Surah Ya Seen..........Prologue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Ar5YIS9hk
[  recitation by qari fares abad  ]


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK55L4clLls
[ commentary by ustad nouman ali khan  ]

friends, dato and tansri,

surah yaseen is often known as the heart of qur'an.

it is an ocean, a deep one.

it principally deals with three big themes : tauhid, messengership and risala of nabi muhammad[ pbuh ], and akhirat.

ustad nouman khan is one up and coming scholar based in america whose power of persuasion is more powerful than the 'fat boy bomb' of america.

enjoy him!

dr nik

ps : 
1.6 billion humanities, and still growing, should not take on the ' apologetic route' as we have taken for almost a century now since the demise of the ottoman empire. 

despite all odds, we are on still on board our supertanker while the rest of the humanities, 4.5 billion of them, most have lost their ships, floating in the sea with varieites  of  flotsams and dinghies. 
our duty is to save them and give them a 'spiritual' helping hand.

if they choose to debate we will debate, if they choose to go to war , we will show them that 'salam' is  much much better. 
but if now we are winning in the debate, please , please , we do not need to apologise!
most importantly let us not sack our 'debaters'. 
we should love  and adore them.
love our scholars, ulama and our daie

we have been apologising for being right, too damn long!
to me ,52 clowns, the other day being summoned to riiyadh rather hastily,  each of them clamouring shamelessly to get selfies with a 'publicly documented mad man' from america, is certainly not on. 
going to the court of king salman to listen to him  and allowing him to give a ' collectivedressing down' is the ''mother of all apology'.
it was well publicised the world over and for us enlightened viewer...it is extremely painful.

if at all it is america that need to apologise.
everywhere they go  or where they have their 'dirty hands inside', they leave mayhem, death and suffering.......libya, afghanistan, syria , yemen, chechnya, pakistan, venezuela , chile, egypt , palestine....just to name a few . 
america is bad news for the muslim world!

mark my  words, turkey will be next!

Shaykh Mokhtar al Magrhoui.......Inner Dimensions of Ramadan

[    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQMTPBkKXek   ]

friends , dato , and tansri ,

ramadan is just  few days away.

let us listen to shaykh mokhtar al magrhoui 's tazkirah on the inner dimensions of ramadan.

a double phd in physics and electronic engineering, shaykh mokhtar originally was from algeria.

i love all his discourses. 
they are all profound and his in-depth approach is really out of this world!

may allah bless this daie with a long fruitful life, insyaallah.

in a 'not too well known tradition' , our nabi was quoted as saying that towards the end of this world, islam will spread from the west to the east.
with the bludgeoning of minds  like shaykh al yacoubi, ninowy, yasir qadhi, hamza yusuf , magrhoui etc etc and etc, this could be the 'literal ' interpretation of that 'not too well known hadith'.

the world cannot be won by napalm , nuclearization, or the fat-boy bomb.....
truth and 'battle for the soul' in this 21st century must be fought and won at the intellectual level.
the internet and not the  traditional media, is the medium of transmission..
english, not arabic, is the language of transmission .

mark my words!

that is why people like dr zakir naik  or prof tariq ramadan will find themselves alienated by the kuffur west.
the kuffur west  and east have no intellectual argument to counter truth actually.
they are bankrupt of ideas.
communism is long dead.
secularism would not have to wait very long for the same fate.
islam is an idea long overdue.

dr nik

Surah Fatir.........Epilogue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTcTRMH5q7E&t=5s    
[ concluding commentary by mufti waseem khan ]

friends, dato and tansri,

before nabi's time the musrik of makkah was waiting for a prophet to be named from  amongst them.

but when nabi muhamad [ pbuh ] arrived after the revelation at gua hira', they rejected him.

it became a class issue.

[    http://drnikisahak.blogspot.my/2010/03/tansri-could-we-use-isa-to-silence-this.html    ]

he was certainly not one of their 'datuk sris or tanseris'.

'ghaflah and blind pride'  are the signs of the present day as well as the days during nabi's time.

as such, allah ended surah fatir in a most appropriate line:

If Allah took mankind to task by that which they deserve, He would not leave a living creature on the surface of the earth; but He reprieveth them unto an appointed term, and when their term cometh - then verily (they will know that) Allah is ever Seer of His slaves. (45)

in essence what are we , man , to be proud about?

take away the motorcade; pre-fixes and the post-fixes; the holiday villas and the palaces; the trappings of power and positions......we are nothing!.

' man, is conceived by the post-coital meeting of two pungent and dirty urinary tracts, and when he dies he is no more than a lump of putrifying flesh and bones! 

in between, most of the time, he is just a carrier bag of faeces.....

it is only when he is in zikrullah and remembrance of HIM that man occasionally get uplifted into the realm of the unseen '.

dr nik 

[  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTcTRMH5q7E&t=5s  ]

concluding commentary by mufti waseem khan

Surah Fatir........ayat 38 to ayat 42

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

[ commentary by mufti waseem khan , part 14  ]

friends , dato and tansri,

Lo! Allah is the Knower of the Unseen of the heavens and the earth. Lo! He is Aware of the secret of (men's) breasts. (38) He it is Who hath made you regents in the earth; so he who disbelieveth, his disbelief be on his own head. Their disbelief increaseth for the disbelievers, in their Lord's sight, naught save abhorrence. Their disbelief increaseth for the disbelievers naught save loss. (39) Say: Have ye seen your partner-gods to whom ye pray beside Allah? Show me what they created of the earth! Or have they any portion in the heavens? Or have We given them a scripture so they act on clear proof therefrom? Nay, the evil-doers promise one another only to deceive. (40) Lo! Allah graspeth the heavens and the earth that they deviate not, and if they were to deviate there is not one that could grasp them after Him. Lo! He is ever Clement, Forgiving. (41) And they swore by Allah, their most binding oath, that if a warner came unto them they would be more tractable than any of the nations; yet, when a warner came unto them it aroused in them naught save repugnance, (42)               [ translation by pickthal   ]

the post modern man, of what ever religious persuasion he come from, will proudly turn around and say, ' we are monotheistic......', but their gods have changed. even the hindus, in essense insist that they are monotheistic.
it is in the dollars sign, the power and forces of nature, the love of their own bodies and materialism, the man-made constitution, etc , etc and etc.
these are the post modern man's gods.

allah? yes, if HE is present, HE is in the background,..... 'on leave!'

dr nik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn6SHLiezho

[  'simplification of spiritual path', a commentary on shaykh ibnu athaillah al iskandari's doa...  ]  
ibnu athaillah was a maliki egyption  scholar, chief jurist, spiritual master circa 1253 ce to 1310  ce

Surah Fatir....ayat 34 to ayat 37

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/05/08/g25-asks-why-zakir-naik-was-given-malaysian-pr/

friends , dato and tansri,

for decades we have been losing the 'intellectual arguments' with the lost sheep of the world.

we were clobbered left, right centre.

muhammad was a paedophile, islam is rubbish religion etc etc ....

we have no answers.

even if we have answers, the media were dead silenced.

it is a science known as the 'science of apologetics'.
firstly developed by evangelical christiansin defence of the indefencibles, trinity, initially within the failing faith itself but later as debates against other monotheistic faith vis a vis islam.

inundated by christian evangelicals, protestant and catholic.

for decades the muslims had no answers...nor was there willing medias to counter their persuasions and inuendoes.

then come along  a phenomenon  in the form  of the late ahmad deedat. deedat attacked faith with faith, quoting biblical facts from barnabas to king james version of the bible; from the torah to the injeel. his memories were phenomenal.

it was like him telling them, "if you guys want to play ball your way and your rules, i am ok. i will play ball you way and your rules!'', and trouncing them at it.

he clobbered all and sundry.......ministers, bishops, evangelists at the international level in well publicized debates etc etc.

he died 10 years ago, there was a void until dr zakir naik came along.

much better than the self educated ahmad deedat.

a doctor by profession ; fantastic photographic memory; master of all known major scriptures, etc etc. additionally he commit to memories hindu  ancient texts such as bhagavid vita, puranas and the vidas.

along with his virtuosity, came a new media ......the internet.
it is human to plan , allah directs.

all is fair and square in any debate.

both sides put up their facts and compare.

but when we have someone loaded with the  exceptional intellectual ammunition, calibre and gifted with vast wisdom in comparative religion with respect to different scriptures all over the world, to win debates.........  we , socalled muslim malays here want to ban him from our shore.

at least a group of clowns calling themselves g25 was rooting for that.

to my mind, zakir naik is a supreme gift to islam from allah

people like him or his mentor the late ahmad deedat cannot be produced in universities or pondok over decades.

not even in a hundred years!

of course debate is not the best way to daawah but if there is such thing as 'science of apologetics' and not even one muslim is good at it...

we are collectively responsible

this a fardu kifayah.

in 2017, along with other things, dr zakir naik , in my opinion, is a gift from allah to the present ummah who are so low now in their esteem that the world does not need or feel they  do need to apologise if muslims get evicted from planes ; wrongfully labelled and 'talibanized'; or droned or killed like mad dogs elsewhere even in their homelands!

baik, bodoh dan kecil sangat hati melayu ni.

ni yang sampai negara sendiri tergadai kat orang!
pengemis di negara sendiri!

we move on to ayat 34 to ayat 37 of surah fatir, gentlemen!

And they say: Praise be to Allah Who hath put grief away from us. Lo! Our Lord is Forgiving, Bountiful, (34) Who, of His grace, hath installed us in the mansion of eternity, where toil toucheth us not nor can weariness affect us. (35) But as for those who disbelieve, for them is fire of hell; it taketh not complete effect upon them so that they can die, nor is its torment lightened for them. Thus We punish every ingrate. (36) And they cry for help there, (saying): Our Lord! Release us; we will do right, not (the wrong) that we used to do. Did not We grant you a life long enough for him who reflected to reflect therein? And the warner came unto you. Now taste (the flavour of your deeds), for evil-doers have no helper. (37) Lo! Allah is the Knower of the Unseen of the heavens and the earth. Lo! He is Aware of the secret of (men's) breasts. (38)        [ translated by pickthal  ]

dr nik

[   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVwfImGtRt4   ]     
[ part 13 of mufti waseem khan's commentary  on surah fatir ] 

Surah Fatir...ayat 29 to ayat 33

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsezOnTP6Vk   [   lecture part 12, by mufti wseem khan ]

friends, dato and tansri,

the next group of ayat are still about knowledge and scholarship.

ayat 29 expounded the notion that true knowledge should bring one nearer to HIM.

a hard core biochemist sees life as a 'sea of chemical reactions, separated by billions of cell membranes, which is what constitute man, or  say a horse, from the animal kingdom'. 
if he is truly a man of true knowledge, or have solid basic grounding in his ugama, he will do tasbih, tahmid and tahlil to HIM, and even a sajdah or two, on a daily basis,  continuously throughout his life.

these wonderous tapestries of what constitute life, seen at the biochemical level, at the molecular level, at the atomic and subatomic level, coalescing with his spiritual awareness of the beauty and intricate handiwork of allah....the result would be nothing short of an exclamation: 'Mashallah!'

on the contrary the typical post-modern man, once he understands a wee bit of science, veers towards agnosticism and secularism, looks up at the sky and  proudly exclaims : 
'the world does not need YOU. it can go on by itself though evolution!'

this post modern clown got lost in the maze and the intricacies of physics and evolution.
he does not realize that science only 'uncovers one or at the most two basic questions across the block of what constitute life'. 
the vast majority remained un-answered!

and this is a great pity and calamity especially when these very 'tools' are supposed to bring him nearer to God.

at the personal level, i have too many friends, at my work place and outside, with this serious predicament.
to make matter worse, it is not the 'scientists' who are lost sheep. it is mainly
people who are mostly brought on a staple diet of liberal arts tertiary education who, in late life, got enamoured by science. 
they are specially at risk.

hard core scientists and 'soft' scientist like doctors and engineers are less prone to this kind of 'love affair", but if they are, it reflect on their lack of basic Qur'anic knowledge at the basic level.

doctors especially should not be in this dire position, i feel. 

we are always reminded by the very fragility of life on a daily basis.

[    http://drnikisahak.blogspot.my/2008/05/fw-jublintan65-pearl-and-gem-day-in.html  ]

where do we go from here?

who is 'me' beyond the physicality of 'me'?

what constitute the soul?

the elegance of the all embracing  einstein's relativity formulla ,e = mc squared,  nearly brought albert einstein towards HIM , but einstein's ego pushed him away.

it is similar with people like carl sagan, stephen hawkings and the rest.

the rest of the clowns of the world who parrot science like they know everything are in similar boat.

God does not need science to validate HIMSELF.
science is just a 'tool' to make comprehending men understand his world better and for him to 'cari makan' and survive this ephemeral world better.

far from the madding crowd though, for the believing man, iman is  a continuous pendulum and struggle between fear and hope.

[   http://drnikisahak.blogspot.my/2016/04/levels-and-levels.html  ]

umar radiallahu'an opined, " if on yaumiddin, there is an announcement that there will only be one man who will be admitted to heaven, i hope i will be the one. if on the other hand, if only one man who will be sent to hell, i fear that i would be the one! "

ayat 32 went on further to describe three types of believers:......those who read  the Qu'an but don't practice it [ zalimun ]; those who 'pick and choose'[ a great majority of us including your truly  ] ;  and finally,those who follow wholesale!..[ as-sabiqun bilqhairot ].

Lo! those who read the Scripture of Allah, and establish worship, and spend of that which We have bestowed on them secretly and openly, they look forward to imperishable gain, (29) That He will pay them their wages and increase them of His grace. Lo! He is Forgiving, Responsive. (30) As for that which We inspire in thee of the Scripture, it is the Truth confirming that which was (revealed) before it. Lo! Allah is indeed Observer, Seer of His slaves. (31) Then We gave the Scripture as inheritance unto those whom We elected of Our bondmen. But of them are some who wrong themselves and of them are some who are lukewarm, and of them are some who outstrip (others) through good deeds, by Allah's leave. That is the great favour! (32) Gardens of Eden! They enter them wearing armlets of gold and pearl and their raiment therein is silk. (33)        [ translation by pickthal ]

dr nik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsezOnTP6Vk   [   lecture part 12, by mufti wseem khan ]

Surah Fatir ...ayat 27 and ayat 28

[    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6C5uoz_-g8   ]     .....part 11 of the commentary, 
   click here.

friends, dato and tansri,

just last weekend i was in seoul attending a big regional interventional cardiology conference. s j park et al from asan university, seoul is a formidable force in the advancement of cardiology , not just in asia , but in the world. 
he , almost single-handedly, for decades, was threading on hallowed ground, and preserved only for the 'demigods', the cardio-thoracic surgeons. 

for decades, the left main stem was always considered the territory, the last bastion  and the sole preserve of the surgeons, but park , against all odd, proved to the world that in major sub-sets of left main stem disease, angioplasty is also a reasonable and safe alternative. 
[  http://drnikisahak.blogspot.my/2016/09/progress-in-endoluminal-treatment-of.html  ].

as early as just 10 years ago, the europeans and the americans were still looking at s j park with 'suspicious'  and 'jaundiced' eye' and passed deprecating inuendos. but hard data from his huge series of cases were comparable to the surgeons' bypass result in term of mortality and morbidity. 

the rest of the world followed. 
the rest was history.
bypass surgery almost become a 'sunset industry'.
now left main stem angioplasty and stenting are common practice in most cath labs across the world.

during my free time in between sessions, i spent a whole afternoon at the war memorial park in downtown seoul, just to read the 'korean minds' that produce people like park and his friends
.
omg! the sillas and the gorgoyue within the korean peninsula have already well established 'kerajaans' way back in year 500 CE. beside fighting amongst themselves , they were also at numerous wars with the japs and the hans of china!

no wonder, unlike our proton, lg, samsung and hyundai are world superbrands!
they have the pedigree and history behind them which we lack.

by 1st  may day sunday i had to leave seoul for good. mad man trump had already his uss vinson and fleet in the korean sea. between mad man trump and kim jong ang, there is very little to choose from.
both are equally mad and dumb!

on another issue far from the korean peninsula but more global in its prominence and future effect, if mad people in the west like le pen and trump choose to fight with 1.8 billion humanities and think they can win the battle , they must have their heads truly examined.

islam is not at war with the west but rather the west for centuries is at war with islam.
just study history in its proper perspective and you have to agree with me.
this has to stop.

just look at america, as an example of western hegemony.
it has more than 120 bases outside itself, not to mention several massive naval fleets, all surrounding , and some already, within muslim territories!



we need a new world order. western supremacy is nonsensical and outmoded. secularism is going bankrupt. democracy cannot be imposed. if at all it must come by itself through ev
lution.
in this 21st century, the world do not need a 'policeman'.
the world must come back to sanity by a more enlightened reemphasise on mutual trust, understanding and respect, especially respect.

now let us leave  this current madness in a world run by mad individuals, and  come back to sanity by listening to maulana's commentary on ayat 27 and 28 of surah fatir.

ayat 27 touches on some aspect of mercy and rahmah while ayat 28 expounded on the varying levels of scholarship and ulama'ship.

interestingly, for an ulama', the measure of his success and stature, is not measured by the degree of his eloquence and deliverance , but rather by his taqwa to allah.
an ulama' or scholar who is close to the 'istana' or the 'caliph  of the day' and 'kow tow'  and 'rubber -stamp' to all the nonsense that emanate from the 'istana' is usually a serious candidate to being the lowest of the low in 'yaumiddin'! 

you ask the late imam hanafi about this since, if you can.  he knew too well of the pit falls associated with being too close to the centre of power of the day.

he was asked by caliph harun al rashid to be  his chief jurist and imam hanafi politely declined on the excuse that he 'lacked knowledge and wisdom' for the post. the pitfall of being an intellectual and 'religious' 'rubber stamp' was too heavy for hanafi.

harun al rashid accused him of not telling the truth and sent him to jail. 
imam hanafi died in captivity.

in modern day parlance, in malaysia at least with the current nonsense going on at the top end of the political spectrum, if pm najeeb offers you a post of attorney general or lord president, or bank negara numero uno, you better decline.  unless if think you are  up to the mark in your ilm and ability to control your greed for the 'dunya' and able to execute your responsibility with  total honesty and excellence.
it is not worth it.

for my own posterity i would rather be a 'pak mat nyadap from kuala ketil or padang pak amat, of pasir puteh' , quietly tending after my cattle, then be ag, lord president or bank negara governor!.....not even an 'unschooled chairman of tabung haji for that matter.

responsibility and accountability at the top is just too awesome.
it extend beyond this finite world, all these will impact into the barzak and the hereafter!

and ayat 28 is not just about scholars and ulama' in the 'ugama sense'.
it also applies to all top posts involving the appropriation of fund and power with respect to the common men and women below.

allhualam


dr nik 

ps :

and if you ever think, once in these positions of responsibility, you are safe by keeping quiet and warming your ..rse in the post, it is not an option.
keeping quiet is not an option in these positions of responsibility.
you are a 'scholar and ulama' in your 'post'
keeping quiet in the face of avarice and corruption is tantamount to tacit agreement, fullstop!