friends , dato and tanseri,
surah al adiyat reminded me of my happy years riding competitively for the country at the international level.
i was riding with some malaysians, some 15 years back in a god forsaken place, huelgoat, [ pronounced as hell- goa..., little did i knew that it was going to be hell for me ! ] somewhere in brittany, france. we were competing in a highly fast international race at just 120km, which started with around a 100 horses in the town square on pebbled cobblestones. ! and what a start amids rain and thunder at almost 32 fahrenheit 4 am in the morning! i was 'collecting' valuable points to prequalify for the prestigious placing in the coming year's federation equestriane internationale [ fei ]world equestrian games, in jerez, spain.
somehow, after an earlier success in the sea games in 2002, i managed to wrangled a 100k rm sponsorship from stingy ts hassan of petronas, a former form mate at mckk, to prepare for the world cup. not without much difficulty though.
his people was reluctant to see me at first, citing formulla sponsorship as a reason.
what i was asking was mere peanut to kickstart a new sport....
but a friendly letter from my 'auntie' , dr siti hasmah, finally persuaded him to part with some cash!
it was peanut to petronas actually, but i could actually understand hassan's stinginess.
everyone thought those days petronas was their grandfather's piggy bank!
france is a pork country and the week preceeding the race i was surviving on 5 packets of maggi mee daily.
just maggi mee.
that week i was down with bronchitis as well and the almost zero centigrade morning temperature did not help.
mid way thru the race at 60 km level i began to develop almost total blindness. was only able to perceive only some semblance of sight. continued riding only by following the tail of the rider's horse in front of me..in the middle of some beautiful forest where the going was quite soft and good for galloping, my fellow compatriots, laily bunyamin and lawrence liew of sabah decided to hasten the pace. in my blindness i could not follow them and was lost in the forest.
i dismounted and made my way slowly for some kilometres until i saw some officials.
i decided to throw in the towel and gave up the race in huelgoat..and race elsewhere some other time until my sponsorship money finish... a steep climb for the final at jerez, when you just missed 'one boat' to accumulate valuable points .
a good samaritan drove me back to my room that evening .
i could barely just count fingers, and could not even find the boiler to cook some maggi mee.
"omg!..is this retinal detachment...i cannot call malaysia to confer with my opthalmologist colleague at sjmc as i could not see the numbers! laily, lawrence and dato awang, my riding colleauges were still in the race....."omg! is this it..is this going to be permanent?!"
i slept and cried unashamedly....could not even do the prayers as i could not find the wash room to have a bath and do the ablution....could only do zikr and pray honouring the time , even then not knowing the time!
at breakfast the next morning met laily and lawrence at the dining table .
vision returned 100 %.
'' alhamdullillah! i think i have transient neuroglycopenia and neuro hypoxia..... very rare case of combined low blood sugar and low brain oxygen situation." , i told them.
i knew there was no sympathy from them.
we were all competing for the same spot.
this is the nature of competitive sport! no camaraderie, just political politeness all round.
a triple combination of poor diet , extreme exhaustion from the race, cold weather, and severe broncho-constriction from bronchitis, all added together.
however with grit, i qualified for the world cup in spain the ensuing year.
again another calamity....my french horse, floyd, died 15 kilometres on the hill from the finish of the 160 km world endurance championship !
tough luck for both horse and rider.
from a hero became a 'pariah' before being cleared for 'over riding by FEI.
Masha allah! we are tested in many ways all the time....we have to view it as a 'cleansing mechanism' to improve one's maqam all the time...if you think otherwise you get unnecessarily angry with allah... and missed the wonderful opportunity to be better.
subha nallah , walhamdullillah, wala illa haillallah allah huakbar!
surah al adiyat certainly brings me sweet sour memories!
mostly sweet, and even the sour part, was better than ok, with sabr, shukr and remembrance.
it could have been worse.
dr nik howk
subang jaya
29th, march
.....................................................................................................
surah al adiyat reminded me of my happy years riding competitively for the country at the international level.
i was riding with some malaysians, some 15 years back in a god forsaken place, huelgoat, [ pronounced as hell- goa..., little did i knew that it was going to be hell for me ! ] somewhere in brittany, france. we were competing in a highly fast international race at just 120km, which started with around a 100 horses in the town square on pebbled cobblestones. ! and what a start amids rain and thunder at almost 32 fahrenheit 4 am in the morning! i was 'collecting' valuable points to prequalify for the prestigious placing in the coming year's federation equestriane internationale [ fei ]world equestrian games, in jerez, spain.
somehow, after an earlier success in the sea games in 2002, i managed to wrangled a 100k rm sponsorship from stingy ts hassan of petronas, a former form mate at mckk, to prepare for the world cup. not without much difficulty though.
his people was reluctant to see me at first, citing formulla sponsorship as a reason.
what i was asking was mere peanut to kickstart a new sport....
but a friendly letter from my 'auntie' , dr siti hasmah, finally persuaded him to part with some cash!
it was peanut to petronas actually, but i could actually understand hassan's stinginess.
everyone thought those days petronas was their grandfather's piggy bank!
france is a pork country and the week preceeding the race i was surviving on 5 packets of maggi mee daily.
just maggi mee.
that week i was down with bronchitis as well and the almost zero centigrade morning temperature did not help.
mid way thru the race at 60 km level i began to develop almost total blindness. was only able to perceive only some semblance of sight. continued riding only by following the tail of the rider's horse in front of me..in the middle of some beautiful forest where the going was quite soft and good for galloping, my fellow compatriots, laily bunyamin and lawrence liew of sabah decided to hasten the pace. in my blindness i could not follow them and was lost in the forest.
i dismounted and made my way slowly for some kilometres until i saw some officials.
i decided to throw in the towel and gave up the race in huelgoat..and race elsewhere some other time until my sponsorship money finish... a steep climb for the final at jerez, when you just missed 'one boat' to accumulate valuable points .
a good samaritan drove me back to my room that evening .
i could barely just count fingers, and could not even find the boiler to cook some maggi mee.
"omg!..is this retinal detachment...i cannot call malaysia to confer with my opthalmologist colleague at sjmc as i could not see the numbers! laily, lawrence and dato awang, my riding colleauges were still in the race....."omg! is this it..is this going to be permanent?!"
i slept and cried unashamedly....could not even do the prayers as i could not find the wash room to have a bath and do the ablution....could only do zikr and pray honouring the time , even then not knowing the time!
at breakfast the next morning met laily and lawrence at the dining table .
vision returned 100 %.
'' alhamdullillah! i think i have transient neuroglycopenia and neuro hypoxia..... very rare case of combined low blood sugar and low brain oxygen situation." , i told them.
i knew there was no sympathy from them.
we were all competing for the same spot.
this is the nature of competitive sport! no camaraderie, just political politeness all round.
a triple combination of poor diet , extreme exhaustion from the race, cold weather, and severe broncho-constriction from bronchitis, all added together.
however with grit, i qualified for the world cup in spain the ensuing year.
again another calamity....my french horse, floyd, died 15 kilometres on the hill from the finish of the 160 km world endurance championship !
tough luck for both horse and rider.
from a hero became a 'pariah' before being cleared for 'over riding by FEI.
Masha allah! we are tested in many ways all the time....we have to view it as a 'cleansing mechanism' to improve one's maqam all the time...if you think otherwise you get unnecessarily angry with allah... and missed the wonderful opportunity to be better.
subha nallah , walhamdullillah, wala illa haillallah allah huakbar!
surah al adiyat certainly brings me sweet sour memories!
mostly sweet, and even the sour part, was better than ok, with sabr, shukr and remembrance.
it could have been worse.
dr nik howk
subang jaya
29th, march
.....................................................................................................
سُوۡرَةُ العَادیَات
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
وَٱلۡعَـٰدِيَـٰتِ ضَبۡحً۬ا (١) فَٱلۡمُورِيَـٰتِ قَدۡحً۬ا (٢) فَٱلۡمُغِيرَٲتِ صُبۡحً۬ا (٣) فَأَثَرۡنَ بِهِۦ نَقۡعً۬ا (٤) فَوَسَطۡنَ بِهِۦ جَمۡعًا (٥) إِنَّ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ لِرَبِّهِۦ لَكَنُودٌ۬ (٦) وَإِنَّهُ ۥ عَلَىٰ ذَٲلِكَ لَشَہِيدٌ۬ (٧)
وَإِنَّهُ ۥ لِحُبِّ ٱلۡخَيۡرِ لَشَدِيدٌ
(٨) ۞ أَفَلَا يَعۡلَمُ إِذَا
بُعۡثِرَ مَا فِى ٱلۡقُبُورِ (٩) وَحُصِّلَ مَا فِى ٱلصُّدُورِ (١٠) إِنَّ رَبَّہُم بِہِمۡ يَوۡمَٮِٕذٍ۬ لَّخَبِيرُۢ (١١)
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the
Merciful
By the snorting coursers, (1) Striking sparks of fire (2) And scouring to the raid at dawn, (3) Then, therewith, with their trail of dust, (4)
Cleaving, as one, the centre (of the foe),
(5) Lo! man is an ingrate unto his Lord (6)
And lo! he is a witness unto that; (7)
And lo! in the love of wealth he is
violent. (8) Knoweth he not that, when the
contents of the graves are poured forth (9) And the secrets of the breasts are made known, (10)
On that day will their Lord be perfectly
informed concerning them. (11)
Recitation by qari Shaykh Omar Hisham al Arabi,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48m1T8N09M4
Reflection and commentary by Shaykh Abu Talha,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CWRw43Ohyg
[ 0 : 58 :30 some people sell god's word for a few penny......whether he has a large turban on his head, massive motorcade , sheikh al azhar...]
[ 1: 05 :00 mind your business...define business as a Muslim ]
[ 1:17:30 the 'tyranny' is everywhere...bangladesh, pakistan, malaysia , indonesia , jordan etc etc ]
Reflection and commentary by Shaykh Abu Talha,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CWRw43Ohyg
[ 0 : 58 :30 some people sell god's word for a few penny......whether he has a large turban on his head, massive motorcade , sheikh al azhar...]
[ 1: 05 :00 mind your business...define business as a Muslim ]
[ 1:17:30 the 'tyranny' is everywhere...bangladesh, pakistan, malaysia , indonesia , jordan etc etc ]
To flourish and take root, religious faith has to be strongly defended and protected. Without this protection, falsehood would have a free reign. Human history is replete with corrupt and oppressive rulers who have dominated millions of people by brute force and trampled over values of justice , honor, and dignity. According to many, might is right, and it is also true to say that for right to be adequately safeguarded, might must also be present.
In this surah, God swears by certain means usually associated with power and jihad. He says :
By the panting steeds as they charged forth, striking fire with their hooves and galloping to assault at dawn, with trails of sand, blazing into the heart of the battlefield; man is ungrateful to his Lord ! [ 1-6 ]
The scene is of knights on horseback, fighting fiercely; horses panting and jostling against each other, with their hooves striking the ground, giving out sparks of fire; and fearless riders bravely thrusting forward. For the unbelievers, defending false and corrupt beliefs, such scenes represent the moments of truth when they shall realize their errors and pay for them with their blood.
Jihad is necessary to revive faith in God, to weed out corruption and evil, and to ensure the health and well- being of society. This is as true today as at any time in history, not least because of the prevalence and dominance of corruption and injustice everywhere, as the surah points out, saying :
" Man is ungrateful to his Lord ! To this he himself witness " [ 6-7 ]
The materialistic nature of contemporary civilization, its ungodliness and the extent of its denial of judgment and accountability in the life to come, must be unprecedented in human history. The surah affirms man's weakness in his devotion to wealth and warns :
Is man not aware that when the dead are raised from the graves, and men's hidden thoughts are laid open, their Lord shall on that day be fully aware of them ? [ 9-11 ]
Shaykh Muhammad Al Ghazali [ 1917- 1996 ]
Late Chairman of International Institute of Islamic Thought based in Cairo,
excerpt from ' A Thematic Commentary on The Quran '
Sayyid Qutb's reflection and perspective , from his ' Fi Zilalil Quran ' ,
Sayyid Qutb's reflection and perspective , from his ' Fi Zilalil Quran ' ,
Surah 100
The Courses - al Adiyat
The Courses - al Adiyat
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful!
By the snorting coursers, striking sparks of fire, by those which sour to raid at dawn, blazing a trail of dust, cleaving into the center of the enemy: man is surely un-grateful to his Lord, and of this he him self is a witness; and truly, he is passionate in his love for wordly riches. But he is un-aware that when the contents of the graves are scattered about, and what is in the breasts is brought out, surely their Lord will on that know all about them.
Commentary:
This surah is presented in rapid and violent touches. The text moves swiftly from one scene to another. As we come to the last verse, everything - the verbal expressions, the connotations, the subject matter and the rhythm - settle down in a manner similar to that of a courser reaching the finishing point. The surah starts with the scene of war steeds running, snorting, striking sparks of fire with their hoofs, launching a raid at dawn and blazing a trail of dust, cleaving suddenly into the centre of the enemies, taking them by surprise and striking terror and fear in their hearts.
Then follows a picture of the human self: a scene of ingratitude, ignobleness, greed and extreme miserliness. Immediately after that there is a description of graves laid open and their contents scattered, and the secrets of hearts poured out. Finally the trail of dust, ingratitude and miserliness, the contents of the graves and the dragged out secrets all come to the same terminus. They come to Allah and settle down: "surely their Lord will on that day know all about them."
The rhythm of the surah is robust and thunderous and thus fits well with the dusty and clamorous atmosphere generated by the upturned graves and the secrets violently pulled out of the breasts. These characteristics of the rhythm are also appropriate to the picture of ingratitude, thank lessness and extreme miserliness. A framework for this picture is provided by a dusty and tumultuous atmosphere of horses racing and thundering. Thus the frame and the picture are in perfect harmony with each other.
"By the snorting coursers. striking sparks of fire, by those which scour to the raid at dawn, blazing a trail of dust, cleaving into the centre of the enemy, man is surely ungrateful to his Lord. And of this he himself is a witness; ant truly, he is passionate in his love for worldly riches ".
Allah swears by the war horses and describes their movements one after the other - running, snorting and neighing. They strike their hoofs against rocks, producing sparks of fire. They wage their attack early at dawn in order to take the enemy by surprise, producing a trail of dust during the unexpected battle. They pierce swiftly the enemy ranks creating disorder and confusion amongst them. These successive stages were well known to those who were first addressed by the Holy Qur'an. The fact that Allah swears by the horses provides an emphatic suggestion that the movement portrayed is a lovable one and men should respond to it actively. This they do only after realising how precious it is in the measure of Allah, which is reflected in His paying attention to it. Added to all this is the harmony between this scene and the scenes which are the subject of the Divine oath, namely the state of the human soul when it is devoid of faith and its impetus. The Qur'an draws man's attention to this state in order that he may gather all his willpower to combat it. For Allah is perfectly aware of how deeply it is ingrained in man and what great pressure it exercises on him.
"Man is surely ungrateful to his Lord and of this he himself is a witness; And truly, he is passionate in his love for worldly riches". It is a fact that man reacts with ingratitude to all the bounties of his Lord. He denies the favours which Allah confers on him. His thanklessness and ingratitude is reflected in a host of actions and verbal statements which will serve as witness against him. Or perhaps, on the Day of Judgement, he may testify against himself, admitting his ingratitude: "and of this he himself is a witness ". For on the Day of Judgement he will speak the plain truth even against himself, without any contentions or excuses. "And truly, he is passionate in his love for worldly riches". Man is a passionate self-lover. But he loves only what he imagines to be good for him: wealth, power and the pleasures of this world. This is his nature unless he has faith which changes his concepts, values and even his concerns. Faith changes his ingratitude to humble thankfulness. It changes his greed and miserliness to benevolence and compassion. It makes him aware of the proper values which are worthy of being the object of ambition and hard competition. Indeed these are much more exalted than money, power and mundane pleasures.
Man without faith is an ignoble creature having only trivial ambitions and petty concerns. However big his desires, however strong his ambitions and high his objectives may seem, he remains sunk in the cesspool of this earth, confined within the limits of this life, imprisoned in self. He cannot be freed or elevated except by an attachment to a world superior to this earth, extending beyond this life; a world which originates from Allah who is the First Being and returning to Allah the Eternal; a world into which this life and the life hereafter converge and which has no end.
Hence, the final touch in the surah provides the cure for ingratitude, greed and miserliness. It portrays the scene of resurrection in a way which makes man shudder, and puts his love for wealth and indulgence in worldly riches out of his mind, unshackling his soul and setting it free from earthly attachments: "But is he unaware that when the contents of the graves are scattered about, and what is in the breasts is brought out, surely their Lord will on that day know all about them". It is a violent and frightening scene in which we witness the "scattering about" of the contents of the graves and the bringing out of the secrets of the hearts which were closely guarded, kept away from everyone. The Arabic terms used here for scattering and pulling are very forceful, suggesting an atmosphere of violence and force. Does he not know when this will take place? The mere awareness of all this is enough to inspire man to seek an answer and explore every avenue in search of it, while at the same time discerning all that may result from these wild movements. These nimble and agile movements finally come to where every matter and destiny is settled: "surely their Lord will on that day know all about them ". So to their Lord is their end. He "on that day" knows them and all their affairs and secrets. Allah certainly knows everything at all times and in all conditions but the knowledge of "that day" has some effects to which their attentions are drawn here. It is a knowledge which necessitates the reckoning and reward. This implicit meaning is the one underlined here.
The surah is a swift, vehement and breathless piece, with a sudden terminus of meaning, expression and rhythm. It reflects a unique Qur'anic method of expression.
My personal reflection on horses and coursers......and surah al adiyat...........
surah al adiyat! Just 11 ayat altogether, powerfully put together, and from my unschooled perspective, starts with a sudden crescendo and ends up with a sudden de-crescendo; a grim reminder of that lowly hole in the ground where all and sundry will end up to.
i am not schooled in ugama and the quran but i am fairly well schooled in horses! these beautiful, powerful and sublime creation of allah.
it must have been 10 years back, at a young age of 56, i recalled that 160 kilometre endurance race in gunong , bachok, kelantan. the istana's young champion rider, a rider less than half my age, astride the istana's champion pure arabian leading ahead of myself, astride miss gedebe, a pure breed mare from down under. i could hear in the distant, the crowd at the grand stand roaring in approval. to them the conclusion was more or less concluded.
at the last millisecond, miss gedebe just about cheekily nipped the istana's champion by a nose.
By the snorting coursers, (1) Striking sparks of fire (2) And scouring to the raid at dawn, (3) Then, therewith, with their trail of dust, (4) Cleaving, as one, the centre (of the foe), (5)
2002, found myself in jerez de la frontera, granada, spain.
yes!, friends, dato and tansri,........ why the hypocrisy?
My personal reflection on horses and coursers......and surah al adiyat...........
surah al adiyat! Just 11 ayat altogether, powerfully put together, and from my unschooled perspective, starts with a sudden crescendo and ends up with a sudden de-crescendo; a grim reminder of that lowly hole in the ground where all and sundry will end up to.
allah swears by his beautiful and powerful creation , the equine creation. powerful imagery of men in crisis with their mounts. five ayat out of 11, just in swearing.
i am not schooled in ugama and the quran but i am fairly well schooled in horses! these beautiful, powerful and sublime creation of allah.
it must have been 10 years back, at a young age of 56, i recalled that 160 kilometre endurance race in gunong , bachok, kelantan. the istana's young champion rider, a rider less than half my age, astride the istana's champion pure arabian leading ahead of myself, astride miss gedebe, a pure breed mare from down under. i could hear in the distant, the crowd at the grand stand roaring in approval. to them the conclusion was more or less concluded.
at the last millisecond, miss gedebe just about cheekily nipped the istana's champion by a nose.
there was a deafening silence from the grandstand and the royal podium.
the rest was history.
By the snorting coursers, (1) Striking sparks of fire (2) And scouring to the raid at dawn, (3) Then, therewith, with their trail of dust, (4) Cleaving, as one, the centre (of the foe), (5)
2002, found myself in jerez de la frontera, granada, spain.
myself and floyd, a french leased horse, a 12 year old cross between selle francies and pure arabian stallion was at that juncture in the 160 km race, around number 40 in a class of 200 fine horsemen and best endurance al adiyat, at the world equestrian game.
we were just 15 kilometres from home. i was riding with a heart rate monitor on board, and floyd's cardiovascular parameters looked excellent for a possible top 10 finish.
then , floyd suddenly collapsed under me and died!
the whole hypocritical western equine press went berserk.....why , why why!!??
in my personal report to fei, federation equestrian internationale, the world governing body for equestrian sport, i ended my commentary with a question,
" sir, in a race like this, at this rarefied level, even a rider or two could have died...why are you numbskulls at all surprised when one or two horses died?...... why the hypocrisy"
" sir, in a race like this, at this rarefied level, even a rider or two could have died...why are you numbskulls at all surprised when one or two horses died?...... why the hypocrisy"
yes!, friends, dato and tansri,........ why the hypocrisy?
Knoweth he not that, when the contents of the graves are poured forth (9) And the secrets of the breasts are made known, (10) On that day will their Lord be perfectly informed concerning them. (11)
dr nik
Reflection and commentary by Shaykh Nouman Ali Khan ,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUNhjzOwEsY
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