friends, dato and tansri,
i was in the company of a local billionaire the other day.
we were talking about high finance, futures and derivatives, special 'instruments' and portfolios for hedging and hoarding; zakat and gifts......
certainly not my cup of tea.
ayat 168 touches a wee bit on the halal and haram of things, even then, this is not about the things we discussed that night. if he is reading this,i hope though he could extrapolate from here and go deeper.
our typical ustaz and ustazah may not be able to help him here but i suspect there are ustaz in in the universities, who subspecialise in islamic finance.
islam is not 'allergic' to millionaires and billionaires.
but at that rarefied level one has really to tip toe very carefully.
what is hedging to some may be hoarding in islam..........etc etc and etc.
....balance this up with a soheeh tradition that nabi would not go to sleep in his household if there was even one dirham left.
he will try to find some needy people to give it to.
this reminded me of a story about abdul raman bin auf, the undisputed business maverick of nabi's time, a billionaire of sort.
there is a saying that millionaires and billionaires are not what they have; but rather it is a mental state....they may have zero at any point in time, but their mental state make them capable of conjuring millions out of no where!
a simple chap like nik howk can look at a mountain and sees tress and elevation, at the most make him zikr a wee bit more because the nice view reminded him of ar Rahman
abdul daim zainuddin or vincent tan see the same mountain at kemensah but see billions of ringgit wanting to crawl out!
it is just how we are 'wired'
this anecdote on abdul rahaman, the daim zainuddin of nabi's time, was beyond nabi's lifetime though...
the city of madinah that day was full of din ,noise and dust.
abdul rahman's very huge camel caravan just arrived from sham...
a long caravan of several hundred camels carrying goods.
too long that even when the front end of the caravan had passed the southern border of madinah's city, the tail end was still not at the peripherry of the northern part of madinah
'what is all the noise and dust about?', sayyiditina aisyah asked her servant.
"the great abdul rahaman's caravan has just arrived from sham, marm''
'go abdul, run to him and convey my best regard and salam...and please whisper to him your marm ,would like him to recollect what nabi had told him about wealth years back'
abdul, with much difficulty met sayyidina abdul rahman and conveyed her marm's message.
abdul rahman sat down on the dirt and cried, " no! no ! no! i do not want to go to heaven walking like a crab! i want to be like all the rest! ".
years back nabi had intimated that 10 of his sahabat have been guranteed jannah.
abdul rahman is one of them but he would the last amongst the ten sahabat
he called the leader of his caravan and ordered him to distribute all the goods to the poor of madinah.
in our ugama, being rich and famous; being powerful and having high position and people of high status; carries with it added burden and responsibility.
it certainly come with a high price!
my dear young man!,....it is not enough walking around proudly in that funny black pants and being haughty to all and sundry...
at least give some due respect to the wise and the elderly who knows how to eat bananas long even before you conceived!
if you still dont have that wisdom, just shut up!
.
what have you done so far in your present life to deserve all that?
dr nik howk
.................................................................................................
Surah Al-Baqara
O mankind! Eat of that which is lawful and wholesome in the earth, and follow not the footsteps of the devil. Lo! he is an open enemy for you. (168) .............Lo! those who hide aught of the Scripture which Allah hath revealed and purchase a small gain therewith, they eat into their bellies nothing else than fire. Allah will not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He make them grow. Theirs will be a painful doom. (174) .............And eat not up your property among yourselves in vanity, nor seek by it to gain the hearing of the judges that ye may knowingly devour a portion of the property of others wrongfully. (188)
Translation by Pickthal
Recitation by Shaykh Sudais
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWPEGb3l8J0
Reflection and commentary by Shaykh Nouman Ali Khan :-
[ ayat 168 - ayat 173 ] : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZIxHIz0MYE
[ ayat 177 - ] : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5-39R8tYVA
[ on goodness; iman ; close relatives; families; orphans; miskin; travellers; ..and those who ask.... ']
.......and they establish solat, give zakat....as sabirin: patience, perseverance and constancy.
problem with phd in ugama[ michagan university or sorbonne eg too many of them around. eg tariq ramadan and jasser auda]
2 types of life test...test with difficulty ; test with ease
[ ayat 183 - ayat 186 ] : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro6p73icRvo
[ alastu birabbikum.....balaa shahidna........alam ruh
man has 2 sides to him... from earth and clay; and ruh from the blue yonder
nur'un ala nur....light upon light
on ramadan and food for the ruh
taqwa ]
Reflection and commentary by Dato Dr Fatma al Zahraa [ Malay ] : -
[ ayat 164 - ayat 171 ] : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WcmNcssGCw
[ ayat 172 _ ayat 173 ] : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94Gal3bbasg
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