhab he then went on to study at the

Friday, April 25, 2008

Failures

“We learn little from our succeses, but a lot from our failures”Arab proverb

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Close Friend

Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,"A man follows the religion of his close friend, so each of you should be very careful about whom he takes as a close friend."[Abu Dawud and at-Tirmidhi]

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Update from Siwa

Hi everybody! I'm in Siwa, and things are going well. The oasis is so much bigger and more prosperous than Tabelbala it seems almost decadent by comparison; its lakes and its expanses of groves suggest some idea of what Tabelbala's environment might have been like at its peak. The language is in no immediate danger; while some words are disappearing due to the great change in lifestyle, not only do children all seem to speak Siwi as a first language, but a substantial portion of the Shihaybat Bedouin settled in the western edge of Siwa learn it as a second one. However, the declining popularity of music at weddings may to some degree be threatening the vigorous local tradition of Siwi-language poetry. As Vycichl noted, Siwi has grammatically conditioned stress; in fact, you could argue that case is marked in Siwi by stress shifts. Siwi is definitely not mutually comprehensible with Kabyle, by the way - I've now tested this in both directions - nor with any Moroccan variety, according to local watchers of Moroccan satellite channels. Gara is also an interesting place - a much poorer, smaller oasis a hundred-odd km off, inhabited by mainly black people speaking Siwi. I've been there, but unfortunately security regulations more or less preclude spending the night.

The Bedouin Arabic of western Egypt is also of some interest. It is remarkably conservative, though not as much so as the dialects of Najd - it has a fully productive dual, distinguishes masculine and feminine plurals (both for verbal and adjectival agreement), and still has most short vowels. Technically, it shares some of the defining innovations of Maghrebi Arabic, in particular the 1st person plural n-...-uu; but it sounds scarcely closer to Algerian than even Cairene Arabic. They write a lot of poetry, some of it rather good. Inconveniently but interestingly, it appears that most Arabic influence on Siwi derives neither from their dialect nor from Cairene.

On a final note, anyone interested in medieval Berber history (there must be someone...) will recall the rather large Huwwara tribe (from which Houari Boumedienne ultimately got his nom de guerre). It turns out they're still very much around in the western Delta and even Upper Egypt, although they all speak Arabic now, as they had already begun to do in Ibn Khaldun's time; I met a Huwwari just the other day.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Blame

People of the world don't look at themselves, and so they blame one another.Maulana Rumi

Monday, April 7, 2008

Pagi dan Air

Kehebohan nyaris terjadi. Padahal waktu itu masih pagi. Ya sekitar jam 4:00 dinihari. Waktu adzan shubuh masih berapa menit lagi. Biasanya aku sudah mandi, dan siap mengenakan pakaian kantor. Kalau masih sempat sholat tahajjud aku sholat dulu sebelum mandi.

Air di kran tidak ‘ngucur’. Bagaimana mau wudhu? Sementara, tidur semalaman membuat keinginan untuk buang air kecil, besar sekali. Tidak kuat untuk ditahan. Air kencing pagi hari yang beraroma khas ”amoniak” tsb pun terpaksa dibuang ke closet. Untunglah air untuk ”flush” masih tersisa. Cress... Bau ”amoniak”pun sirna.

Tak lama istri dan anak bangun. Mau minum, air aqua di dispenser ternyata habis. Yang mau buang hajat? Wah repot sekali... tidak ada air.

Pagi itu satu cluster perumahanku, mati air. Informasi dari Satpam, air PAM mati, karena semalam ada kebocoran di pipa utama yang mensuplai air ke cluster. Walhasil, petugas PAM semalamam menutup saluran pipa sebelum masuk ke clusterku. Menurut petugasnya kerusakan baru bisa diperbaiki dalam 1 sampai 2 hari. Aduh! Pembantu di lantai 1, nanya: ”Bu... pagi ini ngak nyuci ya…?” ”Ya… mau gimana lagi ?” jawab istriku.

Karena adzan sudah dekat, aku buru-buru nyetir mobil ke Masjid, bawa rombongan. Biar wudhu’ di masjid saja. Di jalan menuju keluar cluster perumahan, ada rumah yang dikunjungi banyak orang. Rupanya disana rumah yang pakai ”double gardan”, selain pakai PAM, juga pakai air tanah yang disedot pompa. Beruntung yang punya rumah sangat dermawan. Berjejer para ibu dan pembantu tetangga-tetangga sekitar mengisi air di ember-ember. Pembantuku pun kusuruh kesana.

Pagi itu benar-benar repot. Air tidak ada buat kebutuhan mandi, nyuci, masak, MCK. Mana toilet jadi bau, karena sebahis ”dipakai” anak-anak. Air minum di dispenser pun habis.

Pagi dan Air di Al-Quran

Mengenai kejadian ini, aku jadi teringat sebuah surat di Al-Quran yaitu surat Al-Mulk (67) ayat 30:

Qul araytum in ashbaha maaukum ghauraan

Kebetulan, aku sudah & sedang kursus bahasa Arab, jadi dikit-dikit bisalah nerjemahin, kalimat tsb. Tarjamah letterleijk:

Katakanlah (hai Muhammad): ”Jelaskan kepadaku jika pada pagi hari air kalian menjadi kering”.

Disini dikatakan: in ashbaha, jika pada pagi hari menjadilah ...

Kata ashbaha satu akar kata dengan kata as-subh (waktu subuh).

Aku merasakan sekali, bagaimana repotnya kehilangan semua air pada pagi hari... Jezz... terasa baget ayat ini... in ashbaha maaukum ghauran... jika pada pagi hari menjadilah airmu kering...

Dalam bahasa Arab, ayat ini bisa ditulis dalam redaksi lain: in kaana maaukum ghauran... jika menjadilah airmu kering...

Mungkin ini hikmahnya, mengapa Allah tidak menggunakan kata kaana, yang secara fungsi dan arti sama dengan ashbaha, yaitu menjadi (to become) akan tetapi ashbaha spesifik untuk kejadian-kejadian yang terjadi pagi hari.

Aku juga ingat lantunan merdu Syaikh Al-Matrud... fa ashbahat ka assariim... Ini tentang kisah orang yang menemukan kebunnya rusak terbakar, kering dan menghitam pada pagi hari. Hanya karena mereka tidak menyebut: Insya Allah. Dan mereka bakhil terhadap si miskin. Dikatakan: fa ashbahat ka assariim - menjadilah diwaktu pagi (kebun mereka itu kering) seperti malam yang sangat gelap. Ya, kebun mereka pagi hari menjadi (asbhahat) kering seperti gelapnya malam, itu sepenggal kisah di surat Al-Qalam (68) ayat 20.

Ya Allah... kenapa musti pagi ini, air dirumahku kering? Kenapa gak ditunda siang hari saja? Biar pembantuku selesai dulu nyuci. Biar anak-anak mandi dulu dan kesekolah. Biar aku bebersih dulu sebelum ke kantor. Biar istriku bisa masak makanan dulu buat makan siang dan malam. Biar toiletku jadi gak bau... Biar... duh... Banyak sekali protes di hati...

Akhirnya, aku sampai pada lanjutan ayat ini.

faman ya’tiikum bi maa-in ma’iin

maka, siapakah yang akan mendatangkan kepadamu air yang mengalir? bi maa-in ma’iin. (air yang mengalir, memancar). Kata ma’iin, satu akar dengan kata mu’iin (yang menolong). Duh... aku memang butuh pertolonganMu ya Allah.. Beri aku air yang ma’iin, dan yang mu’iin.

Pagi itu, benar-benar aku resapi satu ayat di surat Al-Mulk ini.

Qul araytum in ashbaha maaukum ghauraan
faman ya’tiikum bi maa-in ma’iin


Jelaskanlah, jika pada suatu pagi air (ditempatmu) kering? Maka siapakah yang mampu mendatangkan air yang mengalir?

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Pregnancy in Islam

After some time has elapsed, the couple desire that Allah Taa'la bless them with a child and thus through marital consummation Allah Taa'la grants their wish. The first stage that follows is that of pregnancy. A person should not be ashamed of being pregnant or treat it as a big burden, as there are many beautiful virtues and rewards for being pregnant.Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said