Surah ad Dukhan...........part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXt7gYCjg3c  .......part 3


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR372uwzKJI    .....part 4
[ at,  26.00   'not many non believers are like abu talib........very rare in reality ' ]

commentary by shaykh dr  haitham al haddad, 'english'








https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVP0qkIzj4k

commentary by ustaz dato shamsuri in 'bahasa', from ayat 38 to ayat 59.

as usual ustaz shamsuri starts his tafseer discourse with with a short hadith discourse.
the hadith discourse is related to a story about abdullah ibnu ubay , a 'liberal islamist' during nabi's time.

Surah ad Dukhan........recitation by shaykh salah al bukhatir

friends, dato and tansri,

we finally move on to surah ad dukhan.
first listen to shaykh salah bukhatir's haunting rendition of the surah.
after which we have a choice of listening to the opening commentary in english by shaykh al haddad or if you by now are familiar with ustaz shamsuri, you can listen to him in 'bahasa'.

he , as usual, will start with a short discourse on a hadith or two.

if you still have the stamina, switch course to a wee bit of local political history, some 19 years ago...a malaysian day of infamy: 20 sept 1998

dr nik isahak






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK0VKprd6IE

melodious and haunting rendition by qari shaykh salah al bukhatir








https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBC6GlnKI6M......part 1

opening commentary by shaykh dr haitham al haddad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws--H_OVCTM.....part 2





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3z7_j-nVlQ

commentary by ustaz dato shamsuri , in 'bahasa'






http://drnikisahak.blogspot.my/2017/10/a-day-in-malaysian-history20th.html
the fitna in malaysia in 1998............a day of infamy.

before we move on to surah ad dukhan....loving the prophet: shaykh hamza yusuf

friends, dato and tansri,

1435 years ago the quraish labelled nabi a 'majnun' loving the beloved.

now all the world over, a majority still consider it a 'majnun' to have found and love the beloved.

thing has not change very much.

the rest think they know laily.
the fact is that only majnun knows laila.

let us listen to a short discourse on 'loving the prophet' by shaykh hamza yusuf.
hamza yusuf is a one of the majnun.
on reverting to islam in his late teen, he went to uae to learn arabic and his ugama.
was a part time bilal there in one of the madrasah.

then he travel to mauritania, in the fringe of the desert to join a murabit there in our equivalent of a 'pondok education'.

currently he heads zaytuna institute in california, establishing america's first traditional islamic institution.

may allah bless him with a long and fruitful life , giving his all to islam, insyaallah.



dr nik isahak





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCGglZjJLqc

'loving the prophet', a short discourse by shaykh hamza yusuf


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB7CF6uIJW4

loving HIS creations

Surah az Zukhruf ...... ayat 74 to ayat 89

friends, dato and tansri,

now we come to the closing end of the surah. 

to abu jahal, abu lahab, mughirah et al of makkah & company; the al munafikuns of madinah; the dissenting jews surrounding madinah;
allah does not mince his word, to all these clowns during prophet's time , HE said,
Then bear with them (O Muhammad) and say: Peace. But they will come to know. (89)

of  present day abu jahals, abu lahabs  & company and al munafikuns  of different shapes and persuasions coming under different hues and colours that post modern era allows,post nabi era,  till doomsday,
we muslims also are advised to do likewise, say, 'salam to all, you guys will come to know!'

it is however never too late to say to yes to allah though.
never to late until your soul are about to leave you at the level of your 'halkum'.

change my friends, can be as easy as like waking up in the morning: if you use to wake up on the left side of the bed mostly, try waking up on the right .....or it can be as difficult as moving a mountain.

only if allah wills for you...........everything is possible.
but it has all to come from you.
you first have to change your heart!

dr nik howk

Lo! the guilty are immortal in hell's torment. (74) It is not relaxed for them, and they despair therein. (75) We wronged them not, but they it was who did the wrong. (76) And they cry: O master! Let thy Lord make an end of us. He saith: Lo! here ye must remain. (77) We verily brought the Truth unto you, but ye were, most of you, averse to the Truth. (78) Or do they determine any thing (against the Prophet)? Lo! We (also) are determining. (79) Or deem they that We cannot hear their secret thoughts and private confidences? Nay, but Our envoys, present with them, do record. (80) Say (O Muhammad): If the Beneficent One hath a son, then, I shall be first among the worshippers. (81) Glorified be the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the Lord of the Throne, from that which they ascribe (unto Him)! (82) So let them flounder (in their talk) and play until they meet the Day which they are promised. (83) And He it is Who in the heaven is God, and in the earth God. He is the Wise, the Knower. (84) And blessed be He unto Whom belongeth the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and with Whom is knowledge of the Hour, and unto Whom ye will be returned. (85) And those unto whom they cry instead of Him possess no power of intercession, saving him who beareth witness unto the Truth knowingly. (86) And if thou ask them who created them, they will surely say: Allah. How then are they turned away? (87) And he saith: O my Lord! Lo! these are a folk who believe not. (88) Then bear with them (O Muhammad) and say: Peace. But they will come to know. (89)


translated by pickthal






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpAJ3zmIKWI

commentary  by dato ustaz shamsuri bin ahmad, in 'bahasa' of ayat 74 to ayat 89.
he starts his discourse on a hadith about syaitans determination to cause disputes and fitnah amongst fellow believers.






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=somCA6kd9GE
dr timothy winter aka abdal hakim murad on 'sabr and shukr', a discourse of imam ghazali's ihya

'...the tragedy of this  modern world is that we can go for decades in a state of coma'.




http://drnikisahak.blogspot.my/2016/09/spiritual-discourse-in-cyberspace-soft.html
[ a sept 2016 article in pearls & gem on  'state of the nation'    ]

Surah az Zukhruf.....ayat 57 to ayat 73

friends, dato and tansri,

a group of non muslim doctors in my hospital asked me 2 weeks ago about the ust zamihan/ muslim compliant dhoby controversy, for their own understanding. 
they were interested in the contrarian view as expounded by ustaz zamihan.

i tried to explain to them about qur'anic concept of najis from the muslim perspective, a different concept from hygiene, though also tangentially related and unrelated at the same time.

i explain to them ust zamihan's view could well be a minority view within the spectrum of the faith but still a view which is valid within  fiqh
the discussion was still civil but when i started expanding and  explaining about the concept of najis things went awry.

their perception of 'najis' and hygience cannot be separated, and some of them took it as a personal affront. it was obvious to me that the subject, discussed with non muslims can be difficult because halal, haram, makruh can only be best appreciated if only  you have a believing heart. 

a non believing heart cannot fathom why the molecules for pork for example is haram.
to us muslims, haram is haram, halal is halal, makruh is makruh. 
the matter of hygiene, personal or otherwise need not come into the picture.
suci dan menyucikan can be hygienic, though not all the time hygienic related.

i get more flaks when i tried to explain that personally to me at least the zamihan/muslim compliant dhoby  is a non issue. star editorial, for reasons only its editorial knows best, started churning the non issue into an issue with racial overtone, and some people went ballastic.

i suspect the star's action has got an economic agenda there, but that is just my suspicion.
the muslim/malay market in malaysia, in 2017 , is no longer miniscule. 
muslim/malay market  is 70 %.
it is no longer small as it was 10, 15 years ago.

in their ignorance i suspect they are worried the muslim compliant thing could cascade into bigger things ...just my suspicion.
not entirely impossible since this star  are run by people with people with tauke and tauke related mentality.

and when liberals, who should know their ugama  better ,joined in the fray, things had already become of epileptic proportion.

in the doctor's common room that day i raised more flaks. 
i finally gave up.

i now realize how difficult it is to be in the shoes of the ulama'.
if they were not truthful to their ilm, and play to the gallery, they will end up at the bottom most of an nar.
if they are , they face the flak in this earthly existence.

but historically,they are not alone.
imam ahmad hambal, imam hanafi  and many others, were all famously incarcerated by the powers of the day towards the end of their time. 
in fact, imam hanafi died in prison.

the position of rulers, al sultan, pm and muftis are more difficult plus plus,  i would reckon.
it is important they get advised by people who really fear allah, and no one else.
they must insist on that, not people who advice them out of fear of them.
this is for their very own salvation in the hereafter.
difficult to find nowadays even amongst muftis, unfortunately.

the common scenario in this boleh land is  numero uno 'melenting first', then ask the fiqhi people under them or senior government servant to rubber stamp what they say, to cover their track.

in governance we lose billions this way, in matters of ugama, they  lose their souls!

in 2017, with internet and connectivity, this is not on!
the raayats now are not simple.....they are free to think and express and have their minds open and cannot be conned easily and subjugated by position or might.

tersalah haribulan, tersalah langkah, if one is in a position of power to legislate or impose on the majority, if wrong decision are made on the basis of ego and emotion rather than ilm and wisdom, one can land at the bottommost of the heap in an nar.

i still maintain if you give me an annual salary of say 10 million rm to be mufti or pm , at this juncture in my life, i will readily reject.

as for sultan, not even this world!

....it is just not worth it juggling the ball between the liberals and the unbelievers on one side and your spiritual conviction on the other, and given the added
push and pull towards political correctness and fear of 'what others would say'.

and if this is further compounded further by personal ignorance and ego, i will find myself in 'deep shit.'

these are difficult occupations even if you have ilm, ilm, ilm and ilm.
without ilm,, it is unthinkable...... a definite catastrophe in the hereafter.
and this matters for me

which reminded me of a well known story about caliph umar alkhattab told and retold with minor variations here and there.

history has recorded the following conversation, which took place between his imperial majesty heraclius, and a muslim captive.

“What sort of palace has your caliph?” heraclius asked.

“of mud”

“and who are his attendants?”

“ beggars and poor people”

“ what tapestry does he sit upon?”

“ justice and uprightness”

“ and what is his throne?”

“ abstinence and wisdom”.

“ and what is his treasure?”

“ the bravest of the Unitarians”. 

mashaallah

hasbunallah wa ni' mal Wakeel.
hasbiyallah hula ila hailla huwa alai hi tawakkal tuwa huwa Rabbul arsil Azim.


translated in modern lingo.....
allah is adequate for me .
the rest can go and fly kites!

dr nik isahak










And when the son of Mary is quoted as an example, behold! the folk laugh out, (57) And say: Are our gods better, or is he? They raise not the objection save for argument. Nay! but they are a contentious folk. (58) He is nothing but a slave on whom We bestowed favour, and We made him a pattern for the Children of Israel. (59) And had We willed We could have set among you angels to be viceroys in the earth. (60) And lo! verily there is knowledge of the Hour. So doubt ye not concerning it, but follow Me. This is the right path. (61) And let not Satan turn you aside. Lo! he is an open enemy for you. (62) When Jesus came with clear proofs (of Allah's Sovereignty), he said: I have come unto you with wisdom, and to make plain some of that concerning which ye differ. So keep your duty to Allah, and obey me. (63) Lo! Allah, He is my Lord and your Lord. So worship Him. This is a right path. (64) But the factions among them differed. Then woe unto those who do wrong from the doom of a painful day. (65) Await they aught save the Hour, that it shall come upon them suddenly, when they know not? (66) Friends on that Day will be foes one to another, save those who kept their duty (to Allah). (67) O My slaves! For you there is no fear this day, nor is it ye who grieve; (68) (Ye) who believed Our revelations and were self-surrendered, (69) Enter the Garden, ye and your wives, to be made glad. (70) Therein are brought round for them trays of gold and goblets, and therein is all that souls desire and eyes find sweet. And ye are immortal therein. (71) This is the Garden which ye are made to inherit because of what ye used to do. (72) Therein for you is fruit in plenty whence to eat. (73) Lo! the guilty are immortal in hell's torment. (74) It is not relaxed for them, and they despair therein. (75)

translated by pickthal









https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QYRduJj7uI

commentary by ustaz dato shamsuri bin ahmad.
he starts with a hadith about an nar.

[   1: 24: 29 ] agnostics, secular humanists and liberal islamists, followers of syaitan
[   1 : 27: 58 ] ulama' souk
[  1 :  29 : 50  ] riya'






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3E6bvNtL44

dr timothy winter on 'society and solitude'[ uzlah , khalwah ]...alone in the crowd.
.about presence....[  33.20  ]  [what would we be like if we remember allah with every breath that we take?  ]

[  47 : 50 ]....love for his creations

[  53 : 02 ] the universal trauma of humanity; attachment / detachment as an antidote

[  1: 12: 01  ]......stillness in your daily cluttered life...set some time for it.







http://drnikisahak.blogspot.my/2016/09/blog-post.html

islam but no muslim.....

Surah az Zukhruf........ayat 33 to ayat 56

your excellency,

we move on to ayat 33 to ayat 56.

ustaz shamsuri starts his discourse with a hadith on 'laila haillallah', its connotation and ramification.

in a week of contentious issues troubling us , we leave dr timothy winter for a while and travel up north to the east coast town of kota bharu to listen to ustaz azhar. i love his clarity and exuberance . if you are partial to this, bear in mind that he is not addressing the average ttdi or damansara height crowd. mat rempits are his biggest fans

but that aside , he speak without fear or favour.

that is a hallmark of being an ulama , not the gallery type of muftis that inundated our land nowadays, unfortunately.

advising the wrong advice for those under their charges for the sake of some degree of 

'soft landing' and personal popularity and necessary career survival and longevity.....
in not so many words, 'playing to the gallery'.

muftis ,north, south east or west, should not play to the gallery.
you guys will land up at the bottom heap of an nar!

dr nik isahak

Surah az Zukhruf......... ayat 33 to ayat 56

And were it not that mankind would have become one community, We might well have appointed, for those who disbelieve in the Beneficent, roofs of silver for their houses and stairs (of silver) whereby to mount, (33) And for their houses doors (of silver) and couches of silver whereon to recline, (34) And ornaments of gold. Yet all that would have been but a provision of the life of the world. And the Hereafter with your Lord would have been for those who keep from evil. (35) And he whose sight is dim to the remembrance of the Beneficent, We assign unto him a devil who becometh his comrade; (36) And lo! they surely turn them from the way of Allah, and yet they deem that they are rightly guided; (37) Till, when he cometh unto Us, he saith (unto his comrade): Ah, would that between me and thee there were the distance of the two horizons - an evil comrade! (38) And it profiteth you not this day, because ye did wrong, that ye will be sharers in the doom. (39) Canst thou (Muhammad) make the deaf to hear, or canst thou guide the blind or him who is in error manifest? (40) And if We take thee away, We surely shall take vengeance on them, (41) Or (if) We show thee that wherewith We threaten them; for lo! We have complete command of them. (42) So hold thou fast to that which is inspired in thee. Lo! thou art on a right path. (43) And lo! it is in truth a Reminder for thee and for thy folk; and ye will be questioned. (44) And ask those of Our messengers whom We sent before thee: Did We ever appoint gods to be worshipped beside the Beneficent? (45) And verily We sent Moses with Our revelations unto Pharaoh and his chiefs, and he said: I am a messenger of the Lord of the Worlds. (46) But when he brought them Our tokens, behold! they laughed at them. (47) And every token that We showed them was greater than its sister (token), and We grasped them with the torment, that haply they might turn again. (48) And they said: O wizard! Entreat thy Lord for us by the pact that He hath made with thee. Lo! we verily will walk aright. (49) But when We eased them of the torment, behold! they broke their word. (50) And Pharaoh caused a proclamation to be made among his people saying: O my people! Is not mine the sovereignty of Egypt and these rivers flowing under me? Can ye not then discern? (51) I am surely better than this fellow, who is despicable and can hardly make (his meaning) plain! (52) Why, then, have armlets of gold not been set upon him, or angels sent along with him? (53) Thus he persuaded his people to make light (of Moses), and they obeyed him. Lo! they were a wanton folk. (54) So, when they angered Us, We punished them and drowned them every one. (55) And We made them a thing past, and an example for those after (them). (56) 

translation by pickthal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd--lz-9QAk

commentary by ustaz dato shamsuri hj ahmad, in 'bahasa'.

the ustaz starts with a short  hadith discourse relating to the shahadah, 'laila haillallah'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwO1Qxr0uOE

a long , recent [ august 2017 ]ustaz azhar discourse in kota bharu  , but relevant in the face of current public facetiousness, uncalled for political correctness and lack of ilm within even the ulul amri ,who   are supposed to give good advice  to their charges etc and etc 

i know ustaz azhar is not popular with the elites . to enjoy him you have to put yourselves as the common people, without 'much false ego' .
 also imagine yourself as a kampong chap in kemaman or kuantan, not damansara height or ttdi'. 
certainly not g25 or sis.

ustaz azhar is very popular with young people as well as 'mat rempit'. pardon his over exuberance, and you will discover the gem in him.

a lot of  relevant fekah issues here discussed  in an hour long q& a  ....some minor some major.

listen..


..[   1.54.10  ]  is frightening.

Surah az Zukhruf .......ayat 15 to ayat 32

friends, dato and tansri,

i must warn you i am going to digress a wee bit longer off the subject of the actual tafseer this time, given the socio-political climate which is quite hot in our country at present.

one  zaidi al kelatani, in a drunken  stupour on top of the  old istana's roof shouted down to an equally intoxicated sultan ibrahim adzam of balkh [ circa 718 to 782 ] :

" i may appear stupid to you your highness, trying to look for my lost camel on your roof, but the stupidest person on earth is you, trying to look for allah, in an istana like yours, with a bevy of young ladies tugging at your trousers and a coterie of court jesters and muftis saying yes to your  every wild whim and fancies, and with your  dozen of daimlers and a private jet or two in the hanger.. !!."

we move on to ayat 15 to 32 of surah az zukhruf.
dato ustaz shamsuri , as usual starting with a hadith or two.
then we join dr timothy winter  of cambridge with his short discourse on 'khusyu'. there is no exact english word for 'khusyu' as  'humble surrender with concentration and istqamah' is not the norm is the english speaking world, what more with the current very secular existence. 

the average post modern , secular man, thinks he or she already know enough.
the more western educated he or she is , the more pompous they  tend to become.
at the top most end , in malaysia at least, they automatically qualify to become g25 material, or it's contemporary female genus and progenitor, S o S.......what prevent most from joining these elite groups are determined by their level or absense of basic ugama education in their formative years!....and for the female equivalent their level of 'anger or lack of anger towards the opposite kind.

if you have the stamina after going thru dr timothy winter, continue on and read my recollection of the late dr kassim ahmad.
a sad encounter  i would say because my 'bubble' of what constitute kassim ahmad burst on that day.

as an idealistic young man in the university and later as a young struggling doctor out to find meaning in my cluttered life, i always looked up at people like kassim ahmad as an inveterate scholar of sort who chose a struggle  to champion others first and put zuhud forefront as a way of life. that was what i thought.

let us face it,  during tunku and hussien onn's time there were not many people as clever as kassim ahmad. he could easily be an important minister of the state and lead a 'good life' if he was on the side of government of the day.

i was largely surprised and disappionted when after a short meeting of the man himself later in life, he was rather superficial in his knowledge. a case of the  proverbial coconut hitting one's head in the wrong way. 

a point yet again to exemplify that in 'ugama' one cannot only read , read and read  and formulate.
there must be tok gurus, tok gurus, and tok gurus.
and if you are like me, allergic to  just having one tok guru, it is still read, read and read followed and supplemented, moderated and modulated by years and years of rubbing shoulders with tok gurus , tok gurus and tok gurus.

....and they dont have to be super duper tok gurus ...they can just be that simple ustaz from a pondok education back ground  giving tazkirah at your local masjid!

but if you never set foot in  your local masjid for your magrib and isya' prayers how can you meet them? 
you secular people think the masjid are peopled by imam and ustaz too low than your iq and eq!
there are tok guru and tok guru...listen to all of them , and then you can have your own formulation.

modulation and moderation are the key words...
even if you have a ba from oxford or you are a memeber of g25 and think yourselves great and already all-knowing, you can still pick something from these 'lowly' ustaz.

some people, like kassim ahmad, start getting interested in 'ugama' from the top and  late in their, and think no one can correct them......that is a mortal and eternal mistake.
there is lack of experiential islam.
which cascade down to being g25, SoS, liberal islamism and the likes of zaidi alkelatani included!

pompous, arrogant lot , you people.......
al sultan ibrahim of balkh had had his epiphany, when is yours?

dr nik isahak






And they allot to Him a portion of His bondmen! Lo! man is verily a mere ingrate. (15) Or chooseth He daughters of all that He hath created, and honoureth He you with sons? (16) And if one of them hath tidings of that which he likeneth to the Beneficent One, his countenance becometh black and he is full of inward rage. (17) (Liken they then to Allah) that which is bred up in outward show, and in dispute cannot make itself plain? (18) And they make the angels, who are the slaves of the Beneficent, females. Did they witness their creation? Their testimony will be recorded and they will be questioned. (19) And they say: If the Beneficent One had (so) willed, we should not have worshipped them. They have no knowledge whatsoever of that. They do but guess. (20) Or have We given them any scripture before (this Qur'an) so that they are holding fast thereto? (21) Nay, for they say only: Lo! we found our fathers following a religion, and we are guided by their footprints. (22) And even so We sent not a warner before thee (Muhammad) into any township but its luxurious ones said: Lo! we found our fathers following a religion, and we are following their footprints. (23) (And the warner) said: What! Even though I bring you better guidance than that ye found your fathers following? They answered: Lo! in what ye bring we are disbelievers. (24) So We requited them. Then see the nature of the consequence for the rejecters! (25) And when Abraham said unto his father and his folk: Lo! I am innocent of what ye worship (26) Save Him Who did create me, for He will surely guide me. (27) And he made it a word enduring among his seed, that haply they might return. (28) Nay, but I let these and their fathers enjoy life (only) till there should come unto them the Truth and a messenger making plain. (29) And now that the Truth hath come unto them they say: This is mere magic, and lo! we are disbelievers therein. (30) And they say: If only this Qur'an had been revealed to some great man of the two towns? (31) Is it they who apportion thy Lord's mercy? We have apportioned among them their livelihood in the life of the world, and raised some of them above others in rank that some of them may take labour from others; and the mercy of thy Lord is better than (the wealth) that they amass. (32)

translation by pickthal



[  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDy2oTYkeg8&t=4s   ]
commentary by ustaz dato shamsuri bin hj ahmad, ayat 15 to 32.



[   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLXoep5oN0Q   ]
timothy winter aka abdal hakim murad on  the state of " khosu'."..[ ??humble surrender..]



[  http://drnikisahak.blogspot.my/2017/10/kassim-ahmad-in-memorium.html  ]