Benteng

Inilah satu-satunya mercutanda pembakar semangat di Kuala Lumpur. Yang memberikan 'semangat dan harapan' kepadaku sekurang-kurangnya dua kali setiap hari dan lima hari setiap minggu. Letaknya dilaluanku ke pejabat. Terpacak megah di hadapan perkampungan usang di tengah kotaraya.

Benteng Umat Melayu. Tak pasti sama ada benteng untuk mencegah dari maju ke hadapan atau penghalang dari mundur ke belakang. Atau benteng penahan keruntuhan. Yang pastinya rumah-rumah di belakang papan tanda ini sudah usang dan terbiar. Berzaman-zaman.

Perlu diingat bahawa Kota Melaka yang berbenteng teguh jatuh angkara pembelotan penjaganya pada 1511. Terpikat dengan janji-janji manis Alfonso d'Alburquerque, Nina Chattu dan Uthimutha membuka laluan di waktu malam untuk tentera Peringgi menyeludup masuk.

Yang merisaukan kita adalah pergaduhan berpanjangan antara penjaga benteng dengan mantan penjaga benteng. Keadaan ini amat genting kerana kini benteng tak terjaga! Dan sudah terserlah panjang akal beberapa bendahara-bendahara.

Kebetulan pula antara mel-mel ucapselamat 'Eidulfitri yang ku terima, terselit ballada tanpa nama pengarang di bawah ini. (Harap-harap akan dinyanyikan nanti oleh Airmas_sz). Pengajaran darinya, sesamalah kita perhalusi.

Oh Bangsaku

Mim. Lam-Alif. Ya. Wau.
Bangsaku.
Di mana terdapat ramai bangsaku?

Pastinya di Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan dan Terengganu.
Lumrahnya mereka bertumpu
Ke pasar malam dan pasar minggu
Berduyun-duyun ke Akademi Fantasia, Jom Heboh dan Pesta Lagu
Ada yang berboleng, ramai juga yang bertudung liku
Tua muda berpusu-pusu, tanpa segan silu.
Ada yang meraung bak masuk hantu
Kalau anak gagal jadi Juara Lagu!
Haram tak peduli, malah buat tak tau
Kalau anak gagal pelajaran atau ditendang sekolah,
ekoran pukul guru
Atau anak pulang berbadan dua; keluar dulu hanya satu!


Apa kurang di Sungai Buloh dan sebelum ini di Pudu?
Dan di jalan raya, mereka terkenal terlalu
Mat rempit berlumba haram, tengah malam Minggu
Berlagak naik moto, roda dua jadi satu.
Dahlah lari laju, aksi pulak tak pasang lampu.
Kalah orang sarkas atau polis main tatu.
Laki pompuan dah jadi tak menentu
Halal haram dah jadi satu
Perangai macam syaitan, tak dak sapa ambik tau.
Harapkan yang jaga di selekoh
Sama juga ulat bulu.
Duit rasuah depa sapu.

Tak kurang pula di pusat Serenti
Ramai mat gian yang nunggu mati
Akibat ketagih ganja, pil kuda, heroin dan syabu.
Tak dak sapa nak ambik peduli
Mak pak depa pun tak ambik tau.

Kalu malam kemerdekaan dan malam tahun baru
KLCC, Dataran Merdeka, Bangsar dan Zouk mereka tuju
Terkinja-kinja best giler, menari macam dirasuk hantu
Lompat atas meja, buka pakaian satu persatu
Bilang cucu Rose Chan, neneknya dulu pun tak buat gitu!
Tonggang arak kedarah tuak; macam minum ayaq batu.
Guling guling kaki lima tanpa segan-segan silu
Baju nampak pusat; seluar nampak punggung;
Nampak ini dan nampak ituuuu!
Kita pulak yang naik malu.
Tak dak sapa berani ambik peduli
Mak pak depa pun tak ambik tau.

Apa hobi orang bangsaku?
Terkenal dengan budaya malas dan lesu
Ajak bantah Artikel 11, kata mereka tunggu dulu.
Anak jadi murtad, baru sibuk cari tok guru
Suruh baca doa jampi, mau sembuh tang tang tu.
Berlepak, buang masa, umpat-ngumpat tak jemu-jemu
Yang rajin sikit baca Mastika, bab cerita hantu
Mak cik mak cik nonton telenovela, dari Filipina dan Peru
Terpukau dengan hero, hensem giler, pengubat rindu
Leka tugas leka solat, tak henti nanggis sedu-sedu
Sambil makan junk food, kacang dan muruku
Mana tak gendut dan berpenyakit selalu?

Kalau nak berlagak, bukanlah nak mengata,
bangsakulah nombor satu.
Asal bergaya;
sanggup makan nasi dengan toyu.
Mas kahwin dan hantaran beb, dah cecah berjuta;
Bukan lagi ribu-ribu!
Minta derma masjid
Dapatlah sesikat dua pisang layu.

Baru jadi wakil rakyat, duit rakyat abis disapu
Buat rumah macam istana, harga langsir saja puluh ribu.
Berlagak macam rimau, tapi di parlimen lidah kelu
Bangsa dihentam
Agama jadi ejekan...
Tak berani jawab;
hanya duduk diam membisu
Terkencing dalam seluaq, tunduk bodoh macam lembu.
Jadi dungu!
Inilah angkara menang dipilih pengundi hantu!

Boleh tak jumpa mereka di kedai buku?
Ahh, mencari majalah hiburan dan buku skandal pak menteri!
Atau di perpustakaan dan majlis ilmu?
Ya, duduk setengah jam, panas punggung mula nak lari!
Atau ambil kelas kemahiran di hujung minggu?
Ada, tapi kurang sangat ke situ. Walaupun kelas free!

Kenapa bangsaku jadi begitu?
Nak salahkan sapa?
Mak pak atau guru?
Pemimpin negara atau raja dulu-dulu?
Pak Lah ke, Mahathir ke, Tun Razak atau Tunku?

Jawapan yang lazim diberi,
Mereka malas terlalu
Nak harap kerajaan saja bantu.
Terutama sekali kontraktor kelas satu
Dapat projek juta-juta, juai kat tokei ratus ribu!
Megah sana sini nak tayang kereta baru
Tak habis-habis gaduh, nak jatuh sapa dulu
Dan suka sangat dengan budaya mengampu.

Sampai bila kita nak tunggu,
Bangsaku jadi bangsa termaju?
Boleh!
Dengan beberapa syarat tertentu.

Pertama, dengan banyak menguasai ilmu
Kurangkan tengok TV, rajin-rajinlah baca buku
Kata Rasul, ikutlah al Quran dan sunnahku.
Dan gugurkan yang batil, yang haq mesti di tuju
Dan jangan cakap bohong, serta jangan jadi penipu
Dan kerja rajin-rajin, berkualiti dan bermutu

Al Quran yang diturunkan 1400 tahun dulu
Tiap rumah pasti ada satu
Atas rak sampai berdebu
Tapi apakah yang kita tahu?
Hanya buat jampi serapah untuk halau hantu!


Oh bangsaku.

Dan .....
Aku pun satu
Komen aje tau!

~ pengarang: taksapatau ~

p.s. Mengenai Mantan Penjaga Benteng, sila baca komen dari Sdr. Loppies.

Eid Mubarak

135 Convert to Islam!

Selepas majelis taklim oleh Sh. Yusuf Estes, 135 peserta memeluk Islam.

Menjelang Syawal 1427 yang akan tiba, hanya beberapa hari lagi, saya ingin mengambil kesempatan ini untuk mengucapkan:

Eid Mubarak.

Kullu 'aamin wa antum bikhair
Minal 'aaidinaa wal faa izin

Mengikut hadith yang diriwayatkan oleh Ibn Majah, yang bermaksud: "Sesiapa yang bangun pada malam 'eid (fitrah dan adha) dengan mengharapkan pahala, nescaya tidak akan mati hatinya pada hari mati sekalian hati".

Dan menurut sebuah hadith riwayat Bukhari pula yang bermaksud: Adalah nabi sollallahu 'alaihi wassalam tak akan beredar pada pagi 'eidulfitri hingga Baginda makan beberapa biji tamar". Bermaksud, adalah sunnah untuk makan sebelum ke masjid untuk solat 'eidulfitri, lebih lagi dengan tamar (kurma kering).

Nuzul Quran

Besok KL akan penuh sesak.

Jangan ke KL kalau tak sabar. Jalan TAR, terutamanya kawasan Masjid India, Sogo dan Pertama Komplek akan diserbu oleh manusia dari Seremban, Klang, dan lain-lain kawasan yang berhampiran. Juga Sungai Wang, Lot 10 dan KLCC.

Entah apa yang mereka cari saya sendiri sampai ke hari ini masih belum mengerti. Yang pasti mereka mencari panas dan dahaga. Serta mencari peluang untuk menghilangkan kesabaran.

KL masih berjerebu weiii! Baiklah duduk di rumah.

I.

Nuzul Quran berlaku pada 17 Ramadhan sewaktu Rasulullahi solallahu 'alaihi wassalam mula menerima wahyu dari Jibrail. Sewaktu itu Baginda berusia 41 tahun. Dan ayat pertama yang dinuzulkan adalah ayat kelima pertama dari Surah Al Alaq yang bermaksud:

Iqra'. Bacalah dengan (menyebut) nama Tuhanmu yang
menciptakan.
Dia telah menciptakan manusia daripada segumpal darah.
Bacalah dengan nama Tuhanmu Yang Maha Mulia yang mengajarkan (manusia) dengan perantaraan kalam.
Dia mengajarkan kepada manusia apa yang tidak diketahuinya.

Kebetulan pula hari ini jatuh dalam bulan Ramadhan. Bulan yang mengajar manusia antara lainnya, kepada keinsafan, kesabaran, kedermawan, kebaikan dan juga ketaqwaan. Dan al Quran pula menjadi pedoman untuk manusia menentukan antara haq dan bathil.

II.

Mulai esok pula saya akan bercuti dari berblogging. Untuk berusaha supaya sempat khatam al Quran dan sekiranya ada peluang untuk beriktikaf. Insha Allah.

Taqabalallahu minkum.

Masuk Melayu?

I.

"Tapi tak mungkin senang untuk menjadi Muslim," Chris meluahkan perasaannya kepadaku.

Aku kerap menerima panggilan daripadanya pada larut malam. Jiwanya yang sedang aktif menjana informasi baru tentang Islam, membuatkannya tak bisa lelap. Justeru aku sering mendapat missed calls sekitar jam 11 malam daripadanya.

"Kenapa?" tanyaku.

"Kami orang Cina tak mau jadi Melayu," ujarnya.

"Apa perkaitannya dengan Islam?" tanyaku.

"Di Malaysia itulah hakikatnya," beliau membalas.

"Chris," kataku, "siapa yang bilang Islam tu Melayu? Orang Melayu lebih kepada budaya Hindu, daripada Islam."

"What?" dia bersuara terkejut.

"Chris, cuba perhatikan bagaimana orang Melayu bersanding. Tepung tawarnya dan perhiasan mempelai lelakinya dengan hiasan emas. Peranan kelapa dalam adat bercukur jambul dan adat melenggang perut. Dan banyak lagi adat-adat Hindu dalam acara perubatan terutamanya dalam jampi mantera. Apa kurangnya pula pada budaya yang masih diwarisi oleh orang-orang Melayu, seperti wayang kulit yang menceritakan epic Ramayana?" aku berhujjah.

Chris diam sejenak. "So we can still remain as Chinese..."

"Chris, tell your friends that there are more Muslims in China than in Malaysia. And that they are not Malays but still trueblue Chinese. There is even no compulsion for you to change names."

"Oh, I am so glad. Assalamu alaikum," beliau menyudahi perbualan.

II.

Pada akhir bulan ini kita akan merayakan 'Eidulfitri. Akan berhiaslah rumah-rumah di kampung dan di bandar dengan lampu-lampu dan pelita ayan (dari iron containers) dan buluh. Adat apakah ini?

Di India, setiap tahun sempena perayaan menyambut kemunculan cahaya selepas kegelapan; simbolik kepada kebaikkan mengatasi keburukkan, orang-orang Hindu akan menyalakan lampu-lampu di rumah-rumah mereka. Penganut Hindu mempercayai pada malam ini roh-roh akan pulang kerumah masing-masing. Dan lampu-lampu yang dipasang adalah untuk menunjukkan jalan kepada mereka untuk pulang dan pergi. Kebetulan pula pada tahun ini perayaan ini adalah beberapa hari sebelum 'Eidulfitri.

Perayaan Deepavali atau Diwali merupakan hari merayakan kemenangan Krishna dalam pertarungannya dengan Narakasura. Lampu-lampu adalah untuk merayakan kematian Narakasura dalam pertarungan tersebut. Krishna bukannya dipanggil Mr. oleh penganut Hindu, tetapi Lord. Mereka menyembahnya. Bermaksud, Deepavali adalah untuk merayakan hari kemenangan tuhan mereka dalam peperangan dengan tuhan yang jahat. Tuhan Krishna yang baik telah berjaya membunuh tuhan Narakasura yang jahat!

III.

Selamat berkongsi raya kepada orang Melayu yang menjadi teladan yang amat membimbangkan Chris. Sendiri tanggunglah akibahnya.

N.B. Chris, jangan bimbang, perayaan Tahun Baru Cina akan kami rayakan kerana ia bukan perayaan agama. Sebagaimana ianya dirayakan di negeri China oleh umat Islam.

Pope Berhujah Lapuk

Kali ini saya menciplakkan keseluruh artikel yang ditulis oleh Uri Avnery, seorang atheis rakyat Israel, sebagai responnya kepada ucapan Pope Benedict XVI, baru-baru ini.

Selepas reaksi berapi-api dari ummat Islam, yang membantah kenyataan biadab itu, Pope berkata selamba: "Ehh aku ingat tak ape-ape. Mintak mahap no!".

Dan sahut Pengerusi OIC, selepas pertemuannya dengan G W Bush: "Legaa dada. Dia mintak mahap dah. Mai kita memahapkannya!"

Edarkan artikel ini supaya rakan-rakan yang beragama Islam terutamanya, faham tentang peranan pedang yang sebenarnya dalam pengembangan Islam.

Muhammad's Sword

By: Uri Avnery
27 September, 2006
Gush Shalom

Since the days when Roman Emperors threw Christians to the lions, the relations between the emperors and the heads of the church have undergone many changes.

Constantine the Great, who became Emperor in the year 306 - exactly 1700 years ago - encouraged the practice of Christianity in the empire, which included Palestine. Centuries later, the church split into an Eastern (Orthodox) and a Western (Catholic) part. In the West, the Bishop of Rome, who acquired the title of Pope, demanded that the Emperor accept his superiority.

The struggle between the Emperors and the Popes played a central role in European history and divided the peoples. It knew ups and downs. Some Emperors dismissed or expelled a Pope, some Popes dismissed or excommunicated an Emperor. One of the Emperors, Henry IV, "walked to Canossa", standing for three days barefoot in the snow in front of the Pope's castle, until the Pope deigned to annul his excommunication.

But there were times when Emperors and Popes lived in peace with each other. We are witnessing such a period today. Between the present Pope, Benedict XVI, and the present Emperor, George Bush II, there exists a wonderful harmony. Last week's speech by the Pope, which aroused a world-wide storm, went well with Bush's crusade against "Islamofascism", in the context of the "Clash of Civilizations".

IN HIS lecture at a German university, the 265th Pope described what he sees as a huge difference between Christianity and Islam: while Christianity is based on reason, Islam denies it. While Christians see the logic of God's actions, Muslims deny that there is any such logic in the actions of Allah.

As a Jewish atheist, I do not intend to enter the fray of this debate. It is much beyond my humble abilities to understand the logic of the Pope. But I cannot overlook one passage, which concerns me too, as an Israeli living near the fault-line of this "war of civilizations".

In order to prove the lack of reason in Islam, the Pope asserts that the prophet Muhammad ordered his followers to spread their religion by the sword. According to the Pope, that is unreasonable, because faith is born of the soul, not of the body. How can the sword influence the soul?

To support his case, the Pope quoted - of all people - a Byzantine Emperor, who belonged, of course, to the competing Eastern Church. At the end of the 14th century, the Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus told of a debate he had - or so he said (its occurrence is in doubt) - with an unnamed Persian Muslim scholar. In the heat of the argument, the Emperor (according to himself) flung the following words at his adversary:"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

These words give rise to three questions:

• Why did the Emperor say them?
• Are they true?
• Why did the present Pope quote them?

WHEN MANUEL II wrote his treatise, he was the head of a dying empire. He assumed power in 1391, when only a few provinces of the once illustrious empire remained. These, too, were already under Turkish threat.

At that point in time, the Ottoman Turks had reached the banks of the Danube. They had conquered Bulgaria and the north of Greece, and had twice defeated relieving armies sent by Europe to save the Eastern Empire. On May 29, 1453, only a few years after Manuel's death, his capital, Constantinople (the present Istanbul) fell to the Turks, putting an end to the Empire that had lasted for more than a thousand years.

During his reign, Manuel made the rounds of the capitals of Europe in an attempt to drum up support. He promised to reunite the church. There is no doubt that he wrote his religious treatise in order to incite the Christian countries against the Turks and convince them to start a new crusade. The aim was practical, theology was serving politics.

In this sense, the quote serves exactly the requirements of the present Emperor, George Bush II. He, too, wants to unite the Christian world against the mainly Muslim "Axis of Evil". Moreover, the Turks are again knocking on the doors of Europe, this time peacefully. It is well known that the Pope supports the forces that object to the entry of Turkey into the European Union.

IS THERE any truth in Manuel's argument? The Pope himself threw in a word of caution. As a serious and renowned theologian, he could not afford to falsify written texts. Therefore, he admitted that the Qur'an specifically forbade the spreading of the faith by force. He quoted the second Sura, verse 256 (strangely fallible, for a pope, he meant verse 257) that say: "There must be no coercion in matters of faith".

How can one ignore such an unequivocal statement? The Pope simply argues that this commandment was laid down by the Prophet when he was at the beginning of his career, still weak and powerless, but that later on he ordered the use of the sword in the service of the faith. Such an order does not exist in the Qur'an. True, Muhammad called for the use of the sword in his war against opposing tribes - Christian, Jewish and others - in Arabia, when he was building his state. But that was a political act, not a religious one; basically a fight for territory, not for the spreading of the faith.

Jesus said: "You will recognize them by their fruits." The treatment of other religions by Islam must be judged by a simple test: How did the Muslim rulers behave for more than a thousand years, when they had the power to "spread the faith by the sword"?

Well, they just did not.

For many centuries, the Muslims ruled Greece. Did the Greeks become Muslims? Did anyone even try to Islamize them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration. The Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians and other European nations lived at one time or another under Ottoman rule and clung to their Christian faith. Nobody compelled them to become Muslims and all of them remained devoutly Christian.

True, the Albanians did convert to Islam, and so did the Bosniaks. But nobody argues that they did this under duress. They adopted Islam in order to become favorites of the government and enjoy the fruits.

In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and massacred its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants indiscriminately, in the name of the gentle Jesus. At that time, 400 years into the occupation of Palestine by the Muslims, Christians were still the majority in the country. Throughout this long period, no effort was made to impose Islam on them. Only after the expulsion of the Crusaders from the country, did the majority of the inhabitants start to adopt the Arabic language and the Muslim faith - and they were the forefathers of most of today's Palestinians.

THERE IS no evidence whatsoever of any attempt to impose Islam on the Jews. As is well known, under Muslim rule the Jews of Spain enjoyed a bloom the like of which the Jews did not enjoy anywhere else until almost our time. Poets like Yehuda Halevy wrote in Arabic, as did the great Maimonides. In Muslim Spain, Jews were ministers, poets, and scientists. In Muslim Toledo, Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together and translated the ancient Greek philosophical and scientific texts. That was, indeed, the Golden Age. How would this have been possible, had the Prophet decreed the "spreading of the faith by the sword"?

What happened afterwards is even more telling. When the Catholics re-conquered Spain from the Muslims, they instituted a reign of religious terror. The Jews and the Muslims were presented with a cruel choice: to become Christians, to be massacred or to leave. And where did the hundreds of thousand of Jews, who refused to abandon their faith, escape? Almost all of them were received with open arms in the Muslim countries. The Sephardi ("Spanish") Jews settled all over the Muslim world, from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, from Bulgaria (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in the north to Sudan in the south. Nowhere were they persecuted. They knew nothing like the tortures of the Inquisition, the flames of the auto-da-fe, the pogroms, the terrible mass-expulsions that took place in almost all Christian countries, up to the Holocaust.

WHY? Because Islam expressly prohibited any persecution of the "peoples of the book". In Islamic society, a special place was reserved for Jews and Christians. They did not enjoy completely equal rights, but almost. They had to pay a special poll-tax, but were exempted from military service - a trade-off that was quite welcome to many Jews. It has been said that Muslim rulers frowned upon any attempt to convert Jews to Islam even by gentle persuasion - because it entailed the loss of taxes.

Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deep sense of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for fifty generations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times "by the sword" to get them to abandon their faith.

THE STORY about "spreading the faith by the sword" is an evil legend, one of the myths that grew up in Europe during the great wars against the Muslims - the reconquista of Spain by the Christians, the Crusades and the repulsion of the Turks, who almost conquered Vienna. I suspect that the German Pope, too, honestly believes in these fables. That means that the leader of the Catholic world, who is a Christian theologian in his own right, did not make the effort to study the history of other religions.

Why did he utter these words in public? And why now?

There is no escape from viewing them against the background of the new Crusade of Bush and his evangelist supporters, with his slogans of "Islamofascism" and the "Global War on Terrorism" - when "terrorism" has become a synonym for Muslims. For Bush's handlers, this is a cynical attempt to justify the domination of the world's oil resources. Not for the first time in history, a religious robe is spread to cover the nakedness of economic interests; not for the first time, a robbers' expedition becomes a Crusade.

The speech of the Pope blends into this effort. Who can foretell the dire consequences?

Nota: Apa kerja Pope Benedict XVI sewaktu muda? Jawapannya disini.