DEVELOPMENT OF BOYS MADRASAH IN KUALA KELAWANG IN IMAGES

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 ROUTE

LOT

PHASE ONE

CLASSES DORMITORIES AND DINING PLACE

MAY 2015

AUG 2015

SEPTEMBER 2015

OCTOBER 2015

NOV 2015

DECEMBER 2015



FEBRUARY 2016

PHASE TWO
STAFF QUARTERS, GUESTHOUSE AND TUCK SHOP

JUNE 2016

PHASE 3 SURAU

2017

Essence of All Essences

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The angels are created from light. They are pure beings incapable of doing any wrong. Each created with specific purpose and diligently executes it to perfection. Iblis, the father of jins was created from fire and hence hold a higher station than Adam as, father of men, who was created from clay. Outwardly, men assumed to be the most inferior of the three. Yet, Allah swt describes men as beings capable of transcending the angels and jins. On what criterion has Allah swt measures their stations and by what means do men achieve this zenith?  

Allah swt created time and space, and sprinkles His greatness and His Omni-attributes on each and every of His creations, big and small. From the galactic synchronous orbital motions of the planets, the moon and the earth to the complex inter-cellular links in the body, therein contain His signs. Love, just, mercy, forgiving, beneficent, true, trust, giving, pure and beauty are among the essences of His Greatness. In order to develop a relationship with Him, men have to recognize, embrace and nurture these essences and reflect them through their actions towards Him and towards their fellow creations (Hablu minAllah Habl minAnnas). Establishing such a relationship is the one and only purpose of men’s creation and existence. A divine slave-master relationship in the form of ubudiyah -  to believe, to totally submit, to remember, to worship, to obey, to love, to be close to and to die for. Not to recognize His attributes and to turn our back on them is an act of injustice (Zulum) of the highest order; not to Allah swt but to their own souls.

The essence of all essences is love (Hubb).

Allah swt frequently chose love to describe His relationship with man.

Allah says, 'Say if you verily love Allah, then follow me (Muhammad). Allah will love you and forgive your sins. And Allah is the Most Forgiving and Most Merciful’. 

However, love needs chemistry. It is a requisite of love for A to love B, and B to love A back. For true love to exist there must be a free flow of this essence between the two - mutual and sharing. If B turns to C instead, the equilibrium is shattered. The affair between A and B has become merely physics. That is why associating partners has become severely offensive to Him that he is willing to forgive all other sins but this.

Allah swt bestowed upon the human beings, three inner essentials namely intellect, choice and ability to endure hardship. Choice is not granted to the angels. As for the jinn, Allah swt gave them choice and hardship but little in the way of intellect.

So, how can these three elements executes themselves within man to make them hold superiority above the angels and jinn?

Intellect is capacity to think and acquire knowledge. When Allah intended to create Adam (as), the angels were worried. They asked. 'Why do you want to create another species that would cause bloodshed and corruption, as was in the case of jinn before? Allah swt replied, 'Verily I know what you know not'. Allah swt then taught Adam names. When Adam spoke in front of the angels, they realized that Adam was bestowed with the intellect and knowledge that were not granted to them. Adam thinks and capable of acquiring knowledge.

Emotions emanate from deep thoughts. One has to think to love. Love may blind a person but love is not blind. A man cannot truly love his newlywed wife if he does not think of her. During moments of temporary separation, his mind will ponder over her essence. Her smiles, her laughter, and the joy she brings into his life. If there are no such thoughts towards her companion, then how can there be love? (Of course, this romance does not last forever. This only confirms the temporary nature of life in this world.) On the other hand, the angels do not think like men. In spite of them worshiping Allah in such an incredible manners by way of sajda and ruku' and continuously for thousands of years, they lack the element of thoughts. They are great servants of Allah swt but Allah swt desires a deeper relationship. Allah swt wants a species whose heart and mind are totally engrossed in His essence and desiring to be close to Him. Such degree of love can only come from this highly emotional creature called man and not from the angels.

             Allah says, 'Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth. They said, 'Our Lord! Thou hast not created this in vain! Glory be to Thee, save us then from the chastisement of the fire'.  

Secondly, it is choice. When a man wants to get married he would want a woman who chose him in spite of having other options. If she had no choice but to marry him then the marriage would not be rated highly in the scale of romance. The angels have no choice. They have been created with specific purpose and carries out the task diligently but with no emotions. Allah loves them and they love Allah. But again, He wants a deeper relationship. Allah wants love by choice. When man loves Allah it is by choice. He is given to choose otherwise. And Allah persuades man to choose Him.

              Allah says, 'There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing.'

Thirdly, it is the ability to endure hardship. Human beings are born into hardship. A new born cries when he comes out of his mother's womb, and loudly too. A scholar once said that when a baby pops out from the womb, he cries because he sees hardship facing him in this new life. So much time and effort are needed just to learn the fundamentals of survivals. Human baby has to be caressed and breastfed while a blind kitten independently crawls towards its mother's teats. A new born calf could stand and walk the very same day. Human baby wet himself and need others to get him washed and dried. He feels cold and need others to cloth him. Without these helps he cannot survive. When he grows up and requires lesser care from the parents, his dependency does not reduce but rather switches towards the society around him. Man finds difficulties to survive alone. That is why they moved away from the jungle and flooded the cities, in spite of the latter proving to be a more hostile place. When you are born with nothing, and every single thing you need has to be acquired, that is hardship. Whatever you seek in life have to come through great self-determination and hard work. It is through these hardships that man develops noble qualities and transcends all other creations, including the angels.

And so it follows that true love, too, cannot come without hardship. When the mother gives birth to a child, her love and attachment to the child are more than the father's. This is because the mother went through great amount of pains and hardships from the moment the she began her pregnancy until her delivery. The delivery itself is the pinnacle of all worries and pain. But the entire hardships are traded with ultimate love and joy of the moment she behold the sight of her new born.

The father hardly faces any of these hardships except for the worry of the hospital bills (even then, some mothers get their aid from the local council).

So hardship is a prerequisite of real love.  If man channel his energy towards Allah swt and undergoes hardships and suppressing their desires all for His sake, his love towards Him shall transcend all other loves.

Allah says, ' Those who strive in our path we surely guides them towards our ways'

The angels do not face hardships. They are as they were from the moment of their creation. They have been bestowed with the selective qualities and made no effort to achieve them. By virtue of man attainment of relationships via hardships, it makes their relationships truer.

 Summarily, in His infinite wisdom, granting of these essentials to man - intellect, choice and hardship - is part of the divine plan for men to generate an apex of true and divine relationship with his Creator. A relationship far exceeds that of the angels. Allah swt has showered the sky, the land and sea with His divine essence of love, just, mercy, forgiving, beneficent, true, trust, giving, pure and beauty. These essences are embraced and nurtured by virtuous man who chose Allah as his friends and, in turn, reflects these essences to all other creations in the universe (Khalifah). These men have served their purpose of existence. For them shall be gardens underneath which rivers flow - streams of milk, honey, pure wine and water. Damsels await them, whose beauties no eyes have seen, no ears have heard and no hearts have ever imagined. They have fulfilled the purpose of their existence and they longed for the Face of their Allah while waiting for the life hereafter.

Allah swt says, 'And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a provision of fruit there from, they will say, "This is what we were provided with before." And it is given to them in likeness. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally.'

Let us think and ponder for what purpose do we walk the earth. Let us think and make a choice. Then let us work hard on the path we chose.

May Allah accept all of us to be among the blessed people who have made the right choice in the way they lived their lives. The life that bought them the pleasure and love of Allah swt. Ameen.

 Allah swt says, ' Verily Allah has purchased from the believers their life and their wealth in lieu of Jannah'.

When Thinking Stops

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 “Recite, in the name of your Sustainer who created man from a clot of blood.” This is the first commandment of Allah swt to His beloved prophet Muhammad (saw) - to one who could not read or write.

Initiating His message with the word ‘Recite’ speaks volumes of its importance. And since Allah swt  has also said that He has guided many from the Quran and misled many from the same, it is imperative that one has to recite in His Name. Before going further, although the article starts with a verse from Al Quran, it is not intended to make tafseer of the verse(as the author is not a scholar) but merely to highlight the significance of the word 'read' or 'recite'.In human science, reading triggers a process of mental exercise transcending all other efforts (lifting, swinging, walking, etc.) of a human body. From reading, the mind subsequently memorises, understands, analyses and finally creates images of the recited text. These images allow the mind to evaluate on the usefulness of the text and to act accordingly. They are also stored for future references and cross references.

In spite of being relatively small, the brain consumed quite a substantial amount of energy to process these words into images. It has been understood that, at a given time, the energy consumed by a thinking brain is about 20% of the total energy required to maintain all the faculties of the human body. Also, each step of the effort is in itself a skill development process. Memorising, understanding, analysing and pondering are all separate intellectual skills and are of different levels. It is integrated into a system of neural networking termed as thinking.

A person who recites and thinks and, to the end, good actions emanate from his limbs has actually undergone an exclusive process where all other creations are deprived of. A saying goes, ‘I think, therefore I am’.  It is this very intellectual capability that differentiates man from other creations including the angels and jinns.

When Allah swt intended to create Adam (as), there were objections from two main parties namely the angels and Iblis. Given that the angels were made from light and Iblis from fire while Adam was from clay, they hold superiority over Adam. The objection from the angels was more of a concern in nature as past experience had shown the undesirable responses from the jinns. It was a simple ignorance. The angels questioned Allah swt as to why would He create another being that would cause corruption and bloodshed on earth; the mistakes made by the jinns before. Allah swt replied " Verily, I know what you know not". According to some scholars, what the angels initially did not know was the unprecedented bestowing of the intellectual capacity to human being - knowledge and ability to think and evaluate. After Adam (as) displayed his ability, they realised and admitted their ignorance. And on His command, they wilfully prostrated before Adam (as). On the other hand, the objection of Iblis was of self dignity. Up to then, he transcended the angels and lived in the companies of Allah swt due to his immaculate past records. After all he was made from fire while Adam was from clay. The creation of Adam challenged his status. It was too much to swallow. His compound ignorance has caused him to be haughty and refused to prostrate before Adam(as) when he was commanded to do so.

Compound ignorance is an intellectual state in which one is convinced that one knows certain things while in reality he knows absolutely nothing of the matter. This is the worst form as compared to simple ignorance where one realizes the fact that one does not know. Compound ignorance is not about the measure of physical matters but rather related to the ailment of the heart, namely arrogance and egos - the characters described by Allah swt of Iblis.  The power of reciting and triggering the thinking process is an act hence not to be underestimated.

In the advent of technology, the children of the world today have been presented with devices which readily process and display images. (Familiar with the term idiot box?) They spend time on the device endlessly scanning the images. Apparently, the human nation has progressed. After all, there is a saying which goes, “A picture paints a thousand words”. Seemingly, all is well. However, in their zeal to find short term solutions to do things in easier ways, man sometimes bypasses essential steps leading them in a completely reverse direction.

When one adopts image recognition instead of reading, one bypasses the all important integrated process of thinking. The brain has stopped exercising and training itself to memorise, understands, analyse and evaluates. In other words, the most vital organ of the body has stopped functioning in the way it should. Prolonged state of idleness lead to its dysfunctional and underdevelopment and eventually end in idiocy and worst, compound ignorance. In utter disillusion, man thought that he has reached higher stations while in actual fact he has plunged into the abyss. This has great repercussions. When the mind is dead the person no longer thinks. When he stops thinking, he no longer exists as a man and has lost the privilege of saying, “I am”. He has to be associated with “it” – together with the rest of the lower members of the animal kingdom.

Even in the academia, we have witnessed such degeneration amongst the majority of the seekers of knowledge - how they just stopped thinking. Given a task, they do follow the procedure favourably, sometimes with detail and excellence. This is a clear evidence of 'excellent training' in image recognition. However, they failed when they are requested to take an alternative path to achieve the same objective. They recognised the instructions well. But they have lost the ability to think and recreate another path to the solution. A few do try to show some creativity. However, given their dysfunctional processors, the outcome can be quite disappointing and sometimes hilarious.The teachers are not totally to be blamed. Neither are the parents nor the society, nor everyone else. In actual fact, the students have never stopped studying. They have just stopped thinking. Not because they do not want to think. They have simply lost the ability to think. They have lost the ability to think because their brains have, from childhood, spend most of the time scanning images. Reading has become an ancient practice. A poetry book on a table appears like a specimen from the Jurassic period.  Whether it is a conspiracy or a good scientific invention, the box has made them idiots. To make matters worse, now it is not only the television. It has its brethren in the form of personal computers, cell phone, pads and the list goes on. All intertwined in a powerful network of electronic communication called internet.

What does this do to the Muslim?

Firstly, it affects our basic daily practices. Let alone memorising, understanding, pondering over its meaning, we have even stopped reading the Quran. Image scanning is more fun. Reading one page of Quran is more difficult than one day on the ‘YouTube’. Image scanning does not burn the 20% of our energy.

Secondly, in the context of aqeedah - recognising the oneness of Allah swt - image recognition has a reverse effect as to reciting or reading. Some of the Fiqh scholars of the past have instituted that creating certain images is forbidden (Haraam). There are reasons for this. In the past, the believers used to follow their guides (prophets or pious people) while the latter were alive. After their death, rather than continuing with the reciting of the inherited scriptures, the followers would instead create a physical image of their guides. It is intended to remind them of their teachings and to maintain spiritual closeness to them. However, the subsequent generations began to lose sight of the purpose and began physically decorating the image. They replaced the word ‘fear’ by image of long moustache pointing sideways. The word ‘wrath’ by image of teeth with long sharp incisors. They would replace the word of “Rahmah and Barakah” with image of big round belly and bald head. When they ran out of space to fill up the image, they would create another one to supplement other attributes. And eventually they would worship these images rather than turning to Allah swt directly. Hence, polytheism (Shirk) comes into existence. The pagan Arabs never stopped worshipping Allah. But their minds cannot comprehend how God can be One and that He is not ‘on the ground’, i.e. not tangible. The images created by their forefathers were deeply entrenched in their souls and were not easy to undo. Hence, they have Allah – and others, too. Presently, in a similar fashion, imaging has rather a profound reverse effect. Instead of reading and pondering over His words and reflecting His greatness through the mirror of our thoughts and mind, we vainly spend time capturing and filing images. Such images are put up everywhere – on the walls, backgrounds, etc. We unconsciously generate our own idols.

Thirdly, it is a highly sophisticated weapon. Evildoers of higher orders create wars and profit from it. There are three fundamental elements that make up a society, namely, the people, the dwellings and the field to plough. Nuclear weapon destroys all three. It evaporates every matter within its zone and killing the survivors through radioactivity. In the aftermath of the war, in order to make it productive again, everything has to start from scratch. It would require a generation to establish the status quo. To ‘improve’ on the strategy, they work to develop a type of more selective weapon that will just mop out the people while keeping the dwellings and field intact. This is called Neutron bomb. However, even with the dwellings and fields remain undisturbed, eliminating the people will only cause shortage of work force to work the field after the war. Yet, it is still a working progress. The final strategy is to device a weapon that does not destroy the people, its dwellings and field. This weapon is designed only to destroy the mind keeping the other parts of the body intact in order to maintain productions. The mind now operates like a microprocessor driven by software downloaded directly to the brain via sophisticated image processors. This weapon is called electron bomb. You will find them located in every home throughout the world, whether made of stone, wood or clay; in the homes of the laymen or in the homes of the scholars; in the hotels or in the mosque; in the deserts or in the seas. In the pockets of kids and adults. The enemies continuously and patiently create and control these images. Yes, they are patient. They can wait. Over prolonged exposure, the brain loses its ability to think and to be creative. It loses its ability to evaluate what is good and what is bad. It exists as a follower rather than an intellect – religiously following the instructions set by the image makers. The work to create darkness is now complete. Iblis has now been equipped with a complete weapon of mass destruction - a weapon not created by him but by man himself. The enemies are now on the verge of making a final assault on man. His promise to drag along all men along with him to the fire of hell has become a big possibility.

All is not lost. We still have our Allah. Everything belongs to Allah and to Him we shall return. There is no strength and no power except in Allah. And Allah (swt) has put a protective shell for those who are sincere. Iblis has followers among man and jinn. These satanic creatures are our clear enemy. Iblis is only His creation. He is created only to make us worth more than the angels. Let us take positive from the fact that Iblis is deprived of the special gift that Allah swt bestows upon our father Adam(as) i.e. the intellectual capacity. His brain is small. Through history, Iblis knows only one stereotyped way of leading man astray, that is to whisper doubts into one's ears and to assign partners to Allah swt. He is not creative. He may appear sophisticated but in reality it is not his planning. Instead, he rides on man's brain and makes man think and work for him. He is not creative enough to invent a television but he makes men does that job for him. His intellectual level is way too low to perform computer programming but he makes men program for him.  These are among the men that Allah swt has commanded us to seek refuge from.

Restart thinking process, beginning with our children and ourselves. Converse with them rather than allowing them to be deafen and dumbed by the idiot box. Keeping them away from your cellphones is a good idea. Train their brain to think and be creative. Unlike other religion, the Quran asked us to ponder over His creation and challenges man to think. Evaluating the countless creations of Allah swt and His systems of the universe will only lead to one thing and one thing only - the recognition of the Oneness of Allah swt. Oral communication has always been the authentic form of teaching and learning. Our prophet Muhammad (saw) could not read and write. Yet, he (saw) is a teacher of the Quran to 125,000 of his companions - the best group of students ever existed, may Allah be pleased with them . The Quran has been from the beginning learned by heart. It was only after our prophet's (saw) death that the compilation into a book began. He did not just make them learned scholars, but also taught them how to learn. Jibrail once came to Nabi (saw)in form of a man. He sat close and facing Nabi (saw) with his knees touching the knees of the Prophet (saw). He asked about Islam. Sahabah (ra) were around. Afterwards, among other things, Nabi (saw) mentioned to the sahabah (ra) that Jibrail also came to teach man the etiquette of sitting in a majlis of ta'alim.   In short, we simply have to come back to the basic practices. Save ourselves from getting fixated to the image processors. Read the Quran. Read the hadeeths. Read the lives of the Sahabah (ra). Read the work of our rightly guided scholars of the past. There are no pictures in them, just texts. Through the guidance of righteous scholars, simple practices of reading, memorising, understanding, and pondering over its meaning will lead us to the recognition of the greatness of Allah swt and purification of our inner self - mind and heart. In order to gain knowledge and understanding of the infinite variants by which Allah swt runs the universe, we need to empty our vessels from pride and arrogance, and fill it with humility, patience, love of Allah and the humanity, remembrance of Allah, thankfulness for the countless favours He bestows upon us and above all, sincerity. These qualities make us easy to think.  However,  acquiring these qualities requires great effort and sacrifice - effort to redirect heedlessness towards consciousness. It requires us to restructure our excessiveness in image scanning towards a more traditional and natural learning process, i.e. reading and thinking.

Ad-Deenul-Islam Ad-Deenul-Fitrah. Islam is a natural religion. If the learning process is right, the mind and heart will get right. And when the mind and heart are right, good actions emanates, inshaAllah. When our mind and heart are full of fantasy, there is no more space for reality. This is when thinking stops.

The Office

AlHikmah Office and Waiting Lounge for Male Guests

Office September 2014

Soon, insyaAllah before Eidul Adha, the fathers and other male guests shall be standing in the car park no more.They may sit in the lounge or hang around the verandah of the AlHikmah Office. We shall also place an intercom where the fathers can inform their daughters of their presence on occasions when the mothers are not around.


30th September 2014, Nearly There.....

5th October 2014. Alhamdulillah, we are all set to move in

Bagaimana Wanita yang Istihadhah Mengerjakan Solat Tarawih?

Bagaimana untuk seorang wanita yang istihadhah itu mengerjakan solat tarawih?

Jawapan : Dia boleh mengerjakan solat sunat selepas Isyak dan solat sunat Tarawih dengan wuduk solat Isyak tadi tanpa perlu memperbaharui wuduknya. Dengan syarat sebelum solat Isyak tadi, dia telah membersihkan farajnya dan mengenakan pad/kain dengan kemas dan ketat serta berwuduk. Disyaratkan juga tidak berlaku sebarang perkara yang membatalkan wuduknya selepas solat Isyak tadi seperti buang air kecil, kentut dan sebagainya.

Penjelasan : Asal bagi hukum seorang wanita yang istihadhah itu adalah sama seperti hukum wanita yang suci kecuali mereka ini perlu berwuduk setiap kali solat. Oleh itu, mereka itu boleh bersolat, berpuasa, membaca al-Quran, beriktikaf dan melakukan ibadah-ibadah lain sepertimana wanita yang suci.

Seperti yang disebut di atas, sekiranya wanita yang istihadhah itu hendak menunaikan solat fardhu, maka dia hendaklah berwuduk. Dan sebelum itu dia perlulah membersihkan farajnya dan mengenakan kain atau ‘pad’ padanya. Ia juga perlu diperkemas dan dikenakan dengan ketat untuk menghalang darah daripada mengalir keluar dengan banyak. Al-Imam al-Nawawi menyebut perihal mengenakan dan memperkemaskan kain untuk menutup faraj ini (atau disebutsebagai at-talajjum)  adalah wajib bagi wanita yang istihadhah sebelum mengerjakan solat fardhu. Kemudian barulah dia berwuduk. Perlu diingatkan di sini bahawa at-talajjum mesti mendahului wuduk. Hamnah radhiyallahu ‘anhadatang bertemu Nabi shallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam mengadu mengenai istihadhahnya yang banyak. Lalu Baginda shallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallammenyuruhnya supaya meletakkan kapas di tempat keluar darah. Hamnah memberitahu bahawa ia lebih banyak dari itu, darah tersebut berterusan mengalir keluar dan banyak. Lalu Baginda shallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam menyuruhnya untuk meletakkan kain di tempat tersebut untuk menghalang darah. (Diriwayatkan oleh Ibn Majah. al-Albani berkata : Hasan)

Sekiranya darah keluar selepas dia membersihkan faraj dan mengenakan pad serta berwuduk, ia tidak membatalkan wuduknya dan solatnya. Dia boleh bersolat fardhu dan mengerjakan solat sunat sebanyak mana yang dia mahu selepas solat fardhu tersebut. Namun begitu, jika dia tidak mengenakan pad dengan baik lantas mengakibatkan darah mengalir keluar, maka dengan itu terbatallah wuduknya dan solatnya. Jika ini berlaku selepas solat fardhu maka dia tidak boleh mengerjakan solat sunat.

Menurut Mazhab Syafie, wanita istihadhah tidak boleh mengerjakan 2 (atau lebih) solat fardhu dengan satu wuduk kerana wajib berwuduk sebelum solat disebabkan sesuatu yang keluar dari faraj (dan dalam kes ini darah). Fatimah bint Abi Hubaisy didatangi istihadhah, lalu Baginda shallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam berkata kepadanya : “Sesungguhnya darah haid itu adalah hitam dan ia dikenali oleh wanita. Jika ia demikian maka janganlah solat. Tetapi jika ia lain dari itu, maka berwuduklah dan solatlah. (Diriwayatkan oleh Abu Daud, al-Nasa’ie dan disahihkan oleh Ibn Hibban, al-Hakim dan al-Baihaqi. Al-Hakim berkata : Sahih atas syarat Muslim) Tetapi dia boleh mengerjakan solat sunat dengan wuduk solat fardhu tadi sebanyak mana yang dia kehendaki. Ini kerana solat sunat itu banyak, jika dia perlu berwuduk setiap kali hendak solat sunat maka itu pasti akan membebankan.

Allahu’alam.

Rujukan : Al-Nawawi, al-Majmu’, 2/492-493 & Dr. Abdul Karim Zaidan, al-Mufassal, 1/172.

Sumber asal: Bagaimana Wanitayang Istihadhah Mengerjakan Solat Tarawih?