Undone Love

Beautiful…. Feels beautiful….
If we fall deeply in love
As possible as we can feel the feeling
The willing to own each other each other

However, if that all
Can be shown in one loving bond
Not as easy as ever imagined
To infuse our feelings

Please keep being the star in the sky
For the eternity of our love
Let your shine keep shining this world
So it can be the witness of our love
Our love… both our love…

Its too late
Now its all have ended
Maybe this is the best way
And we have to let this fact be the way it is

Let HIM Be the witness of our love

Maulid: Antara Sejarah Dan Amalan

*copy & paste alert*
taken from drmaza.com

Para sarjana sejarahwan Islam berbeza pendapat tentang tarikh sebenar kelahiran Nabi s.a.w. Hadis Nabi s.a.w yang diriwayatkan oleh al-Imam Muslim hanya menyebut bahawa baginda lahir pada hari Isnin tanpa menyebut haribulannya. Sesiapa yang membaca karya-karya sejarah Islam yang besar seperti al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah oleh al-Imam Ibn Kathir (meninggal 774H) akan melihat berbagai pendapat tentang haribulan dan bulan kelahiran baginda s.a.w.

Bagi yang berpendapat baginda lahir pada Bulan Rabi’ul Awwal, mereka berbeza pendapat pula dalam menentukan haribulannya. Ada yang menentukan pada 8 haribulan, ada yang pada 9 haribulan, ada pula pada 12 haribulan seperti yang menjadi anggapan ramai, ada juga pada 17 haribulan dan seumpamanya. Di samping di sana ada pula sarjana Islam yang menyatakan baginda lahir pada Bulan Ramadan dengan hujah-hujah mereka yang tersendiri.

Apa pun yang penting, sejarahwan Timur atau Barat, Utara atau Selatan tidak pernah berbelah pendapat tentang lahirnya seorang insan bernama Muhammad bin ‘Abdillah yang diikrarkan oleh umat Islam sebagai rasul terakhir yang diutuskan Allah. Hal ini berbeza dengan Jesus yang berada dalam gambaran Barat. Setengah ahli kajian mereka mempertikaikan tentang kelahiran Jesus itu sendiri.

Kelahiran Nabi s.a.w adalah peristiwa yang amat penting kerana ia peristiwa yang memulakan episod baru bagi kehidupan manusia sejagat. Penentuan haribulan atau bulan secara tepat bukanlah faktor utama. Tidak dapat menentukan tarikh lahir yang pasti, bukan bererti seseorang itu tidak wujud. Entah berapa ramai para nabi, tokoh, individu yang gagal dikesan tarikh kelahiran mereka, tetapi mereka wujud dan telah mewarnai sejarah.

Kegagalan sarjana untuk mengetahui hari dan bulan sebenar kelahiran Nabi s.a.w antaranya berpunca daripada tindakan para sahabah Nabi s.a.w yang tidak merayakan tarikh tersebut. Walaupun dalam sejarah Islam, merekalah generasi yang paling mencintai Nabi s.a.w namun mereka tidak membuat perayaan khas hari kelahiran baginda disebabkan kerana mereka tidak melihat baginda melakukan hal yang demikian.

Bahkan Ibn Kathir menceritakan bagaimana Saidina ‘Umar apabila dicadangkan permulaan tahun Islam dikira pada tahun kelahiran Nabi s.a.w, beliau menolaknya. Sebaliknya khalifah agung itu memilih tahun hijrah baginda sebagai permulaan kiraan. Bukan kelahiran tidak penting, tetapi hijrah adalah permulaan kejayaan dan sejarah perjuangan. Perkara yang paling utama buat seorang rasul ialah baginda diikuti, bukan sekadar dirayakan. Saban tahun orang Kristian Barat merayakan kelahiran Jesus, namun apakah kehidupan mereka sama seperti yang diajar oleh Jesus?

Hari berganti dan bertukar. Dunia Islam beralun dengan berbagai krisis politik yang akhirnya mencetuskan mazhab. Antaranya Mazhab Syiah yang asalnya merupakan mazhab politik, bertukar menjadi mazhab agama dengan segala macam aliran di dalamnya. Islam sepatutnya mencorakkan politik telah bertukar menjadi ‘politik mencorakkan Islam’. Lalu kefahaman agama dibina di atas blok-blok politik, bukan reka fikir politik itu diwarnakan oleh Islam. Maka perebutan kuasa berlaku atas agenda politik yang dimasukkan unsur Islam ke dalamnya. Maka berselerakanlah umat Islam akibat agenda politik berbagai aliran.

Di Mesir, Syiah Fatimiyyah pernah menguasai tampok kuasa. Berbagai agenda agama dilaksanakan dalam kerangka pemikiran mazhab politik yang bertukar menjadi agama. Berbagai perayaan agama dibuat dengan tujuan untuk mencapai matlamat politik yang tersendiri.

Dalam Fatawa al-Azhar diakui bahawa ahli sejarahwan Islam tidak mengetahui sesiapa pun yang memulakan perayaan Maulid Nabi s.a.w melainkan Kerajaan Syi’ah Fatimiyyah di Mesir yang mengadakannya secara besar-besaran. Mereka turut meraikan hari kelahiran tokoh-tokoh Ahlil Bait dan kelahiran Nabi Isa a.s. Kemudian pada tahun 488H dihentikan oleh Khalifah mereka al-Musta’la billah. Kemudian dihidupkan kembali oleh sesetengah kerajaan dan negeri. Demikianlah sejarahnya.

Ya, saya fikir, perasaan bersyukur mengenangkan sejarah kelahiran Nabi s.a.w dengan semangat untuk mengikuti baginda adalah wajar. Di samping kita perlu sedar fakta-fakta yang disebutkan tadi. Jika Bulan Rabi’ul Awwal ini dikatakan bulan kelahiran Nabi s.a.w, maka tidak salah untuk kita berceramah menceritakan sejarah perjuangan dan prinsip-prinsip Islam yang dibawa oleh baginda. Sama ada pada bulan ini atau selain. Sama seperti apabila kita melintas suatu tempat bersejarah, kita mengenang sejarah tersebut. Cuma janganlah kita ini menjadi manusia bermusim yang hanya mengenang rasul dan ajaran baginda pada hari-hari tertentu, tetapi kita seakan sudah tidak mengingati baginda selepas itu.

Di samping itu, hendaklah kita sedar, jika kita mengikuti Nabi s.a.w, maka pastikan kita tidak menokok tambah ajaran baginda apa yang baginda tidak izinkan. Baginda bersabda:

“Sesiapa yang membuat perkara baru dalam urusan kami ini (Islam) apa yang bukan daripadanya maka ia tertolak” (Riwayat Muslim).

Oleh kerana baginda tidak pernah menunjukkan kita ibadah khas sempena kelahiran baginda samada solat khas, atau puasa khas atau bacaan khas, maka kita tidak boleh mengadakannya. Jalan yang patut diikuti dalam masalah ini adalah jalan para sahabah baginda s.a.w. Sabda baginda s.a.w:

“..Sesungguhnya Bani Israil berpecah kepada 72 puak, dan umatku akan berpecah kepada 73 puak. Kesemua mereka dalam neraka kecuali satu puak”. Mereka bertanya: “Apakah puak itu wahai RasululLah?” Jawab baginda: “Apa yang aku dan para sahabahku berada di atasnya”. (Riwayat al-Tirmizi dinilai sahih oleh al-Diya al-Maqdisi).

Perlu diingat, antara keistimewanya sejarah Nabi s.a.w kerana ia dapat dikenal pasti antara yang tulen dan tokok tambah. Ini berbeza dengan sejarah pengasas-pengasas agama dalam dunia ini yang hampir keseluruhan sejarah mereka dibina atas sangkaan atau perkhabaran yang tidak pasti. Ilmu hadis yang menapis sanad dan matan telah memelihara fakta sejarah nabi kita Muhammad s.a.w. Hanya sejarah yang pasti sahaja yang menjadi ikutan kita, bukan yang direka.

Kata al-Sayyid Sulaiman al-Nadwi:

“Sesungguhnya sirah yang berhak diikuti oleh manusia sebagai contoh yang baik dan teladan yang tinggi disyaratkan terlebih dahulu mestilah bersifat tarikhiyyah (sejarah). Adapun sirah yang tertegak diatas dongengan dan cerita-cerita khurafat yang tidak disokong oleh riwayat-riwayat yang dipercayai kesahihannya, adalah menjadi tabiat insan tidak akan terpengaruh dengan apa yag diceritakan kepadanya tentang sirah peribadi yang direka sedangkan sejarah tidak pernah mengenalinya” (Sulaiman al-Nadwi, al-Risalah al-Muhammadiyyah, m.s. 41, Saudi: al-Dar al-Sa`udiyyah).

Buku Maulid al-Barzanji yang banyak dibaca dalam masyarakat kita ketika majlis kenduri-kendara atau selainnya mempunyai sumbangan yang tersendiri. Banyak sirah yang sahih dicatatkan oleh penulis karya tersebut iaitu Ja’far bin Hasan bin `Abd al-Karim al-Barzanji (meninggal 1187H). Namun satu hakikat yang diboleh dinafikan dari segi ilmu hadis bahawa terdapat fakta-fakta yang tidak sahih dalam buku al-Barzanji tersebut. Antaranya, beliau menyebut:

“Telah hadirlah pada malam kelahiran baginda (Nabi s.a.w.) Asiah (isteri Fir`aun yang beriman) dan Maryam (ibu Nabi Isa a.s.) dalam kumpulan wanita dari syurga)”.

Tiada satu riwayat yang sahih daripada Nabi s.a.w yang mengakui peristiwa seperti ini. Sehingga seorang pengkaji sejarah Muhammad Muhammad Hasan Syurrab menyebut:

“Wajib kita berhati-hati ketika memetik dari buku-buku sirah terutamanya buku-buku sirah yang terkemudian. Para rawinya (periwayat) banyak menokok tambah cerita dan sirah Rasulullah. Mereka mengaitkan kepada baginda mu’jizat dan perkara-perkara luar biasa sejak kelahiran sehingga kepada kewafatan baginda dengan perkara yang tidak ada sanad yang boleh dipegang. Seakan-akan para rawi ini melihat tujuan penambahan perkara-perkara luar biasa ini untuk memberikan kepada Rasul a.s. mu’jizat-mu’jizat yang tidak ada pada para nabi sebelum baginda (Muhammad Muhammad Hasan Syurrab, Fi Usul Tarikh al-`Arab al-Islami, m.s. 84, Damsyik, Dar al-Qalam).

Kita semua bersyukur dan bergembira dengan kelahiran Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. Namun kita wajib pastikan cara kita ikut dan faham mengenai baginda. Saban tahun banyak pihak yang meraikan maulid, apakah umat Islam bertambah dekat dengan baginda?

I Acquire Books, But Do Not Read Them

A great reminder myself and those who likes to shop for books of knowledge.

Taken from tawheedirst.wordpress.com

Question: I am a man who has - All Praise be to Allaah - many beneficial books and reference works, yet I do not read them, instead, I choose just a few of them. Am I guilty of sin in keeping these books in my house, bearing in mind that some people borrow some of these books and benefit from them, after which, they return them to me?

Answer: There is no sin upon the Muslim in collecting beneficial books and keeping them with him in his library in order to refer to them, benefit from them, and to lend them to those who visit him among the educated people so that they might benefit from them. Nor is there any sin upon him if he does not refer to them much. As for lending them to reliable people, who benefit from them, this is a lawful action and a means of getting closer to Allaah, the Glorified, since it supports the acquisition of knowledge and because this is included in the Words of Allaah, the Most High: “Help you one another in Al-Birr and At-Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety)” [Al-Ma'idah(5): 2]

And the words of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam: “Allaah helps the worshipper so long as the worshipper helps his brother.” (Muslim no. 2699)

• Shaykh `Abdul-`Azeez Bin Baz | Fatawa Islamiyah, Vol.1, p.367, DARUSSALAM

Saudi Govt Shakeup

Taken from kuwaitpost.com
RIYADH: Saudis yesterday cheered King Abdullah's sweeping government shakeup as a bold step forward, a day after he sacked two powerful conservative religious figures and named the country's first-ever woman minister. "Bold reform," Al-Hayat newspaper said in its headline, while the Saudi Gazette heralded the shakeup as a "boost for reform" in the Muslim kingdom. "Everything is fantastic. This is what we have been fighting for," said Ibrahim Mugaiteeb, leader of the Human Rights First Society, who has done
battle with successive governments over rights violations.

On Saturday, Abdullah announced the first major government shakeup since he became king in August 2005, naming four new ministers, changing a number of top judiciary chiefs and shaking up the Ulema Council, the leading clerics whose interpretations of Islamic rules underpin daily life in the kingdom. The king also named 79 new members to the consultative Shura Council, Al-Hayat said.

In major changes that appeared to target the ultraconservative clerics who have dominated the judiciary, he replaced Supreme Judicial Council head Sheikh Saleh Al-Luhaidan, who Saudi activists say had blocked reforms for years. And he replaced the head of the Muttawa religious police, Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, who had led an aggressive campaign in the media for a strict enforcement of Islamic mores, challenging other more liberal figures in the government. "The Saudi government reshuffle announced yesterda
y is not just a changing of the guard," the Arab News said in its editorial. "It is a clear sign of a major transformation in the kingdom.

Few were ready to predict just what changes on the ground could come from the king's moves. Battles over public morality and women in senior jobs have been brewing for years, and the challenges to the Islamic conservatives have grown in recent months. Women's groups have demanded more rights and the breaking down of barriers that limit their career opportunities; the public has clamoured for movies to be shown in cinemas, banned for 30 years; and rights groups have accused Islamic judges of harsh and incon
sistent judgements. And last week Princess Amira Al-Taweel, the wife of Saudi tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, complained publicly that while she can drive anywhere else in the world, she cannot take the wheel of a car in her own country, because women are banned from driving.

But the symbolism of the king's changes is bound to have an impact. The most symbolic was the naming of veteran educationalist Norah Al-Fayez as deputy education minister for women - the most senior job ever granted a woman in the Muslim kingdom. "She is one of the leading ladies of the country," Mohammad Al-Zulfa, outgoing member of the Shura Council, told AFP.

Al-Fayez put a crack in the thick glass ceiling that the country's strict version of Islam sets against her gender. "This is a successful step. We've always suffered from having a man occupy the position" overseeing women's education, the English-language Arab News newspaper quoted her as saying. "A woman knows what problems and challenges her peers face. It's a change for the better," she said.

Leading Saudi women's rights activist and academic Hatoon Al-Fassi said that she was very happy about Fayez's appointment although this step was not enough. "One woman is not enough, what will one woman do alone in a crowd of men," Fassi told AFP. "Her decisions will not be effective or tangible, but it is a step in the right direction.

Saudi Arabia's dominant Wahhabi school of Islam imposes a strict separation of unrelated members of the opposite sexes, forces women to be shrouded in black from head to toe, bans them from driving, and keeps them dependent on male guardians when travelling outside the home. Together such policies have hampered the promotion of women to top jobs in the kingdom where offices and businesses such as banks are required to have completely separate facilities for female workers.

Saudi women heavily campaigned in 2005 to be allowed to vote in the country's first-ever municipal elections, but their hopes were thwarted. So Fayez's appointment to the job, on the doorstep of the king's powerful Council of Ministers, is widely seen as a major breakthrough. The move shows the 84-year-old king's intention to move toward naming more women to high leadership positions in the future, Fayez said, according to local media reports. Fayez described her appointment as "a source of pride for all w
omen".

The 52-year-old graduated in sociology from King Saud University in 1978 and earned a master's degree in education from Utah State University in the United States in 1982. She then worked in the education ministry, specialising in women's education, and administered private schools before moving to the country's Institute of Public Administration in 1993. Fayez is married with five children, three boys and two girls.

Other women called her appointment a landmark step forward in the kingdom. "We believe that this is an occasion to push a number of recommendations to begin empowering women," legal expert Nawal Al-Mazem told Al-Riyadh newspaper. "This decision shows the direction toward allowing Saudi women to work in high positions in the government," another legal consultant, Asmaa Al-Ghanim, told Al-Riyadh newspaper. "More Saudi women taking ministerial jobs in the future cannot be ruled out," she said.

Even so, the move for women did not go as far as some expected. In January, Saudi media had reported that the new members of the Shura Council would include six women, who have not been represented on the council in the past. But none were present on the new list, making it likely that no women will be included in the consultative body before 2013, the next time appointments are expected.

More fundamental were the changes to the country's religious leadership, who dominate thinking in education, justice and social life. The removal of Luhaidan, who embarrassed the government last September when he said that the owners of satellite television channels airing "immoral" broadcasts should be killed, is believed likely to open more doors for reform.

The same is believed of Abdullah's shakeup of the Ulema council. He named a number of new members, and for the first time ever included representatives of all four Sunni schools of religious law. Previously only the Hanbali school, the ultraconservative one which dominates the Saudi version of Islam, was represented on the council.

Zulfa said the king's shakeup will bring "a new, different mentality" to government. Key to making sure the changes stick will be the king's most powerful adjutants, who remain in place in jobs they have held for decades, analysts say. These include his half-brothers Interior Minister Prince Nayef, Defence Minister Crown Prince Sultan, Foreign Minister Prince Saud and Riyadh Governor Prince Salman.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's new central bank governor is set to keep the oil exporter's dollar-pegged monetary policy intact as he faces the end of the third oil boom and a harsh global economic crisis, analysts said yesterday. The world's top oil exporter named Muhammad Al-Jasser governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) on Saturday. Hamad Saud Al-Sayyari asked to step down after 26 years at the helm of the Gulf's most influential central bank.

Jasser, who holds a PhD in economics and represented the kingdom at the International Monetary Fund, will likely uphold strategies such as a near 23-year policy of linking the riyal to the US dollar and investing in low-risk foreign assets. "I don't think you will see a sea change in current monetary policy," said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at SABB bank, HSBC's Saudi affiliate.

He is a believer at the moment that the peg serves a very important purpose and it is to its advantage. I think SAMA will hold its position on currency policy, on being a proponent of the common Gulf currency and allocating foreign assets in a very conservative manner." After joining SAMA as vice governor in 1995, Jasser, 54, helped devise the bank's reaction to this decade's oil price rally, an onslaught of currency speculation in 2007 and, most recently, its reaction to an oil price slump and credit cri
sis.

In 2007, as the dollar hit repeated record lows against the euro, currency speculators piled into Gulf Arab currencies on expectations that they could follow Kuwait's lead and sever their dollar pegs to fight decades-high inflation. The currency bets drove the Saudi riyal to its strongest level in the peg's history. But like Sayyari, Jasser stood steadfastly by the peg, saying at the height of speculation last February that the peg served Saudi interests. "The view is that Jasser played a central role in t
he good management of the liquidity boom and now you haven't got the same problems in Saudi Arabia as you have in other Gulf countries, like the UAE," said Monica Malik, regional economist at EFG-Hermes.

Inflation in Saudi Arabia, home to about 25 million people, hit an at least 30-year peak above 11 percent in mid-2008, raising pressure for currency reform as the peg forced the state to shadow US interest rate cuts despite the price pressures. More so than its neighbours, Saudi Arabia tightened lending curbs by raising reserve requirements to put controls on credit growth as the kingdom invested oil wealth into diversifying its economy away from a reliance on oil export revenues.

Since rallying to a record high above $147 a barrel last July, oil prices have tumbled to just above a quarter of that level, dimming the prospects for growth across the world's biggest oil-exporting region. But the kingdom was not stung as badly as other states because its key investor in foreign assets, SAMA, sustained a policy of "very liquid, very safe, minimal risk" international assets, Jasser said last November.

In response to tight credit conditions late last year, SAMA shifted its strategy from fighting inflation to stimulating the banking system with interest rate cuts, reserve requirement reductions and by pouring liquidity into the banking system. "Jasser has been groomed for this position for some time," said one Saudi-based analyst, who declined to be identified. "I don't foresee any change in policy at all. He has been at the heart of decision making so this is not a surprise change.

But the new governor's approach to the outside world could mean a change for the better, they added. Regional economists and currency traders described Jasser as a seasoned economist who is more outgoing than Sayyari, who retires at 68 after acting as governor for a longer period than his four predecessors. Jasser holds a Doctorate of Economics from the University of California and was executive director for Saudi Arabia at the IMF from 1990 to 1995. "He is a very strong character," Sfakianakis said. "In t
hat way, you will see some change in how SAMA deals with the outside world. He is very captivating, very eloquent." - Agencies

Can Someone Explain this To him?

Kesian tengok si akhi ni. I`ve been trying to find the syarah of this hadith and also if there have been any tahqiq on it

Taken from salafiburnout.wordpress.com

According to this hadith, there are 8 Giant Mountain Goats in Outer Space:

Sunan of Abu Dawood 2205, Narrated Al-Abbas ibn Abdul Muttalib - I was sitting in al-Batha with a company among whom the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) was sitting, when a cloud passed above them. The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) looked at it and said: What do you call this? They said: Sahab. He said: And muzn? They said: And muzn. He said: And anan? They said: And anan. AbuDawud said: I am not quite confident about the word anan. He asked: Do you know the distance between Heaven and Earth? They replied: We do not know. He then said: The distance between them is seventy-one, seventy-two, or seventy-three years. The heaven which is above it is at a similar distance (going on till he counted seven heavens). Above the seventh heaven there is a sea, the distance between whose surface and bottom is like that between one heaven and the next. Above that there are eight mountain goats the distance between whose hoofs and haunches (hip and buttock) is like the distance between one heaven and the next. Then Allah, the Blessed and the Exalted, is above that.

And this:

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 39, Number 517: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “While a man was riding a cow, it turned towards him and said, ‘I have not been created for this purpose (i.e. carrying), I have been created for sloughing.” The Prophet added, “I, Abu Bakr and ‘Umar believe in the story.” The Prophet went on, “A wolf caught a sheep, and when the shepherd chased it, the wolf said, ‘Who will be its guard on the day of wild beasts, when there will be no shepherd for it except me?’ “After narrating it, the Prophet said, “I, Abu Bakr and ‘Umar too believe it.” Abu Salama (a sub-narrator) said, “Abu Bakr and ‘Umar were not present then.” (It has been written that a wolf also spoke to one of the companions of the Prophet near Medina as narrated in Fatah-al-Bari:

Narrated Unais bin ‘Amr: Ahban bin Aus said, “I was amongst my sheep. Suddenly a wolf caught a sheep and I shouted at it. The wolf sat on its tail and addressed me, saying, ‘Who will look after it (i.e. the sheep) when you will be busy and not able to look after it? Do you forbid me the provision which Allah has provided me?’ ” Ahban added, “I clapped my hands and said, ‘By Allah, I have never seen anything more curious and wonderful than this!’ On that the wolf said, ‘There is something (more curious) and wonderful than this; that is, Allah’s Apostle in those palm trees, inviting people to Allah (i.e. Islam).’ “Unais bin ‘Amr further said, “Then Ahban went to Allah’s Apostle and informed him what happened and embraced Islam.)” palm trees or other trees and share the fruits with me.”