Purnama Merindu

source: Google Image

Selaku Gen-X, saya tidak tahu apa lagu popular dan siapa penyanyi yang terkenal sekarang. Saya cuma kenal Dato' Seri Siti Nurhaliza dan yang seangkatan dengannya. Itupun cuma tahu lagu beliau yang lama-lama, tetapi walaupun sudah lebih 20 tahun, Allahu lirik-lirik lagu beliau masih melekat dalam kepala.

Sebab itulah masa muda kena banyak hafaz Quran dan menuntut ilmu kerana ketika itu otak masih kuat menyerap. Bukan senang nak buang lirik-lirik lagu zaman jahiliah dalam kepala ini walau sudah lama. Antara lirik lagu yang saya masih ingat ialah daripada lagu Purnama Merindu. (aik makcik ni nak mengimbau zaman muda mudi jahiliah ke apa? sabar, baca sampai habis dulu)

Berikut ialah lirik korusnya:

Purnama mengambang cuma berteman

Bintang berkelipan dan juga awan

Siapa tahu rindu yang mencengkam

Di hatiku

Aku meminta pada yang ada

Aku merindu pada yang kasih

Aku merayu padamu yang sudi

Merinduku

Memang ini lagu cinta manusia, tetapi jika saya perhatikan betul-betul liriknya, ia boleh jadi lagu munajat kepada Tuhan. Seperti lagu Ketulusan Hati oleh Anuar Zain (penyanyi lama juga), yang akhirnya digunakan sebagai lagu latar belakang video munajat kepada Allah di Astro Oasis dan juga diputarkan di IKIMfm sebagai lagu ketuhanan.

Lirik korus Purnama Merindu boleh saja dikaitkan dengan suasana malam yang hening, waktu paling indah untuk bermunajat, mengadu dengan Allah. Setelah lelah menggapai cinta manusia yang lemah, tidak berbalas, hati yang lara dan remuk, hanya Allah Maha Memahami. Hanya Allah yang sentiasa Ada untuk kita, hanya Allah yang sentiasa menantikan doa kita, merinduinya. Hanya Allah yang sentiasa Maha Mendengar luahan kita, tanpa syarat. Gejolakkan rasa pengharapan hanya kepadaNya, rasa rindu membuak-buak kepadaNya. Itulah Purnama Merindu yang sebenar 

Letters to Home: A Glimpse of Da'wah Potential

I don’t really plan when I shop for books, sometimes I would just pick books randomly based on my instincts, and this is one of the books that I bought randomly and I don’t regret buying it. I love to explore the Malaysian authors section of English books and that was how I found this book. This book consists of collection of essays written by young Malaysians studying abroad and it was published in 2018.  As the book promo says, 24 universities. 7 countries. 1 hope. These are the voices of young Malaysians all over the world--penning down their dreams, fears, concerns, aspirations, and hope to our nation, our home. This book actually won 3rd prize (non-fiction category) in the Readers Choice Award 2018!

But I’m not going to comment about the technical or literature aspects of it, instead I will talk about how the contents make me think about a lot of things especially about our beloved country, Malaysia. Interestingly the essays in this book are written by authors of different Malaysian ethnicity and races, so there are many views expressed in this book that might be a little bit intimidating. For example, they talk about ‘Ketuanan Melayu’, something taboo and can be considered hot button for the Malays. They also talk about equal rights and meritocracy. Why this book appeals to me is because I don’t have non-Muslim Malaysian close friends. I went to a Malay kampung primary school, and then I went to Islamic high school. Then I got enrolled in Islamic university, got a job in Malay dominated work place but Alhamdulillah I got to experience living in a non Muslim country for several years, and I have gained some non Muslim close friends, but they are not Malaysians. So some of the views of Malaysian non Muslims is quite hard for me to accept at first.

Again I want to stress that I’m not about discussing which view is right or wrong. But I want to emphasize the idea of staying calm when you are presented with views that you don’t agree with. It can’t be denied that interracial relationship in Malaysia is civil enough yet it’s far from perfect. There are many hidden frustrations and misunderstandings. So I believe more honest and proper engagement and interactions are needed. On social media, there are so many negativities, people are so easily triggered when it comes to race issues. I would like share something that I once heard on Ikimfm radio. A speaker shared his experience replying to a Facebook post during the fasting month by a non-Muslim Malaysian. 

The post is something like this, “Hey, I want to break fast with bak kut teh (pork-based dish)” 

The post was definitely provocative and it enraged a lot of Muslims, they replied to him angrily and it just made the non Muslim guy becoming more provocative. 

So the radio speaker tried replying to him calmly like this, 

“Hi, we can’t break fast with pork. But how about we break fast together and I will treat you.”

The non Muslim guy was so impressed with the speaker’s reply, especially the speaker’s profile picture definitely looks like an ustaz. 

So he replied, “this is the first time someone like you talk to me this way. How about this, let me treat you instead at a halal restaurant.” 

So you see being calm really helps in resolving the matter. Of course we can’t allow people to condemn our religion, but first of all we have to stay calm and listen. Try to talk reason first. If all fails, then take firm action, report to authorities. But don’t curse, don’t use harsh words, don’t condemn their belief in making our points across. As Stephen Covey said, seek first to understand, then to be understood.

There are 2 types of da’wah: da’wah bil lisan da’wah bil hal. with words and through actions. I personally believe that da’wah bil hal is more effective. I had lived with a non Muslim housemate for more than a year. Yes, we talked about religion, culture but most of the times I just tried to be a good friend, practising Islam and introduced her to the Muslim community. One day she told me, after living with you I think you have shown a good example of a good Muslim. I’m not telling this story to show off, rather I want to share a testimony of the effectiveness of da’wah bil hal. If they like your character, they will surely listen to whatever you say insya Allah. Whether they accept Islam, that’s another story. But first, you have given them a good image of islam.

Of course, there are extremists in every group, race and religion. But most of us are just normal people who want to live in peace. Just assume that they are normal people first, and they turn out to be difficult to handle with, resort to stricter measures. Let us together try to spread the words of Allah by embodying the real teachings of Islam not just ritually, but in every aspect of life. Be honest, work hard, be punctual, don’t throw rubbish everywhere, drive safely on the road, take care of the environment. All these may sound trivial, but that’s what Islam is all about, integrity in everything. Of course don’t forget, keep calm.

MCO Musing

I have heard about stories of restricted movement order during communist era when I was young back in the 1980s. Of course I have also read about similar lock down situation during the Japanese occupation and 1969 tragedy. But never had I imagined that I would experience something similar in my lifetime, and even witness global pandemic at that. I heard of cholera pandemic before, and that is largely due to the fame of Love in the Time of Cholera book (and movie adaptation). 

Instead of cholera, coronavirus dominates the highlight in the year 2020. It started in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and the situation became grave enough in January 2020 as it started spreading to other countries. Malaysia was not really affected initially, but with globalization, many people from affected countries travel to Malaysia and vice versa, it's hard to contain the disease within its original epicentre. Some Malaysians even mocked the situation in China, to the extent which I found inclining towards racism. WHO's stance of denial that this could become a pandemic also didn't help the situation.

In March, all hell broke loose in Malaysia where the number of positive cases have increased drastically. Anger and frustration filled the air while the positive cases kept emerging. Ironically, the Malaysian government changed during this time. Finally, COVID-19 was declared as pandemic by WHO and Malaysian government announced Movement Control Order for 2 weeks at first. It has been continued for another two weeks, officially making it one month control order.

I must say, being a quite extreme introvert, I kind of secretly, guiltily enjoyed the idea of being confined at home for a long period of time. Besides, I hardly go out except for work and errands even before the MCO. But it turned out, that I was happy and contented before because I know generally everyone else is doing fine. I know that even though I love being at home, minding my own business, the others are enjoying their life outside, working or hanging out. I thought I was self centred, but MCO makes me realize that I care about how others are doing.

I am worried about how would the others cope being stuck at home for weeks. It breaks my heart that there are people who can't feed their family because they can't go out to work. And here I am enjoying my solitude, with my salary is guaranteed. I really feel so bad about myself. Not to mention the possibility of the virus may be proliferated due to the disobedience of movement control by some people and the headlines as well as fake news about COVID-19 on social media. And that's when my anxiety kicked in. I could not be happy being at home anymore.

During the first week of MCO, almost every morning I woke up with the sense of anxiety, thinking of all negative possibilities that could happen that day. When I read the related news on social media, I felt a little bit difficulty in breathing. When it rained heavily, I was scared that it might cause flood. When I read the news of people still enjoying the time of their lives by going outside unnecessarily, I panicked. Even being alone did not recharge me like before. Until I decided to deactivate my FB account and left WA groups that always discussed about the virus. Only then, I felt that I could relax. Honestly, I believe that social media is one of the causes for mental disease in this modern era. 

There you have it, alhamdulillah I managed to break free of my anxiety and I have started to enjoy again my homebody existence. Though I must say, I miss my early morning walk at the park alone and my solitary reflection by the beach, but this is a battle that has to be fought together. May Allah grant us strength and remove this virus as soon as possible, amin. 

You Got Served

image source: soranews24.com

I usually try not to compare my beloved Malaysia with other countries that I had traveled to, because I believe every country has its good and bad points. However, sometimes I feel that there are certain aspects that need to be highlighted so that we can improve. Not because Malaysia is a bad country, but to become better. I have not been to many countries, but I had the chance of visiting two developed countries for work purpose and had lived in one developed country for three years. The aspect that I am impressed most is their customer service quality. 

It was a very satisfying experience to deal with customer service staffs who are very friendly and radiant, eager to answer questions and entertain my requests. Japan in particular tops this aspect. There was one instance that made me speechless. It happened after I came out of toilet while riding on shinkansen (bullet train). I was heading to my coach when I saw a female officer did a 90 degree -bow at the coach entrance, at the back of the passenger seats. No passenger could see her bowing as the seats are facing forward. I remember being so in awe with the scene that I could not utter a word. She bowed gracefully and left the coach without anyone noticing. Subhanallah!

That beautiful scene has been etched in my mind to this day. It reminds me of the concept of doing something just for the sake of pleasing God, only God. It doesn't matter if no one is watching, because only His Pleasure matters. I don't know what is her faith, but Japan is known for not being religious. Why can't we Muslims do better than them? What's wrong with doing our work in serving people by giving our fullest effort? It has been such a norm in Malaysia for our requests to be ignored or handled carelessly. Not to mention being greeted with sullen face, and worse, the customer service staffs are more occupied with their phones rather than serving the customers. I agree that customer is not always right, but serving people with our fullest effort is definitely the right thing to do! I really wish we could change this, everyone needs to change, including me. There's no other way. 

Cantik Bukan Main!

Suhu musim luruh di bumi Brisbane ini sangat digemarinya. (meski tidak berlaku proses penukaran warna daun kepada warna merah kuning pada musim luruh Brisbane). Julat sekitar 14 – 28 celsius cukup nyaman untuk dia berjalan kaki tika mentari telah tinggi namun tidak pula sejuk hingga terpaksa berbungkus dengan gebar dan menghidupkan pemanas pada subuh hari. Perjalanan setiap pagi ke universiti sentiasa menenangkan jiwanya saat melalui kediaman-kediaman berstruktur tradisional digelar Queenslander. Menjamu mata dengan taman-taman mini elok terjaga, sering pula disapa ucapan “good morning” dari tuan rumah yang peramah. Yang sudah berusia selalunya. Kadangkala ucapan “good morning”diakhiri dengan panggilan love.

Namun hari ini dia teringin singgah di pusat bandar sebelum menuju ke universiti. Maka dia memilih untuk menaiki bas. Jadual waktu bas memang terpapar pada tiang di perhentian bas. Jarang sekali bas lewat daripada jadual, memudahkan para pengguna. Bas tiba tepat pada waktu yang tertera, dia beserta para pengguna lain yang sedang menunggu bingkas bangun dan bergerak menuju bas. Masing-masing beratur dan menunggu giliran untuk menaiki bas. Seperti biasa, pengguna lelaki akan memberi laluan kepada pengguna perempuan untuk naik dahulu. Lebih mengharukan apabila lelaki yang sudah tua bertongkat juga memberi laluan kepada perempuan muda. Kalau mahu menolak, lambat pula jadinya bas bergerak. Usahkan lelaki tua, sesama perempuan muda pun saling mendahulukan. Mereka terlebih mengamalkan konsep ithar.

Tidak cukup mengalah ketika menaiki bas, di dalam bas jika tiada tempat kosong, kebanyakan waktu kaum lelaki akan bangun dan memberikan tempat duduk. Tempat duduk untuk OKU, warga emas dan wanita hamil juga tidak disalahgunakan. Bas turut menyediakan gelongsor untuk memudahkan pengguna berkerusi roda naik dan turun bas. Sebaik sahaja pengguna berkerusi roda mahupun ibubapa membawa stroller dan anak naik, penumpang lain terus memberikan tempat tanpa teragak-agak.

Dia turun dari bas setelah sampai di perhentian pusat bandar. Banyak sekali lampu isyarat untuk pejalan kaki melintas jalan. Kalaupun tiada lampu isyarat, lintasan zebra ada disediakan. Kenderaan akan memperlahankan kelajuan dan berhenti apabila ada orang melintas. Sangat sesuai untuk dia yang penakut melintas jalan. Ketika di tanahairnya yang tercinta, proses melintas jalanraya bagaikan pertaruhan nyawa pada hematnya.

Destinasinya ialah kedai alat tulis. Sebaik melangkah masuk ke kedai, dia menerima sapaan mesra dan senyuman manis oleh pekerja kedai. Niat tidak mahu membeli boleh sahaja berubah dek terpukau senyuman manis bak gula. Di kaunter bayaran juga begitu, juruwang akan bertanya khabar dengan nada ceria dan mengucapkan “have a good day” selepas urusan jual beli selesai. Dia pernah menceritakan hal ini kepada kakaknya di Malaysia tetapi dibalas dengan pandangan skeptikal.“Senyuman dibuat-buat sahaja itu,” kata kakaknya. Entah, mungkin benar mungkin tidak, tetapi yang pasti sebagai pelanggan dia berasa senang ketika berurusan jual beli. Keikhlasan dalam kemesraan tidak dapat diterkanya, malah tidak perlu untuk dia bersusah-susah menilai. Segar di ingatan kata-kata dorongan seorang temannya, “fake till you make it!”

Selesai urusan di bandar, dia menapak ke universitinya yang tidak berapa jauh dari bandar. Ada urusan di perpustakaan yang perlu dilunaskan. Di mana-mana bahagian pentadbiran universiti secara amnya mereka akan melayan semua soalan pelajar. Jika mereka boleh menyelesaikan pada masa itu, pasti diselesaikan segera. Jika tidak mampu akan diberi kata-kata menyenangkan dan tempoh untuk maklum balas. Meski kadang-kadang dia merasakan soalan yang diutarakannya entah apa-apa atau boleh sahaja digelar soalan bodoh pada standard negara asalnya. Namun tidak pernah dia mendapat tempelakan seperti, “ini pun kamu tidak tahu?” “kamu tidak baca notiskah?”

Demikian secara amnya pengalaman dia berinteraksi dengan masyarakat Brisbane sehari-hari. Benar, kebaikan mereka bukanlah sempurna. Amalan negatif seperti gemar meminum arak dan berparti (yang juga dilakukan sebahagian mengaku Muslim di negaraku?) amat  sebati dengan diri mereka. Australia juga bukanlah terkenal sebagai negara yang kuat beragama. Jarang sekali mendengar mereka menyandarkan apa-apa yang berlaku atas kuasa Tuhan. Namun, fitrah berbuat baik kepada orang lain mengakar dalam nurani mereka. Sayang seribu kali sayang kepada siapa  segala amalan baik ini disandarkan dan dipersembahkan. Dulu dia hanya mendengar dan membaca kata-kata Syed Qutb yang berbunyi, “aku menemui Islam di negara bukan Islam” tanpa perasaan. Apabila mengalaminya sendiri, kata-kata itu sangat terngiang-ngiang di kotak fikirannya. Allah berfirman di dalam Surah Al-Asr: Orang-orang yang beruntung ialah orang yang beriman dan beramal soleh. Beriman sahaja tidak cukup, amal soleh sahaja tidak cukup juga. Bagai aur dan tebing, kedua-duanya harus seiring. Memang tidak dapat dinafikan, cantik sekali amalan hablunminannas mereka, andai disulami iman, masya Allah cantik bukan main jadinya.

Catatan musim luruh 2015