The Noble Mirror

Ilmu laksana hujan

2010-04-01T17:11:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Ilmu laksana hujan yang diterima bumi
Diterima, meresap, lalu menumbuhkan diri
Pohon yang baik, itulah yang disampaikan oleh Ilahi
Yang akan bimbing kepada kebahagiaan sejati

Akar pohon yang bernilai yakin
Dahan yang bernilai memimpin
Ranting yang bernilai teduh
Dan buah yang bermanfaat bagi makhluk lain

Jika kau inginkan pohon itu
Minta dan tunggulah hujan
Sehingga benih ilmu yang sedia wujud dalam jiwa
Tersibak dan menjelma, lalu membuatmu mulia

Ingatlah juga pohon ini harus dijaga
Dari semak ragu dan manfaat yang tiada
Dari tantangan pohon lain yang membunuh diri dan binasa
Dari hama dosa dan busung dada

Demi hujan yang telah menghidupkan bumi
yang semulanya mati...

Raut wajah

2010-03-22T14:22:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Senyum hiasi wajah anak
Sedih pun sudah mendahului saat alam tersibak
Lugu dan polos menjadi corak

Tampil jujur perlahan tertahan
Atau kadang menjadi berlebihan
Karna perhatian sesama insan

Dewasa menjadi raut pura-pura
Enggan mewujudkan rasa
Karna takut binasa

Namun raut ikhlas sungguhlah mulia
Jika pun terukir pada wajah kelam, kanak pun dewasa

Sungguh gambaran raut surga

Ayam dan hari

2010-03-22T14:18:00.001+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Ayam adalah pertanda datangnya hari
Kokoknya seakan menyibak mentari yang hadir menepati janji
Kepak sayapnya pun seolah meminta gelap malam untuk bergeser dan berlari
Semua itu untuk menyambut terbangunnya insan dari alam mimpi

Karna Cinta

2010-03-22T14:16:00.002+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Karna cinta, insan selalu kaya
Tanaman di halamannya tiada pernah binasa
Meski setiap saat dipotong dan dihadiahkan kepada semesta
Sebab pemberian itu selalu kembali pada Sang Pecinta

Saat Jumpa

2010-03-22T14:14:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Kusiapkan diri untuk saat berjumpa
Bersih dan rapih menjadi tatacara
Segaris senyum dan rona rindu kan ku ajak serta
Mudah-mudahan Kau kan menerima

Harga bagi jiwa

2010-03-22T14:12:00.002+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Perlu waktu menilai harga
Bukan dalam mata uang dan angka
Bukan dalam yang tampat pada mata
Melainkan karna ia berharga bagi jiwa

Malaikat

2010-03-22T14:11:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Malam itu hujan turun
Ku teringat kata kata mulia yang kepada manusialah ia turun
Hujan turun untuk hidupkan bumi yang mati
Hujan pun dikembalikan lagi ke langit dan ke bumi dia pun turun

Teringat pula ku pada kisah malaikat
Ia menemani tiap tetes hujan hingga ke tanahlah ia lekat
Ditemani pula hingga bagi bumi menjadi alat
Akhirnya hilang sangat cepat

Tiap yang dicipta kan ditemani malaikat
Setiap jasad bahkan setetes keringat
Mereka adalah penjaga dan pengambil terhormat
Bahkan karna merekalah Insan Mulia berdiri
saat diri yang kiamat tengah lewat

Saat diberitakan tentang mereka akan menjauah dari orang terlaknat
Hanyalah berarti mereka jauh dari malaikat rahmat
Ketahuilah tentang ini hakikat
Agar kau selalu ingat

Jiwa dan mata air

2010-03-22T14:05:00.001+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Jiwa laksana mata air
Pancarkan makna lalu mengalir
Memilih kata menuju ke hilir
Lalu di hati insanlah dia mampir
dan binasa bagai tersambar petir

Path

2010-03-22T14:01:00.000+07:00

by Khayrurrijal

there are lot of paths
and
there also The Path
the different is
lies in the coherence of the path
with The Path

Hutang

2010-03-22T13:56:00.003+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Hutang atas penciptaan sungguh tercatat
pada hati insan ia tergurat
Rasakanlah ia lekat-lekat
Lalu ingat,
sungguh sangat bermanfaat

Ia

2010-03-22T13:50:00.001+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Ia, tiada yang serupa dengan-Nya
Tiada waktu dan tiada ruang bersama-Nya
Mengenal-Nya adalah tujuan segala-galanya

Hikmah

2010-03-22T13:48:00.001+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Hikmah adalah ilmu dari Tuhan
Diambil dari sinar kenabian
Pancarannya membuat insan menemukan
Tempat segala sesuatu di dalam kehidupan
bahkan ada hikmah dari sebuah keburukan

Berlabuh

2010-03-22T13:44:00.002+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Berlabuh insan di dataran kehidupan
Membeli perbekalan
Mencari teman perjalanan
untuk kembali melanjutkan perjalanan

Perahu kadang tak berjalan
Karna tiada angin mengarahkan
Karna nakhoda dalam kebingungan
meskipun demikian, sungguh ciptaan Tuhan tiada sia-sia

Rindu nakhoda pada tujuan
Tentu saja dataran, bukan lautan
sebab, kehidupan perlu berwujud dengan pijakan
Kita akan sampai, dan pasti sampai ke Dataran
sambil berbahagia atau menderita tak keruan

Write-tools and Good stuff

2010-03-22T13:34:00.002+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

go buy eraser
good stuff erase bad stuff

go buy write-tool
good stuff take start from little stuff...
go buy permanent-tool
good stuff will became bolder with giving bolder meaning

go buy all you need
absorb your knowledge into your blood
absorb your knowledge into your flesh
absorb your knowledge into your heart
then your knowledge will help to direct your will

Untuk Nila

2010-03-22T13:26:00.003+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

lanjutkan jalan
ke barat

makin gelap
makin pekat...

tak terasa
berkeringat

berharap lelah
waktunya istirahat

tidur justru ku binasa layaknya
tersambar kilat

Bersihkan Debu

2010-03-17T18:26:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Hujan turun bersihkan debu
Menyingkap bumi dalam kesejatian
Polos dan lugu terungkap penuh kejujuran
Menyeap air dan tumbuhkan kebaikan

Kupuji

2010-03-17T18:25:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Buka mata kupuji
bersuci kupuji
berdiri hingga bersimpuh kupuji
makan kupuji
minum kupuji
hingga tidur kembali kupuji
Ialah asal dan tempat kembalinya puji
sedangkan cela hanya kepada diri sendiri

Hancur

2010-03-17T18:23:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Hancur, sungguh
Lebur, luluh
Tenggelam usai berlabuh
Hanyut setelah gaduh

Hancur, luntur, lalu
terkubur
Hujan pun mengucur
Mentari menyinari teratur
Bangkitkan hidup yang terkubur

Alam pun sambut kelahiran
Bimbing dan temani hingga ke kedewasaan
Hinga akar menghunjam
dan cabang melangit ke singgasana Tuhan.

Putus Asa

2010-03-17T18:20:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Putus asa menghampiri insan
Gelap di tumpukan kegelapan
Buta rasa benar dan salah
hanya terasa menjadi anggapan

Putus asa melanda jiwa
Keruhnya buruk sangka
Bahkan kepada al-Rahman yang Mulia
Hidup pun nampak sudah binasa

Sungguh nestapa....

Senja Jiwa

2010-03-17T18:18:00.002+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Kala senja jiwa tiba
Mentari diganti sang candra
Berbaiksangkalah di dalam gelap malam
Kau kan temui kebaikan menyinar dan menjelma

Jika dan mungkin

2010-03-17T18:17:00.000+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

Di saat segala mungkin dan jika
Di saat segala andai dan andai
Di saat menduga keburukan
Ku terus mohon perlindungan Tuhan

Insan bertanya

2010-03-17T18:15:00.001+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Ada Insan bertanya
   bagaimana untuk melihat
Ku kata
   bukalah mata
Ia pun bertanya lagi
   bagaimana membuka mata

The Knight

2010-03-02T18:01:00.003+07:00

by Khayrurrijal

A knight that pass the night with a fight
and company his sight with bright light
then he would become might, right, and light

Gift

2010-03-02T17:59:00.000+07:00

by Khayrurrijal

We should rise up
But,
if you wanna gave up
Give it as a gift
and your mistake...
forgive

Ucapan wakil pengkarya 'festschrift' Prof SMN al-Attas

2010-03-01T23:59:00.002+07:00

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim

Ucapan Wakil Pengkarya

Prof Dr Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud

Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu (ATMA), UKM

ALHAMDULILLAHI RABBIL ʿALAMIN

WASSALATU WASSALAMU ʿALA SAYYIDNA MUHAMMADIN,

WA ʿALA ALIHI WA SAHBIHI AJMAʿIN,

Assalam alaykum warahmatu Allah wa barakatuhu!

Mengadap Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Raja Muda Perak Darul Ridzuan, Raja Nazrin Shah Ibni Sultan Azlan Muhibbudin Shah

Sesungguhnya, kesudian Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Tuanku berangkat hadir mencemar duli untuk bertitah dan melancarkan buku ‘Knowledge, Language, Thought and the Civilization of Islam: Essays in Honor of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas’

menyatakan iltizam dan istiqamah Tuanku kepada perihal ilmiah amnya,

dan penghormatan kepada seorang ahli fikir, dan pembaharu pendidikan yang amat disegani khasnya.

Patik semua sentiasa mengikuti titah-titah penting tuanku dalam pelbagai perkara. Tuanku seorang cendekiawan diraja berpendidikan tinggi,

seumpama sebutir bintang berkilau gemerlapan,

dari tradisi kepimpinan bangsa yang beradab dan bertamadun tinggi,

yang amat patut dibanggakan dan dicontohi.

Ampun Tuanku

Sembah patik harap diampun

Patik menjujung kasih sekali lagi kepada Tuanku atas kesudian Tuanku berangkat bagi menyempurnakan majlis pada petang ini.

Izinkan Patik sebagai wakil pengkarya buku yang bakal Tuanku lancarkan ini,

berucap kepada tetamu yang hadir bersama untuk mendengar titah Tuanku.

Ampun Tuanku.

Yang Mulia Prof. Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas,

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato Sri Dr Abdullah Ayub, Pro Canselor UTM,

Yang Berhormat Dato Dr Ridzuan Hj Salleh, Pro Canselor UTM

Yang Berbahagia Prof. Dato Dr. Zaini Ujang, Naib Cancelor UTM

Dhif-dhif kehormat

Hadirin dan hadirat sekalian!

Allah SWT berfirman dalam kitab Suci al-Qur’an Surah al-Mujadalah, ayat 11 yang bermaksud: “Allah akan mengangkat tinggi beberapa darajat orang-orang yang beriman dari kamu, dan orang-orang yang berilmu: Sesungguhnya Allah maha mengetahui segala yang kamu lakukan.”

Kita semua berhimpun di dalam Dewan ini bagi melancarkan

sebuah buku yang menyanjung sumbangan pelbagai dimensi seorang ilmuan pembaharu ulong, Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas.

Beliau terbukti berwibawa dalam pelbagai bidang seperti ilmu kalam, falsafah, metafizika, sejarah dan kesusateraan Islam khususnya yang berkaitan dengan Alam Melayu. Dalam bidang-bidang ini beliau telah menyumbang beberapa fikiran pokok yang asli, berdaya cipta dan berpengaruh.

Pembaharu dan ilmuan ulong dirakam abadi dalam sejarah manusia melalui buah-buah fikiran mereka yang berjaya membantu mencerahkan alam pemikiran dan memberi nilai tinggi kepada kehidupan dan tamadun manusia. Kebanyakan mereka dikenal dan diiktiraf sewajarnya lama selepas mereka meninggal pentas dunia.

Hanya sebahagian kecil dari mereka yang dikenal dan diiktiraf dengan adil semasa hayat masing-masing. Sesungguhnya pengenalan dan pengiktirafan sebenar akan sumbangan para pembaharu dan ilmuan ulong dalam sejarah sesuatu bangsa nyata mencerminkan ketinggian martabat ketamadunan bangsa tersebut.

Bangsa yang hampa dan rendah darjat ketamadunannya tidak akan mengenal dan tidak berupaya mengiktiraf para pembaharu dan ilmuan ulong dari kalangannya, yang sememangnya boleh dibilang dengan jari.

Sebahagian dari sumbangan Profesor al-Attas dalam pelbagai bidang keilmuan dan ketamadunan Islam dibicarakan dengan bertanggungjawab oleh sebarisan ilmuan dan pengkaji serius dari pelbagai negara. Mereka mewakili sebahagian ilmuan yang memahami sumbangan beliau yang asli dan berdaya cipta bukan sahaja di peringkat pemikiran, tetapi juga di peringkat institusi.

Ramai ilmuan dari seluruh dunia mahu menyumbang tulisan mereka kepada buku ini, tetapi permintaan mereka tidak dapat dipenuhi kerana kesuntokan masa dan keterbatasan ruang.

Kami percaya keseluruhan sifat dan hasil perjuangan keilmuan tokoh yang dira’ikan dalam buku ini boleh dinamakan sebagai Pergerakan Teguh atau Dynamic Stabilism.

Ini kerana sifat dan hasil perjuangannya meneguh semula pandangan hidup Islam yang disepakati para luluhur agung sekian lama, serta mengukuhkan keyakinan kepada struktur dan dasar akhlak dan perundangannya dalam menghadapi cabaran cabaran semasa. Ini dilakukan dengan penuh wibawa keilmuan, tegas dan berdaya cipta dengan memahami unsur-unsur kekal dan berubah dalam tradisi Islam dan dalam tradisi Moden.

Keadaan ini berbeda dengan perjuangan kaum konservatif yang umumnya bersifat teguh menetap, tetapi tidak bergerak mencipta pembaharuan menyebabkan kelemahan memalukan; juga berbeda dengan kaum modernis dan pasca modernis, yang sentiasa bergerak mengekori pembaharuan, tetapi merongkai akar-akar kebudayaan yang berdiri teguh sekian lama sehingga menimbulkan kekeliruan mendalam.

Kesemua makalah dalam buku ini mencerminkan keluasan minat dan sumbangan Profesor al-Attas. Kami kaitkan dalam beberapa bidang saling bertaut yang juga mengambarkan kegiatan ilmiah di International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), satu lembaga pendidikan tinggi Islam unik yang beliau asaskan dan pimpin secara menyeluruh, dan terbilang bijaksana dari tahun 1987 sehingga tahun 2002.

Para ilmuan serius dan berwibawa sedar dan insaf bahawa karya-karya Profesor al-Attas yang telah juga diterjemahkan ke dalam pelbagai bahasa orang2 Islam dan bahasa-bahasa Barat melambangkan satu titik penting dalam sejarah Alam Melayu.

Bahawa inilah kali pertama dalam sejarah Alam Melayu di mana karya-karya ilmuannya mempekayakan khazanah pemikiran dan ketamadunan Islam di peringkat global. Malah terdapat institusi berprestij yang mengiktiraf sumbangan beliau sebaris dengan pemikir dan pembaharu dunia seperti Plato, Kong Fu Tze, St. Augustine, Immanuel Kant, Edward Said, Nelson Mandela dan sebagainya.

Saya mahu mengambil kesempatan ini merakamkan ucapan terima kasih kepada penyunting bersama saya, Prof Madya Dr Muhammad Zainiy Uthman yang amat banyak membantu usaha ini. Kami berdua menyanjung sumbangan semua para penulis makalah dalam buku ini. Beberapa orang dari mereka ---Prof Dato Salleh Yaapar, Prof Murat Cizakca, Dr Ismail Marcinkowski, Dr Tatiana Denisova, dan Dr Hisham Helyer--- hadir bersama kita pada hari ini. Bagi pihak semua penulis, kami amat menghargai sokongan berharga Naib Canselor UTM, Prof Dato Dr Zainiy Ujang, yang juga seorang penulis prolifik. Jutaan terima kasih juga kepada seluruh kakitangan Penerbit UTM, terutama Prof Hishamuddin dan sdra Khalid Mazlan, dan semua yang menjayakan buku ini serta pelancarannya pada hari ini.

Kami juga sangat menghargai sokongan dan dorongan keluarga kami, dan para sahabat di Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu UKM, di Universiti Islam Antarabangsa dan di mana saja mereka kini berada.

Akhir sekali, dan yang paling utama, kami merakamkan setinggi-tinggi penghargaan kepada guru yang kami kagumi dan cintai Professor Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas. Kesungguhan perjuangan dan keberaniannya dalam bidang ilmu, agama dan akhlak di peringkat tinggi, dengan segala pahit dan lelahnya, adalah contoh teladan buat kami semua. Rakaman terima kasih ini tidak lengkap jika tidak juga ditujukan kepada isterinya, penyokong terkuatnya dan paling setia Puan Latifah al-Attas. Kami doakan agar tuan-tuan berdua serta seluruh keluarga dan kami semua juga akan terus dipanjangkan umur, mendapat kejayaan dan kebahgiaan di dunia dan akhirat.

WabiLlahi al-tawfiq wa’l-hidayah

Wassalam alaykum warahmatuLlahi wabarakatuhu

Ampun Tuanku

Sembah Patik mohon diampun

(23 Feb 2010/ Dewan Besar UTM International Campus KL)

sumber: rausyanfikir.com

Ucapan Penghargaan oleh Prof. SMN al-Attas sempena pelancaran 'festschrift' "Knowledge, Language, Thought and Civilization of Islam: Essays in Honour of SMN al-Attas

2010-03-01T23:56:00.001+07:00

Yang Teramat Mulia Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah menyampaikan ucapan pelancaran dan penghargaan festschrift Prof. Al-Attas.

Alhamdulillah, alladzii arsala rasuulahu bil huda wa dinil haq, liyudhhirahu Ăala diini kullih wa ssolatuwassala muĂala saidina Muhammadinillazi al-muzhir kalimat at-Tauhid. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Yang teramat mulia, Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah ibni Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, kepada yang ternama, yang mempunyai darajat keistimewaan beringkat jasa[1] masing-masing dan para hadirin yang dihormati sekalian.

Sesuai bagi saya di sini mengucapkan setinggi penghargaan kepada isteri saya Latifah teman hidup saya selama lebih setengah kurun yang selama ini telah memberi zuriat yang membanggakan dan dengan sabar lera diri dan kasih sayang sejati telah menyediakan suasana tenang dan damai, yang meredakan alunan gelora kehidupan yang kami tempuh bersama.

(tepukan gemuruh daripada para hadirin)

Daripada-nyalah saya terhutang budi dan berjaya dalam usaha menjalankan tugas serta tanggungjawab agama dan ilmu yang hasilnya kini sedang dinilai dunia. Bagi melaksanakan dengan sempurna tugas serta tanggungjawab agama dan ilmiah yang saya maksudkan, saya perlukan khidmat seorang ilmuan yang telah berguru dengan ilmuan ternama yang saya kenali[2] dan yang layak menerima amanah saya.

Kini menjelaskan bagi ilmuan itu harus memiliki sifat-sifat serta perilaku akhlaq yang tertentu, iaitu ikhlas pada diri,percaya kepada kewibawaan dan kejujuran saya sebagai ilmuan sejati[3],taat setia kepada saya dengan kasih yang ikhlas, mengenali dan mengakui hak[4] saya dan meletakkan-nya pada tempat yang wajar. Sifat-sifat dan perilaku akhlaqiah yang terpuji ini, saya dapati pada diri Profesor Dr. Wan Mohd. Nor Wan Daud yang telah lama mendampingi diri dan pemikiran saya selama lebih 20 tahun sebagai sahabat dan telah menemani pengembaraan saya ke balai-balai keilmuan di merata dunia. Kepada-nyalah saya aturkan penghargaan teristimewa.

Kepada para ilmuan ternama dari serata dunia yang telah menyumbangkan risalah pengĂitirafan yang dirayakan ini saya sungguh berterima kasih. Kepada mereka dikalangan murid saya yang telah banyak berbakti[5] dan mereka yang telah menjalankan penelitian serta pengumpulan pelbagai risalah ilmiah yang terkandung dalam buku yang dilancarkan ini dan juga mereka dikalangan para pegawai[6] yang telah lama berkhidmat di bawah arahan saya kepada-nya semua saya ucapkan penghargaan ikhlas.

Penerbitan buku ini telah dilaksanakan dengan begitu baik oleh penerbit Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) atas anjuran Naib Canselor Profesor Dato’ Ir. Dr. Zaini bin Ujang, seorang ilmuan yang berhemah tinggi, kepadanya saya mengucapkan berbanyak terima kasih.

Dan sembah salam saya terhadap tuanku yang teramat mulia Raja Dr Nazrin Shah ibni Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, raja yang Ăarif lagi budiman yang atas kesudiannya bukan sahaja melancarkan buku ini malah menilai kandungannya dengan tilikan bijaksana, saya menjunjung kasih.

Catatan akhir

Kami cuba dapatkan rakaman dan teks ucapan perasmian dan penghargaan daripada Yang Teramat Mulia, Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah ibni Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah yang sangat menarik lagi bijaksana dalam menilik mahaguru kita Prof. Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas.

Sebarang salah dan silap dalam saya menukilkan kembali ucapan penghargaan mahaguru kita, Prof. Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas adalah kerana kekurangan dan kelemahan saya dalam menanggapi semula rakaman ringkas yang ada.

[1] Saya lama merenung ungkapan Prof. Al-Attas ini, yang agak “unik” buat para hadirin sehingga mereka tertawa kerana menilai ungkapan tersebut. Bagi saya yang menilik secara dhaif ini, ungkapan ini sebenarnya bukan mainan bahasa tanpa maāna kerana Prof. Al-Attas, seperti yang saya sering dengar daripada anak murid beliau yang berwibawa bukanlah ilmuan yang tidak beradab pada bahasa yang diguna pakai oleh beliau. Setiap suku kata malah tanda baca yang digunakan oleh beliau dalam bertutur, khususnya dalam penulisan Ăilmiah beliau mempunyai maāna tertentu sesuai dengan adab setiap huruf dan tanda baca tersebut dalam menyampaikan isi kandungan hujah beliau. Dalam hal ungkapan “unik” ini, pada hemat saya yang dhaif ini, Prof. Al-Attas menjelaskan salam hormat buat para aristokrat seperti Tan Sri, Puan Seri, Dato’, Datin, Profesor, Profesor Madya yang masing-masing pada hakikatnya dianugerahi darjah kehormat sebegitu rupa sesuai dengan sumbangan dan jasa dalam bidang masing-masing. Mungkin para hadirin yang tiada biasa mendengar ucapan beliau akan berasa sedikit kelakar kerana amat jarang sekali kita dapat mendengar dalam majlis rasmi laras Bahasa Melayu klasik tinggi yang menjadi sine qua non cara-gaya kognitif Prof. Al-Attas.

[2] Allahyarham Prof. Fazlur Rahman (University of Chicago)

[3] Pada hemat saya yang dhaif ini, cara-gaya Bahasa Melayu yang diguna pakai Prof. Al-Attas ini merupakan cara-gaya Bahasa Melayu klasik. Perkataan “sejati” yang diguna pakai oleh Prof. Al-Attas ini merujuk kepada kefahaman dan Ăamal beliau dalam memperakui tugas dan amanah beliau sebagai seorang ilmuan tulen (bukan kerana KPI etc.) yang tiada boleh disalah ertikan sebagai “angkuh” atau “berlagak” seperti yang sering dituduh oleh para penghasad-dengki yang telah sekian lama merosak punahkan gagasan beliau, khususnya ISTAC.

[4] “Adab is the discipline of body, mind and soul; the discipline that assures the recognition and acknowledgement of one’s proper place in relation to one’s physical, intellectual and spiritual capacities and potentials; the recognition and acknowledgement of the reality that knowledge and being are ordered hierarchically according to their various levels (marĀtib) and degrees (darajĀt). Since adab refers to recognition and acknowledgement of the right and proper place, station, and condition in life, and to self-discipline in positive and willing participation in enacting one’s role in accordance with that recognition and acknowledgement, its actualization in one and in society as a whole reflects the condition of justice (Ăadl). Justice itself is a reflection of wisdom (Ąikmah), which we have already defined as that God-given knowledge which enables the recipient to discover the right and proper place for a thing or a being to be. The condition of being in the proper place is what we have called justice; and adab is the method of knowing by which we actualize the condition of being in the proper place. So adab, in the sense I am defining here, is also a reflection of wisdom; and with respect to society adab is the just order within it. Adab, concisely defined, is the spectacle (mashhad) of justice as it is reflected by wisdom.” SM Naquib Al-Attas, The Concept of Islamic Education, the keynote address delivered by Professor Naquib al-Attas at the “First World Conference on Muslim Education” held in Makkatul MuĂaĉĉamah in March 1977. p11-12

[5] Prof. Wan Mohd. Nor Wan Daud (ATMA-UKM), Prof. Madya Dr. Zainiy Uthman (IIUM), Prof. Alparslan Acikgenc (Fatih University), Dr. Mustafa Ceric (Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Hezergovina), Dr. Zaidi Ismail (IKIM), Dr. Sani Badron (IKIM), Dr. Wan Azhar (IKIM), Dr. Farid Shahran (mantan Timbalan Presiden ABIM, Pengerusi HAKIM, IIUM) Dr. Wan Suhaimi Wan Abdullah (UM), Dr. Azizan Sabjan (USM), Dr. Adi Setia (IIUM ) Ustaz Asham Ahmad (IKIM), Ustaz Nik Roskiman (IKIM), Dr. Aliza Elias (IIUM), Dr. Megawati Moris (IIUM), Dr. Bazli Shafie (UMT), Ustaz Roslan Jelani, Dr. Syed Ali Tawfiq Al-Attas, Prof. Dr. Kamar Oniah, dan juga dari Indonesia seperti Dr. Syamsuddin Arif (IIUM, INSISTS), Dr. Hamid Fahmy Zarkasyi (Gontor, INSISTS), Dr. Adian Husaini (INSISTS), Dr. Khalif Muammar (ATMA-UKM), Ustaz Adnin Armas (INSISTS), Dr. Ugi Suharto (INSISTS) dan banyak lagi yang mungkin saya belum kenal atau tiada teringat berkenaan mereka khususnya dari luar negara.

[6] Antara contoh kesan terbaik menjalarnya budaya ilmu telah digambarkan oleh Encik Sabri yang dahulu-nya merupakan pemandu Prof. Al-Attas sewaktu di ISTAC yang kini sering menghadiri hampir ke semua wacana HAKIM yang mana dipandu arah oleh anak-anak murid Prof. Al-Attas sendiri.

sumber: rausyanfikir.com

Taubat

2010-02-28T09:38:00.001+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Ambil taubat
Cuci wajahmu dengannya
Air matamu kan lembutkan
hatimu

Kenal Jiwa

2010-02-27T20:18:00.002+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Melesat lebih cepat dari cahaya
Melesat lebih cepat dari suara
Segala hilir mudik rasa

Ia dikenal sebagai jiwa

Rembulan

2010-02-27T20:17:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Rembulan selalu purnama
Sabit atau mati hanya nampak
pada mata di bawah angkasa

Jika ingin-tahu kau rasa
Kunjungi ia,
mudah-mudahan kau bahagia

Puas

2010-02-27T20:15:00.002+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Kata terbatas
Dititipkan makna yang luas

Harapnya makna segera lepas
Sampai tujuan lalu kembali
dengan puas

Makna dan Jiwa

2010-02-27T20:14:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Makna dikandung kata
Pita bergetar lalu diantar suara
Masuk telinga dan dipahami jiwa

Adakala terlambat berkata
Tapi bukan berarti makna
tiada daya
Karna jiwa sudah saling berbicara

Arti Sejati

2010-02-27T20:12:00.002+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Diri yang mendaki
Ingin kuasai jati diri
Tebing terjal dijalani
Ditemani oleh hati-hati

Semoga temukan arti sejati

Selamat Datang

2010-02-27T20:11:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Selamat datang...
Wahai jiwa yang terbang
Lalu hilang dari pandang

Selamat pulang...
Wahai jiwa petualang
Kepada haribaan Yang Maha Penyayang

Panutan

2010-02-27T20:09:00.002+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Gunung menjulang
Bintang terbentang
Menjadi panutan terpancang

Teks Penuh Ucapan Penghargaan kepada Prof. al-Attas oleh Y.M. Raja Nazrin Shah

2010-02-26T13:44:00.002+07:00

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Assalamu’alaikum wrt wbrkt dan salam sejahtera.

Alhamdulillah dengan kebesaran Allah yang maha esa, majlis pelancaran buku Knowledge, Language, Thought and the Civilization of Islam: Essays in honour of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, dapat dilangsungkan.

Beta bersyukur kerana bersempena majlis pelancaran ini dengan ketentuan Ilahi juga beta turut di angkat ke satu martabat kemuliaan apabila dipilih sebagai insan yang digandingkan dengan usaha mulia untuk memuliakan seorang sarjana Islam berwarga Malaysia.

Prof. Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas diiktiraf, disegani dan dihormati di serata dunia sebagai pohon ilmu yang asli teguh berakar di Taman Ilmu.

Syed Muhammad Naquib adalah insan istimewa memiliki watak intelek, jiwa intelek, daya intelek dan ruh intelek seorang muslim perintis dalam mempelopori idea mengislamkan pengetahuan (The Idea of Islamization of Knowledge).

Beliau telah menghasilkan 29 penerbitan dalam pelbagai aspek pemikiran dan tamadun Islam khususnya subjek-subjek menyentuh kosmologi, metafizik, falsafah, bahasa dan kesusasteraan Melayu.

Beliau telah menyampaikan lebih 400 syarahan umum di negara-negara Asia, Amerika Syarikat dan Eropah.

Knowledge, Language, Thought and the Civilization of Islam adalah penerbitan berkualiti tinggi mengandungi 22 esei hasil penyelidikan 24 sarjana bertujuan merakamkan pengiktirafan kepada seorang ilmuan Malaysia bertaraf dunia. 22 esei tersebut telah dihasilkan oleh para sarjana dari serata dunia. Dari Afrika Selatan, Amerika Syarikat, Bahrain, Egypt, Gambia, Iran, Iraq, Jerman, Macedonia, The Netherlands, Russia, Turkey dan United Kingdom di samping sarjana-sarjana dari Malaysia.

Setiap esei mengandungi kupasan dan huraian tersendiri bersandarkan sudut kajian dan aspek analisis yang diberikan fokus. Namun setiap seorang dari mereka walaupun apa sub-disiplin kajiannya mencapai satu titik pertemuan mengiktiraf dan menghargai ketokohan, pemikiran dan kebijaksanaan Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas.

Beta berpeluang mendapat naskah awal penerbitan yang akan dilancarkan ini yang telah diutus kepada beta bersama warkah jemputan ke majlis ini. Beta tertarik mengikuti kupasan-kupasan mengenai adab. Huraian tentang adab merangkumi elemen-elemen kemanusiaan, kebajikan, kasih-sayang serta sifat menghormati ibu-bapa, orang tua dan kanak-kanak, juga jiran tetangga dan pemimpin masyarakat. Ditegaskan betapa pentingnya bagi seseorang insan memahami kedudukan masing-masing. Beliau menekankan bahawa adab itu adalah ketertiban budi (intellectual discipline). Menghormati guru dan orang berilmu adalah manifestasi adab terhadap ilmu. Tidak ketinggalan peringatan adab terhadap alam semulajadi, terhadap bahasa dan pentingnya alam spiritual dihormati dalam hasrat mahu mencecah darjat keluhuran dan adab itu sewajibnya memperlihatkan keadilan, mencerminkan hikmah serta mempertahankan hak dari segi realiti dan kebenaran. Adab dikaitkan dengan pendidikan manusia yang luhur bahawa apabila kuasa dan sumber diserahkan kepada individu yang tidak memahami idea induk, akan berlakulah penyalahgunaan kuasa dan pembaziran sumber. Diikuti dengan suasana kekeliruan intelek dan kekeliruan moral. Salah urus sumber mengakibatkan berlakunya kemiskinan yang berpanjangan dan kemusnahan institusi-institusi penting yang begitu berkesan dan dihormati pada zaman kolonial. Justeru itu, adab adalah penentu kepada jatuh bangunnya pemimpin di dalam sesebuah masyarakat. Adab memperingatkan bahawa taraf kemuliaan seseorang itu bukan ditentukan oleh faktor-faktor kemanusiaan dari sudut kuasa, kekayaan mahu pun keturunan tetapi ditentukan oleh kriteria-kriteria yang terkandung di dalam al-Quran dari segi penetahuan, kecerdasan otak dan sifat murni.

Setelah berpeluang menyelami huraian Syed Muhammad Naquib tentang adab, beta amat insaf akan betapa kerdilnya diri beta dalam aspek pencapaian ilmu berbanding dengan tahap yang telah beliau capai. Membawa beta bertanyakan diri sendiri apatah beta selayaknya dianugerahkan dengan kemuliaan pada petang ini untuk melancarkan sebuah penerbitan yang bertujuan memuliakan seorang insan. Seorang insan yang telah sedia lebih awal diangkat oleh Ilahi ke martabat kemuliaan ilmu yang begitu tinggi. Beta tidak dapat lari dari bertanyakan diri adakah Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas seorang yang beta kenali atau seorang yang tidak beta kenali. Pertanyaan tersebut membawa ingatan beta kembali mengembara kepada peristiwa ketika beta berangkat melawat ISTAC. Lawatan yang beta pinta diaturkan setelah disembah maklumkan tentang keistimewaan institusi tersebut. Itulah pertemuan pertama dan sehingga majlis pelancaran ini, merupakan satu-satunya pertemuan beta dengan Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas. Pertemuan untuk tempoh masa sekitar 2 jam adalah satu peratusan waktu yang amat kecil dalam hayat beta yang telah meraut usia lebih 53 tahun. Namun pertemuan singkat itu memberi fahaman dan nilai baru kepada beta akan erti dan makna pertemuan. Bahawa pertemuan bernilai itu tidak memerlukan masa yang lama.

Sewaktu mengunjungi ISTAC beta berpeluang menemui Syed Muhammad Naquib, berjabat tangan, bertentang wajah disusuli dengan renungan mata dan perbualan kata, beta datang dan pergi dengan minda yang mengakui hakikat bahawa, pertama : beta adalah seorang anak muda yang sedang mengunjungi seorang dewasa yang usianya hampir sama dengan usia Paduka Ayahanda beta. Sewajarnyalah beta menyedari diri berada di taraf yang lebih rendah dan sewajibnya beta menghormati beliau. Kedua: Beta masih seorang musafir dalam pengembaraan mencari ilmu, masih daif, sedang berada di kaki gunung dalam pendakian menemui seorang sarjana, seorang mahaguru, seorang pendeta yang bukan sahaja telah sedia berada di puncak gunung pengetahuan tetapi telah sekelian lama mengalirkan pemikirannya ke serata lembah dan wadi ilmu.

ISTAC adalah hasil dari himpunan usaha yang mengutamakan kualiti. ISTAC melambangkan himpunan idea terbaik dari terbaik, dipilih lalu diubahsuai dari contoh-contoh keindahan yang telah pernah beliau temui dari serata dunia. Ia bukan sahaja memiliki keindahan fizikal tetapi keindahan itu dilengkapi dengan fungsi dan memenuhi matlamat. ISTAC memperlihatkan satu prasarana yang dihasilkan melalui pemikiran yang serius dan komitmen yang tinggi hingga terbangun sebuah kampus pengajian yang dinamik bertenaga menghidupkan budaya berfikir, berupaya membina tabiat rindukan ilmu. ISTAC memiliki persekitaran yang mengandungi lirik cinta dan simfoni kasih. Selepas berpeluang melihat ISTAC, beta sering mengimpikan untuk melihat lebih banyak institusi, terutama institusi pengajian di negara ini dapat menjadikan ISTAC sebagai contoh dari aspek pembangunan prasarana bermula dari peringkat falsafah dan konsep, perancangan, pembiayaan, pembinaan, pengurusan dan penyelenggaraan. Betapa produktifnya dan betapa kemungkinan ketua-ketua eksekutif institusi pengajian tinggi di negara ini diberikan lebih autonomi dalam memenuhi amanah membangunkan taman-taman ilmu yang setanding dengan ISTAC bersandarkan amalan ‘let the manager manage’. Beta kagum melihat ISTAC yang telah beliau bangunkan tetapi beta lebih kagum dengan insan yang telah mengabadikan pemikiran dan jiwa raganya untuk membangunkan ISTAC. Melihat ISTAC beta merumuskan bahawa beta sebenarnya berhadapan dengan seorang seniman yang sangat teliti, sangat jauh, mendalam dan luas wawasannya, sangat komited dan amat terlibat memenuhi visinya.

Masih segar dalam ingatan beta akan 3 wawasan utama yang beliau suarakan kepada beta. Pertama: ISTAC adalah taman ilmu. Justeru itu bangunan dan kampus, kelengkapan dan peralatan, lanskap dan hiasan dalamannya tidak sekadar untuk memenuhi keindahan fizikal tetapi menyediakan satu persekitaran yang mendorong semangat kecintaan ke arah membina budaya untuk meminati dan menghargai ilmu. Kedua: ISTAC wajib mendapatkan sarjana tebaik dari serata dunia di peringkat tenaga pengajar dan penyelidik, demikian juga pelajar. Dan Ketiga: Memastikan ISTAC mempunyai pusat sumber rujukan yang dilengkapi dengan koleksi karya agung dan penerbitan berkualiti tinggi dari seluruh dunia.

Kunjungan ke ISTAC yang hanya sekali berlaku dan pertemuan dengan Syed Muhammad Naquib yang juga hanya sekali berlaku, telah lama berlalu. Namun ia tetap meninggalkan ingatan berkekalan dalam diri beta. Beliau adalah seorang sarjana yang memiliki kuasa intelek yang hebat. Berjaya meninggalkan impak kepada pemikiran muridnya walaupun hanya berpeluang berinteraksi seketika dengannya. Dengan kehalusan dan kesantunan budi pekertinya beliau telah memberikan keselesaan kepada beta untuk berinteraksi walaupun beta laksana kail sejengkal yang mahu memancing di laut ilmu milik beliau yang sangat dalam lagi luas. Beliau bersifat rendah diri laksana padi semakin berisi semakin tunduk. Beliau adalah bukti hidup seorang insan yang berpegang kukuh kepada prinsip. Beliau teguh dalam tindakan untuk menegakkan kebenaran.

Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas adalah satu khazanah amat berharga. Beliau adalah hasil adukan keturunan ulamak dan aristokrat, turut dibesarkan dan didewasakan dalam persekitaran budaya Islam dan melalui kehidupan harian di taman aristokrasi. Pengalaman-pengalaman yang ditempuhi sepanjang perjalanan hidup telah menambah-kukuhkan keperibadian beliau yang sebenarnya telah sedia kukuh. Antaranya, kandungan elemen-elemen mematuhi disiplin, mematuhi perintah dan kesetiaan semasa mengikuti latihan ketenteraan mempunyai pengaruhi terhadap pandangan dan budaya kerja beliau sebagai ilmuan dan pentadbir. Beliau memenuhi amanah dengan penuh disiplin, mentaati perintah dan mengabdikan kesetiaan secara mutlak kepada Pemerintah Teragung atau Supreme Commander yang tidak ada dua baginya iaitu Allah yang Maha Esa. Segala yang diwarisi dan setiap liku pengalaman hidup yang dilalui telah membina satu watak yang memiliki kekuatan dan keunggulan. Beliau adalah satu keistimewaan, satu keluarbiasaan, hebat dari segi intelek, hebat dari segi personaliti, hebat dari segi kesenimanan dan hebat dari segi keimanan kepada Yang Maha Pencipta.

Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas memiliki daya fikir yang berupaya menghidupkan pemikiran-pemikiran berteraskan Islam, memperlihatkan kehebatan Islam melalui hujah-hujah yang amat intelek, mempercayai lalu memilih untuk Islam itu dibangunkan secara membangunkan masyarakat Islam dan bukannya terburu-buru memilih kaedah politik dengan retorik yang membina Negara Islam dan melaksanakan undang-undang Islam. Beliau yakin dengan undang-undang Islam tetapi tidak yakin dengan orang-orang yang memiliki dan diberikan kuasa untuk mentafsir dan melaksanakannya di Negara ini. Beliau meragui sama ada mereka benar-benar telah memiliki kesederhanaan, hikmah, keadilan dan keberanian untuk melaksanakannya. Kepada beliau pendekatan yang mengutamakan Islam itu harus dikembangkan dari dalam dan membesar secara organik, dan bukannya secara mengenakan tekanan dari atas kepada masyarakat . Contoh kehebatan daya keintelektualan beliau berhujah dapat dipetik dari catatan dalam dialog beliau ketika memberikan respon kepada soalan berkaitan dengan polemik penggunaan kalimah Allah semasa berlangsungnya seminarWorldview of Islam anjuran The Assembly of Muslim Intellectuals pada 13 Disember 2009 yang lalu.

Petikan: “ Allah is not from Bahasa Malaysia, it is not a National Language. It belongs to the Language of the Muslims all over the world. Therefore your argument using this for the word ‘Allah’ does not fit into your idea of God because Allah does not have a son. It is not one of three. That is why, out of respect to Allah we can’t allow you to use this. We agree you want to use God then use ‘Tuhan’ as we also use that. But we understand in the Malay language ‘Tuhan’ is not a translation of Allah. That is why we say, ‘Tiada tuhan melainkan Allah’ not, ‘Tiada tuhan melainkan Tuhan’. So Allah cannot be translated as no language has translated Allah. But if they use it and they say in Indonesia they have used it, why can’t we here. It is because of the Muslims. If Muslims don’t care, they will go on and use it, and in Indonesia they are using not only that but other things too. They even call it choir for selawat. Choir is not a Selawat as selawat is for the Prophet. It is not singing a hymn”.

Demikian keintektualan beliau berhujah dan kehebatan beliau berdebat dengan memberikan hujah-hujah secara rasional dan faktual, secara ringkas, secara jelas telah mempertahankan kesucian nama Allah dari disalahgunakan, yang dibimbangkan boleh menggelincirkan akidah.

Beliau mengikuti pengajian tertiari di Singapura, di Kanada dan di United Kingdom. Bahasa Inggeris adalah bahasa pengantar di ketiga-tiga institusi pengajian tinggi di tiga Negara berkaitan. Penguasaan bahasa Inggeris beliau berada di tahap par excellence. Pada hukum adatnya, beliau tidak perlu bersusah payah untuk menobatkan Bahasa Melayu dijadikan bahasa ilmu di pusat pengajian tinggi negara tetapi beliau memilih mengambil tanggung jawab besar mendaulatkan bahasa ibundanya dengan menyedari bahawa lebih ramai anak bangsanya akan mendapat akses kepada ilmu jika Bahasa Melayu dapat dinobatkan sebagai bahasa pengantar di institusi pengajian tinggi.

Semangat nasionalisme Melayunya terbukti dalam usaha gigih beliau untuk menobatkan bahasa Melayu. Perlu diingatkan bahawa menobatkan bahasa Melayu merupakan salah satu dari 7 wasiat raja-raja Melayu dalam kontrak sosial yang dimaktubkan menjelang kemerdekaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu.

Beliau gigih berusaha melaksanakan program untuk membolehkan Bahasa Melayu berfungsi sebagai bahasa pengantar di Universiti Malaya walaupun mendapat tentangan hebat dari ramai pensyarah. Beliau adalah antara pendokong utama kepada penubuhan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Penulisan-penulisan beliau dalam Bahasa Melayu memberikan nilai ilmu kepada Bahasa Melayu apabila beliau memperkenalkan gaya penulisan baru Bahasa Melayu di peringkat intelek dan falsafah.

Hanya Allah yang Maha Mengetahui akan gelora rasa yang beliau alami kerana pada hari ini sudah ada suara yang semakin berani hendak menggugat mertabat bahasa bangsa Melayu. Bahasa ibunda pribumi yang telah diterima sebagai bahasa kebangsaan di negara ini.

Dapatkan naungan politik untuk melonjakkan kedudukan tidak pernah dijadikan opsyen kerana beliau tidak mahu pemikirannya terikat atau terantai dengan mana-mana kumpulan politik. Beliau tidak reda kejernihan tasik pemikiran beliau dicemari oleh pelbagai polemik dan persengketaan politik atas hasrat untuk mendapat kuasa, mengguna atau menyalahguna kuasa serta mempertahankan kuasa.

Syed Naquib mentafsirkan kemerdekaan itu mempunyai pelbagai peringkat. Kemerdekaan politik hanyalah tahap pertama. Bahawa kemerdekaan yang lebih tinggi bermula dengan kemerdekaan minda untuk berupaya berfikir dan bertindak bersandarkan prinsip ilmu dan pengetahuan serta tradisi bernilai sesebuah Negara. Pada hemat beliau bila berlaku perselisihan pandangan atau kelainan tafsiran di antara seorang sarjana dengan kerajaan dalam perkara-perkara tertentu, kerajaan jangan terlalu cepat menganggap mereka sebagai ahli politik pembangkang yang memang lazimnya mencari kesalahan untuk menjatuhkan sesebuah kerajaan tetapi hendaklah dihargai bahawa minda seorang sarjana itu merasakan dirinya bertanggung jawab mendidik masyarakatnya di samping memiliki keberanian serta ketegasan memaklumkan kepada kerajaannya tentang fakta dan hakikat yang berlaku. Baginya seorang sarjana tidak harus sama sekali memiliki sifat untuk mendapat sokongan atau kedudukan politik.

Pendirian neutral yang dijadikan prinsip pegangan telah membebaskan beliau untuk berupaya terbang mencapai awan di langit yang lebih tinggi. Membolehkan beliau berupaya singgah di pepohon yang lebih segar, subur dan hijau rendang dari satu taman ilmu ke satu taman ilmu di seluruh alam semesta. Adalah lazim bagi insan yang telah dianugerahkan kehebatan minda yang luar biasa untuk mendahului eranya, meletakkanya berada jauh di hadapan pemikiran bangsa dan warganya. Namun sifat istimewa luar biasa bukannya mudah difahami malah seringkali meletakkan beliau berhadapan dengan cabaran lebih berat untuk dapat dihargai. Seringkali pula mengundang kepada salah tafsiran lalu berlaku penilaian yang tidak semestinya bersifat adil dan positif ke atas diri beliau. Demikian harga yang perlu dibayar dan pengorbanan yang perlu dilakukan oleh seorang sarjana yang berani menegakkan kebenaran dan bertegas menegur kebatilan.

Syed Muhammad Naquib yang telah diangkat oleh Ilahi berada di altar lebih tinggi dalam dunia dia didewasakan telah juga dianugerahkan daya lihat yang amat tajam dan mata hati yang amat terang. Beliau adalah satu-satunya sarjana di negara ini yang telah dianugerahkan penghormatan menduduki kursi-kursi utama akademik dalam pelbagai disiplin. Beliau pemegang pertama Kursi Pemikiran Islam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali di ISTAC. Syed Muhammad Naquib memiliki keistimewaan yang luar dari biasa lalu memerlukan sebenar-benar jauhari untuk dapat menilai mutu manikamnya. Manikam yang sangat asli tidak mudah luntur dan tidak senang hancur. Biar di mana ia jatuh, biar sejauh mana ia dilontar, ia terus bercahaya malah semakin memancarkan sinar cahaya menerangi benua dan alam semesta. Ia menjadi buruan para jauhari yang bestari.

Seorang ilmuan itu sebenarnya memiliki kehebatan yang lebih istimewa dan lebih tulen. Pengiktirafan yang diabadikan lebih berkekalan, lebih berpanjangan dan lebih berterusan hingga jauh melangkau pasca hayatnya, dan tidak sekadar semasa dia masih bernyawa atau sedang menyandang jawatan tertentu. Berbanding dengan penghormatan seorang raja ataupun ratu, seorang presiden atau seorang perdana menteri yang boleh sementara sifatnya didewakan bagaikan dewata ketika berada di tampuk kuasa kemudiannya terhenti dan begitu cepat dan mudah dilupakan setelah muncul pengganti yang baru.

Usaha memuliakan ilmuan adalah usaha yang amat konstruktif. Usaha sebegini dapat membantu membina kekayaan intelek dan khazanah intelek negara. Kekayaan intelek negara harus terus ditambah melalui usaha-usaha yang memberikan dorongan dan keyakinan kepada ilmuan. Kejatuhan sesebuah negara bermula dengan kemunduran negara disebabkan daya dan persekitaran politik yang membunuh perkembangan intelek kerana sifat takut dan gentar pemimpin yang sedang berkuasa yang merasakan kedudukan mereka mungkin tercabar. Pemikiran politik sedemikian amatlah destruktif.

Pimpinan yang stabil dan negara yang maju senantiasa memilih pendirian untuk mendampingi dan bekerjasama dengan ilmuan dan menyediakan persekitaran politik yang tidak memusuhi kumpulan ilmuan.

Semoga kebijaksanaan pemikiran Prof. Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas akan terus berkembang dan disuburkan. Semoga anak didik beliau akan berperanan secara berkesan menjadi duta ilmu menyebarkan pemikiran beliau. Dalam hubungan tersebut, inisiatif Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud dan Muhammad Zainiy Uthman serta Universiti Teknologi Malaysia adalah salah satu misi dan amanah yang amat murni dan perlu dipuji.

Ke mana pula tumpahnya kuah kalau tidak di pinggan nasi. Ungkapan tersebut khusus beta tujukan kepada Dr. Syed Ali Tawfik al-Attas, anakanda kepada Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas untuk terus menyalakan obor keluarga dalam kegiatan penulisan dan kehidupan. Dalam kapasiti beta memenuhi amanah sebagai Raja Muda Perak, sebagai Yang DiPertua Majlis Agama Islam dan Adat Melayu Perak, begitu juga sebagai Pro Canselor Universiti Malaya, selanjutnya sebagai seorang anak, suami dan ayah, esei-esei yang terkandung dalam koleksi buku ini sangat relevan untuk beta jadikan rujukan terutama dari segi memahami falsafah dan konsep berkaitan Islam, kesejahteraan, evolusi, adab, pengetahuan, dialog ketamadunan, pendidikan, institusi wakaf, kapitalisme dan dunia Melayu. Semoga apa jua ilmu yang beta timba akan dapat beta manfaatkan untuk kesejahteraan ummah. Dengan kalimah Bismillahirrahmani beta dengan sukacitanya melafazkan pengistiharan pelancaran Knowledge, Language, Thought and the Civilization of Islam: Essays in honour of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas.

Wabillahitaufiq wal hidayah…Wassalamu’alaikum wrt. wbt.

Sumber: Rausyanfikir.com

Setia

2010-02-26T13:19:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Setia itu menjaga
Setia itu membuat diri berharga
Setia itu mulia
Setia itu berpegang teguh pada kata jiwa

Dalam setia,
Menunggu menjadi indah
Mendampingi menjadi seni
Meski sendiri menjaga suci
Tapi, itu karena tingginya arti

Pohon Cinta

2010-02-26T13:14:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Saat cinta bersemi di dalam hati
Pohonnya sudah cukup matang
menarik diri

Akarnya menguat
Cabangnya besar menggeliat
Buahnya pun
mulai memberi manfaat

Cinta dan Cipta

2010-02-23T01:54:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Benarlah jika makhluk dicipta
    oleh Cinta
Ia-lah daya pencipta
Penyatu...
Pengharmoni...
Pengindah...
Pembaik...
Pelembut...
Penghalus...
Bahkan keburukan yang diletakkan Cinta,
   akan menjadi pelajaran berharga

Sungguhlah berbeda dengan benci
Ia-lah pemisah...
Penghancur...
Pengeras...
dan berbahaya
   jika menjadi atmosfer dominan rasa jiwa
Sebab,
Kebaikan yang dibenci
Hanya menjadi fiksi dan basi

Mata rahasia

2010-02-23T01:49:00.001+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Awan bergerak menyentuh gemunung
Dua gerak serupa
Bukan gerak mata binasa
Tapi gerak mata rahasia

Biru memantul ke dalam mata
Hijau ikut ditata lewat indera
Pandangan melampaui batas usia

Kuingat jua indahnya jiwa
Indah lipat ganda
Tiada bentuk
Hanya cahaya menjejak bayangnya
pada mutiara

Angin dan Kabar

2010-02-23T01:47:00.001+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Angin menggoyang helai teh
Lalu hadir mengelilingi tubuh
Kucoba mendengarnya
Mungkin ada kabar dari negri jiwa mutiara

Guilt

2010-02-23T01:46:00.000+07:00

by Khayrurrijal

Feel of guilt is a sign
that your heart still alive

Be grateful...
Be grateful...

Mutiara

2010-02-23T01:44:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Rahmat Tuhanmu, melebih amarahNya
Usah kau putus asa
Sambung asamu dengan asalmu

Mutiara, asalmu adalah lautan...
Bersinarlah, karna sejatimu mulia
Meski kau pernah berbuat dosa

Saksiku

2010-02-23T00:08:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Saksiku pada awan memerah
Gelap hadir mengisi daftar
Terang hari tinggalkan ruang

Despiritualization of Prophethood and Its link to Identity Crisis

2010-02-20T23:06:00.000+07:00

Transcript from Prof. Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas lecture on “The Religion of Islam”, ISTAC, 20th April 1998.

Now I want to talk lastly about what is called the “identity crisis” because this is something very important. I think the Muslim world is experiencing it, although maybe it does not see it yet and does not know its cause but this term “identity crisis” means one has lost one’s roots. One does not know any longer who one is. If we look at all societies we will find three generations: there is the very young, there is the middle age and then there is the old. You’ll find that everywhere. Now as far as Islam is concerned in the past, I mean to say, it is more so than now, although now also there still exists a lot of Muslims that follow the correct tradition but in the past there was no division between the adolescent, the middle age and the old. They all seemed to follow the same values, the values of the adolescent is the same as that of the middle age is the same as that of the old. Now why is that so? It is because of the Prophet, because he is an example to follow and as long as the Muslim follows him then there will be no gaps between these generations, there is no generation gap. But now, why are there generation gaps among the Muslims? This is because they no longer regard the Prophet as he ought to be regarded.

Now let us see what we mean by this generation gap. Again we take the West as an example, because they are the ones who talk about these things and who actually have these things all the time, even in the past; although maybe in some areas in the past there was no generation gap because they believed in certain permanent values and principles. When they attacked religion, secularization as a philosophical programme worked among them and this generation gap became more pronounced. Now every generation is looking for its identity. The young people know they are not following the values of their fathers (the middle age) because their fathers when they were young also were not following what their fathers had been saying. This is because when it comes to what is the truth, what is good, what is right, they tell the young: “Well, we don’t really know ourselves because we are seeking that too, and therefore you have to look it for yourselves, you must have freedom and that is why you have to believe in freedom to find out who you are, your identity. Now as regards the old, they have lost their identity, they cannot be an example.The reason is because this whole role of identity has to do with citizenship. If you say that your purpose is to be a good citizen, and we said government change, concepts change, therefore they don’t have an example to follow. They cannot have, and they cannot follow any of their leaders of the past as an example. You cannot make Socrates as an example; Aristotle, Plato also cannot be examples, for all times. Buddha also cannot be examples. Jesus of course cannot be examples, because he is half-God or God Himself and furthermore he does not marry so if you really want to follow his example as man then that is the end of Christianity. So none of them has a man like the Prophet in Islam as an example whom they can follow.

Now the Prophet is not just an example for little boys, girls, middle age, old men, men and women-he is an example for all. Which also means that we are looking at him not just physically as a man because he is also an example for women but also at the spiritual, the values and other things. Now there is no such human being in other civilizations because of that there must be this generation gap in these civilizations because they all want to find identity. If the identity is based on citizenship then the identity is based on usefulness to the state so the moment they are retired like the middle age group, they have lost their identity. As for the old they don’t like to talk so much about it because that reminds them of death. So in such a society, the old lose everything, they have lost their worthiness as a citizen, they are no longer working, and have become a kind of nuisance. They also remind the middle age of what they will be like later. The young also don’t want to be reminded of this.

This continual seeking of identity has now become worse because not only is there a generation gap, there is also a gap between a man and a woman because each one is also seeking their own identity. Women are seeking identity as women. So this is a chaotic state really. Now if the Muslims do not regard the Prophet in the correct way, they will be having this kind of problem too. Therefore the Prophet is the one who is actually keeping the structure of Muslim society as an ummah. Unfortunately the modernists have been despiritualizing the Prophet by making him an ordinary man like you and me. Of course he is a human being, nobody has worshipped the Prophet. That is why they keep on talking about the verse in the Qur’an carefully and look at all such verses that occur in the Qurāan: Innama ana basharun mithlukum and yet for example they don’t realize that if they study the Qurāan, other carefully and look at all such verses that occur in the Qurāan, other Prophets were also told to say the same thing. It is always directed to unbelievers, and the Prophet did that too, which means that you did not accept Islam, and the earlier Prophets did that too, which means that you can’t apply that verse to believers and yet they (the modernists) are applying that to us. So it is an incorrect application and the verse was revealed because the unbelievers were asking all kinds of irrational things from the Prophet. They asked why was God sending him as the Prophet, why not somebody else among them who was better than him, who was leader of the tribe? Or why not God Himself come? There is a verse in the Qurāan which Ibn Sina quoted: “Why does not He come in the canopy of clouds?”So because of that therefore what is meant there is that if an angel comes you will not understand the language of the angels, even angels when they come must appear in the form of man. Therefore a Prophet must be among human beings, therefore it is ana basharun. That is one point.

The second point is that this word bashar simply means a biological man, meaning flesh and blood like you. It is not the same as insan, it did not say ana insan mithlukum, it says ana basharun mithlukum but then the Prophet said: “I received the Revelation.” There is a very big difference here, that means what we are calling the perfect man is because he is man, there has been no report in Muslim history of people worshipping the Prophet although there have been reports of people worshipping ĂAli but not the Prophet because the kalimah shahadah already makes it impossible for the Prophet to be worshipped. So why is it that the modernists are throwing the verse at us? We are not unbelievers. It is they who don’t realize this. Why must you make the Prophet the same as everybody? They said it is because the Prophet himself said so. Yes, but the Prophet also said: “I received the Revelation.” That means he is not just like you and me, because in receiving the revelations he must have had some psychological or spiritual changes occurring in him as he is notbashar, he is also insan. And what’s wrong with that? Because the idea is that you don’t worship the Prophet, like the Christians with Jesus, but the Muslims have never done that in the first place. And therefore this reason is no good. One of the scholars whom I met in Ohio (in 1980) was saying: “Yes, before I used to think of him as a super man, now I think of him as just an ordinary man like you and me.” So you are just like the jahiliah to whom the Prophet was addressing all these things.

Husein Haykal, the author of The Life of Muhammad (the title of the English translation from the original Arabic-Hayat Muhammad), makes the Prophet as if he is just an ordinary man and he makes the experience of wahy very much the same as what Ibn Arabi was talking about fana and the sufis. How can you say that? The sufis themselves never said this, on the other hand they say their experience is nothing compared to the Prophet, and yet Haykal puts the Prophet down to the level of the sufis, the wahdatul wujud. Even the original Arabic title of the book, Hayat Muhammad, is something that nobody in the past has given to such a biography. They would say Sirat ul-Nabi, not Hayat, nobody in the past has written that. Sirat, because they know that it is a biography while hayat is a biological life. You can’t talk about the Prophet’s biological life as bashar, as it were, because there are things that are not really physical, for example how are you going to explain the angels? How are you going to explain the angel giving him the Revelation? This is not something happened to the hayat of Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great or Gamal Abdul Nasser, and yet he equated the Prophet in that way.

To my mind, this is how the Muslims gradually get the generation gap. When the ahl hadithbegan to quibble a little bit about the ahadith, gradually and finally people now say they had better go back to Qurāan, not the Hadith. So this role of the Prophet as the consolidator and unifier of the Muslim ummah is gradually destroyed. As result he is no longer the example, and therefore you begin to seek identity. Even our leaders very seldom praise the Prophet. They will of course say Allahu Taala in their speeches but very seldom I hear them saying Prophet Muhammad. I think this is one of the causes regarding the role of the Prophet in Muslim society so far as preventing the generation gap is concerned because if he is really taken as an example of what he says then whatever is taught to the young is also the same with the middle age, the same with the old age, the same with men, and the same with women. Then there will be generation gap. But it is not the case now. The young people argue and say: “Well, that’s what you think.” We have seen that following what is in the West as portrayed on television. They say, I have my own life, it’s my own life. Some women are even saying: “Yes, it’s my body and I just can’t allow it to anyone and therefore I have the right to have children or not.” Already they are making cases in Australia and other countries of the West.

sumber: rausyanfikir.com

Insan Kemuliaan

2010-02-20T22:51:00.000+07:00

Oleh Khayrurrijal

Jika nafsu terlepas dari rantai kemuliaan
Merusak seluruh isi rumah insan
Gelap gulita gantikan terang
Badai menyapu kesadaran
lalu lemparkan diri ke lautan

Tenggelam harapan insan
Paus legendaris pun menelan
Terasa pengasingan dan penolakan

Ada secercah harap menyeruak
Memantulkan bayang pintu keluar
Udara pun memenuhi rongga dada

Hati bersambut lisan, berucap:
"Maaf..."
Wajah tertunduk bersaputkan mata air

Ku tunggu kalimat baik dari Tuhan
Dan janji untuk diantarkan ke tepian

Berenang dan tenggelam bergantian
Tapi tak boleh putus harapan
kejadian mesti dilengkapi dengan perbaikan

Ku mohon perkenanMu, Tuhan
Menjadi insan kemuliaan

Punya dan Hilang

2010-02-20T22:29:00.002+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

aku punya
aku juga tidak punya

aku kehilangan
aku sendiri hilang

coba tempatkannya pada sejati makna
niscaya kau bahagia

Jiwa

2010-02-20T22:23:00.003+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

jiwa tiada be-ruang
ia hanya tinggalkan jejak
Tapi penjejak tiada tercerap

ruang ada karena jiwa
ruang ada karena Tuhan Mencipta dunia

ruang itu tiada
ruang itu ada
tapi beda nyata

Jiwa memang dicipta
Meski abadi-Nya menemaninya

Jiwa sungguh luas
hingga semesta tak semesti batasnya

pahamilah wahai jiwa
sungguh jiwa ada di dalam rahasia-Nya

Hujan

2010-02-20T22:16:00.003+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

hujan...
turun bawa kebaikan
bagi mereka yang berhusnudzan

hujan...
turun bawa kebaikan
bagi mereka yang meminta perlindungan

hujan...
hadir di kesadaran insan
hanya sebagai kendaraan
untuk melakukan renungan

Terasing

2010-02-17T14:42:00.000+07:00

oleh Khayrurrijal

Benda-benda merupakan realitas inderawi yang terpampang di hadapan raga. Entitas tersebut begitu membanjiri kesadaran, hingga terbentuklah kumpulan kesan-kesan. Dalam istilah John Locke, terdapat kesan inderawi primer dan sekunder.

Sejak lahir dan mungkin hingga remaja, manusia mencerap alam benda sedemikian banyak. Memang, ada sesuatu yang tidak bersifat inderawi yang juga dicerap, misalnya, afeksi orangtua. Akan tetapi, tetap pencerapan dominan adalah terhadap alam benda.

Sentuhan manusia pada alam benda, membuahkan nilai baru. Alam benda mulai disusupi fungsi-fungsi yang sesuai dengan kebutuhan manusia. Ini tidak aneh, dan cukup wajar. Misalnya, bambu atau atau dahan sebuah pohon yang patah dapat digunakan oleh manusia menjadi alat berburu. Bambu menjadi alat berburu disebabkan modifikasi tangan manusia pada alam benda. Dan ini terjadi terus menerus, bahkan hingga hari ini.

Hanya saja, ada perubahan di masa yang bisa disebut dengan istilah Baudrillard sebagai Simulacra dan Simulacrum. Sentuhan fungsi kepada alam benda kemudian ditambah dengan sentuhan citra. Benda-benda ciptaan manusia itu tentunya berbeda kualitas satu sama lain. Ada produk yang berkualitas tinggi dan berkualitas rendah. Gradasi kualitas ini bersifat wajar. Lalu, kesan kualitas ini ditambah dengan para pengguna alam benda yang juga berkualitas. Coba bayangkan sebuah jam tangan yang berkualitas tinggi digunakan oleh seorang presiden atau tokoh terkemuka. Kualitas barang ditambah dengan kualitas pengguna inilah yang ditampilkan di dalam iklan-iklan. Bukankah ini memikat kebutuhan fungsi? Tentu saja. Akan tetapi, hal ini juga memikat kebutuhan lain dari manusia, yaitu harga diri (dignity).

Harga diri manusia tentu adalah persoalan penting dari kehidupan manusia. Humanisme, antroposentrisme, Deisme, Sosialisme, Kapitalisme, dan pelbagai pandangan lain sangat kental nuansa harga diri. Coba lihat bagaimana persoalan Human Rights (Hak Manusia), yang dibuat menjadi Universal Declaration of Human Rights, begitu mengglobal dan dapat digunakan untuk menggebuk sebuah entitas, termasuk negara, jika terjadi pelanggaran terhadap harga diri manusia.

Lalu bagaimana hubungan antara harga diri dengan alam benda?

Sebagaimana sudah disampaikan di atas, manusia telah "menyentuh" alam benda dengan kemanusiaan. Itulah salah satu sebab mengapa alam benda dan manusia memiliki hubungan erat. Pada sebuah tingkatan dapat dikatakan dengan istilah Horcrux dalam film Harry Potter 6, manusia menyelipkan jiwanya di dalam alam benda. Bukankah para penulis, perancang busana, dan lain-lain menyelipkan gagasannya ke dalam karya mereka. Karya telah menjadi simbol.

Lalu apakah ada masalah dengan hal ini?

Satu masalah penting, kembali, adalah harga diri manusia. Manusia ingin menghadirkan 'harga diri'nya dengan alam benda, misalnya pakaian. Mereka ingin terlihat cantik, sehingga kecantikan hadir di dalam benak. Ada banyak contoh yang dapat dicari oleh masing-masing dari kita. Tetapi, semuanya tetap berkisar di persoalan harga diri.

Ketika kita berbicara tentang ini, persoalan fungsi barang tidak menjadi persoalan utama. Harga diri lah yang dibidik oleh para produsen barang-barang dan jasa. Inilah target utama itu. Hal ini juga mampu menjelaskan mengapa masyarakat konsumerisme begitu ingin memiliki sebuah barang. Sebab, memiliki sebuah barang berari memiliki dirinya sendiri. Bukankah begitu?

Ini adalah sebuah problem. Bahkan Barat banyak sekali menghadirkan problem ini dalam bentuk film seperti The Confession of a Shopaholic. Film tersebut bercerita tentang bagaimana berbelanja menjadi sesuatu yang bercandu. Belanja tidak lagi untuk mendapatkan fungsi fisik suatu barang, tetapi fungsi mental. Maka, untuk menyelesaikan persoalan ini secara mendasar sebenarnya tidak terletak pada pengubahan orientasi manusia untuk melihat kembali kebutuhan mereka terhadap suatu barang. Sekali lagi bukan begitu. Persoalan hubungan alam benda dan manusia sesunguhnya terletak di dalam pengetahuan manusia. Cara penyelesaiannya adalah kita harus kembali kepada bagaimana manusia menilai harga diri mereka.

Definisi Harga Diri Manusia

Kebanyakan manusia zaman ini yang terpengaruh Barat, memahami harga diri lewat perumusan hak manusia (human rights). Mengenai kebebasan, kebahagiaan, keadilan, berpikir, mereka banyak terpengaruh dengan humanisme Barat. Pertanyaan yang dapat diajukan kepada konsep-konsep tersebut adalah: Apakah definisi Barat tentang harga diri manusia itu adalah sesuatu yang sejati?

Kesejatian yang dimaksudkan tentu berkisar pada kebahagiaan. Sebuah kebahagiaan yang dapat diwujudkan di dalam kehidupan secara permanen. Sebab, tentu saja manusia ingin terus menerus bahagia. Hanya saja, Barat tidak mengakui itu. Para Profesor Barat sangat banyak yang mengafirmasi sisi temporer dari kebahagiaan, mungkin layaknya lapar dan dahaga. Bahagia juga didefinisikan dengan pencapaian pilihan sukarela manusia. Dan dalam ranah pilihan, sebagaimana diafirmasi oleh Psikologi Humanis, tidak ada benar dan salah. Ketika manusia sudah memilih sesuatu karena kehendaknya sendiri, maka ya dipersilakan saja. Pilihan itulah yang akan mengantarkannya kepada kebahagiaan, tentu hanya ada yang temporal.

Kesejatian yang telah dipisahkan, secara lembut atau kasar, ternyata menghasilkan problem besar. Kebenaran tentang jati diri manusia, tak ayal lagi, sangat terkait dengan ke-sejati-an kebahagiaan manusia.

Sebab, jati diri lah yang bisa mendapatkan jati bahagia, dan ini bisa digunakan untuk menyebut hal-hal lainnya. Untuk mendapatkan yang se-jati, maka kenali dulu yang se-jati. Akan tetapi, Barat memang telah mengakui kesulitan yang amat sangat tentang jati diri manusia. Putus asa nampak menyelimuti jiwa mereka. Ragu, gelisah, dan hanya melihat perubahan di segala bidang, maka mereka mengafirmasi bahwa perubahan adalah satu-satunya yang se-jati.

Jati diri manusia tidak dapat diketahui. Wajarlah jika penjelasan eksistensialisme perihal manusia menjadi begitu laris. Afirmasi Barat mengenai ketidakpastian, penderitaan, cemas, kutukan kebebasan, menjadi karakter (topeng) yang dipakai oleh manusia Barat.

Benarkah kehidupan manusia adalah sebagaimana didefinisikan Barat?

Terasing

Jati diri tidak ditemukan Barat. Manusia yang rasanya mengenal dirinya, ternyata tidak pernah dapat mengenal dirinya secara sejati. Ironis dan tragedis, mungkin menjadi ungkapan yang tepat untuk menggambarkan kondisi tersebut. Dengan kondisi ini, meskipun manusia fokus terhadap fungsi sebuah barang - yang dikatakan sebagai solusi terhadap konsumerisme - maka ia tetap saja terasing dari dirinya sendiri. Manusia seperti sedang berkaca tetapi tidak jua menemukan dirinya. Akhirnya, ia berusaha mati-matian hingga sekarat untuk menolak ingatan kegagalan penemuan dirinya.

Alienasi manusia, sejatinya bukan seperti dikatakan Marx, dari barang produksi; bukan pula an sich mewujudkan pilihan sukarela. Manusia sangat merasa keberadaan sesuatu yang sejati. Akan tetapi, apakah sama cara mengetahui sesuatu yang sejati dan mengetahui yang tidak sejati? Bukankah kegagalan epistemologis Barat telah menunjukkan ada cara yang berbeda untuk mengetahui yang sejati?

Kegagalan Barat bukan berarti bahwa tidak ada yang sejati. Trauma Barat terhadap bible pun tidak seharusnya menjadi ukuran penilaian epistemologis terhadap yang lain. Mengapa mesti begitu sinis terhadap Berita dari Bukan Manusia?

Berita adalah sesuatu yang jika hendak ditolak haruslah ditemukan Berita lain yang menegasinya, bukan kemudian hanya dikampanyekan untuk ragu disebabkan sinisme. Pernyataan Marx tentang agama sebagai candu pun hendaknya dievaluasi ke-lokal-annya. Itu bukan sesuatu yang serta-merta global. Itu menjadi global karena Barat masuk lewat globalisasi. Globalisasi tidak sama dengan kesejatian sesuatu yang memang global. Sebab, sesuatu yang tidak global awalnya, dapat menjadi global disebabkan oleh globalisasi.

Husserl gagal mengenali diri. Ia seperti berkata, "Diri selalu menjadi subjek, saat berusaha diobjektivikasi." Diri menjadi sesuatu yang tidak dapat dijadikan objek, bahkan oleh pikiran. Lantas, apakah modus mengetahui objek di luar diri, keukeuh, untuk tetap digunakan untuk mengetahui sang subjek?

Bukankah ada Berita-Berita non-manusiawi yang dibuang oleh manusia-manusia yang mengklaim dapat mengetahui segala sesuatu lewat indera dan rasio? Mengapa Berita (Wahyu Tuhan) itu tidak dijadikan salah satu pertimbangan, bahkan pertimbangan utama, setelah semua kegagalan yang ada? Berita itu tidak menempati tempat yang sama. Ada yang dibuat manusia, terdistorsi sebagaimana diakui mereka sendiri. Tetapi, ada juga yang tidak seperti itu. Hentikan menilai melulu apa Wahyu Tuhan dengan apa yang Barat temukan!

Yang sejati mengetahui Yang Sejati lewat Berita Sejati untuk mendapatkan Kesejatian.

Wallahu'alam

1

2010-02-16T00:22:00.002+07:00

by khayrurrijal

1......?
why did you
not try to be zero (0)?
so....0
....0.....
0.......

Tuhan

2010-02-16T00:19:00.002+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

menyebut-Nya dengan sebutan-Nya kepada diri-Nya sendiri
Alloh adalah nama teragung yang menyelimuti seluruh medan semantik nama2-Nya.

manusia tidak pernah dapat menemukan Tuhan. Ia yang menemukan manusia.

ketika kau sudah dimudahkan, jangan minta dipersulit
tidak ada jaminan dalam pencarian kau akan ditemui-Nya
nama itu benar karena Dialah yang paling tahu tentang diri-Nya.

kalau pun kata 'Tuhan' digunakan, maka itu dimaksudkan sebagai sebuah usaha mengikatnya masuk ke dalam medan semantik 'Allah' dan didefinisikan dengan 'Allah'...

yang berlari itu bukan diri-Nya. tapi, rahmat-Nya. sebab, ruang dan waktu adalah ciptaan-Nya

Doubt and misery

2010-02-16T00:07:00.001+07:00

by khayrurrijal

Doubt is misery
western saw life as tragedy
and now they are making all creatures
become worry
although tragedy only they westernized
that could see

Doubt is misery
it is not a true glory to the truth and reality
it is only a tragedy that made people unhappy

Cinta, rasa, satu

2010-02-16T00:04:00.000+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

Ketika kita bersatu
kekuatan kita satu
kelemahan kita terlengkapi
rasaku rasamu
pikirku pikirmu
karna cinta
membuat kita lepas dari ruang dan waktu

Rasa ini deras mengalir
Dada pun rasa penuh
kata, nada, isyarat raga,
menjadi perantara
tapi, itu baru jejaknya
penjejaknya sendiri tiada terkatakan
bahkan, ia turut juga mencipta kata

Jujur

2010-02-15T23:44:00.001+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

kata-kata baik dan jujur...
jujur pada diri
tak perlu takut
tak perlu bimbang
kenali saja apa yang ada di hadapan

cinta oh cinta

2010-02-13T14:48:00.004+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

perlakukan Cinta dengan cinta

tiap lantai ada cinta
hanya ada beda nyata

habiskan waktu di tiap lantai cinta, secukupnya
hingga tiada waktu yang menyertai...

Masa lalu

2010-02-13T14:20:00.002+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

masa lalu bisa saja di caci
masa lalu bisa juga di puji
tapi, lebih baik mana, caci atau puji?

jika caci yang kau ingini
maka muntahkan semua sumpah serapahmu
lalu tinggalkan semua sampahmu itu

jika puji yang kau ingini
maka lihatlah dengan hati
pelajaran dari Ilahi

Mulia dan Tangga

2010-02-13T14:10:00.003+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

sama dan beda....
beda pada mulia
mulia pada takwa
sama dan beda hadir di Mata Sang Raja
sama dan beda hadirkan tangga

jikapun kau sudra, maka kau dapat mulia
naikilah tangga
jikapun kau brahmana, maka kau dapat terhina
jatuh dari tangga

untuk naik dan turun tangga
kau harus berusaha
kriteria yang sama membuat ke-lebihbaik-an itu menjadi ada

mata-mata sejati manusia kan memandang beda dan sama
sebab, emas dan besi, adalah sama dan juga beda...

KANT DAN TRANCENDENTAL LOGIC

2010-02-10T09:09:00.000+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

Dari Critique of Pure Reason, dapat diambil beberapa pernyataan dari Kant, yaitu:
“In what follows, therefore, we shall understand by a priori knowledge not knowledge independent of this or that experience, but knowledge absolutely independent of all experience.”

Di sini Kant berusaha berbicara tentang pengetahuan yang mengatasi, secara absolut, seluruh pengalaman. A priori yang ia maksud adalah apa yang diambil secara tidak langsung dari pengalaman, dalam artian kita meminjamnya dari pengalaman. Namun, terdapat kekaburan dalam tulisannya ini, ketika ia menambahkan bahwa terdapat sebagian konsep yang diturunkan dari pengalaman (baca:alterasi). Lalu bagaimana dengan ke-independen-an pengetahuan a priori dari seluruh pengalaman? Dan lebih lanjut, apakah seluruh konsep atau kategori yang terdapat dalam diri manusia lepas dari pengalaman, padahal kita dikatakan meminjamnya dari pengalaman?

Kemudian Kant ingin pula mencari sebuah aturan yang pantas untuk menjadi ‘prinsip pertama’ yang tentunya tidak kontingen dan empiris, dengan pernyataannya:

“For how could experience get its certainty if all rules whereby it proceeds were always and therefore contingent? Such rules could hardly be regarded as first principles....”

Kekaburan lain, saya temukan, ketika Kant berbicara tentang dua kondisi yang memungkinkan pengetahuan tentang sebuah objek. ia menyebutkan dua kondisi, yaitu:

“There are only two conditions under which the knowledge of an object is possible, first intuition, through which is given, though only as appearance; and second, the concept (corresponding to this intuition) through which an object is thought.”

“Intuition and concepts constitute, therefore, the elements of all our knowledge, so that neither concepts without intuition insome way corresponding to them, nor intuitions without concepts, can yield knowledge. Both may be either pure or empirical. When they contain sensation (which presupposes the actual presence of the object) they are empirical. When there is no mingling of sensation with the representation, they are pure.”
Akan tetapi, intuisi yang sebelumnya dikatakan dapat berbentuk “murni” dan “empiris” kemudian disempitkan lagi, bahwa intuisi kita secara alami selalu sensible, dengan mengatakan:

“if the receptivity of our mind, its power of receiving representations in so far as it is any way affected, is to be called ‘sensibility’, then the mind’s power of producing representation from itself, the spontaneity of knowledge, should be called ‘understanding’.

“Our nature is so contituted that our intuitions can never be other than sensible.”

Hal ini membuat saya tidak melihat dengan jelas apa yang dimaksud dengan olehnya dengan intuisi dan “kemurnian” dan “ke-empiris-an”nya. “empiris” jika mengandung sensasi. Tetapi, intuisi secara alami selalu sensible. Jika dibuat pertanyaan: Bukankah intuisi yang sensible tersebut terkait dengan “ke-empiris-an”, sehingga tidak ada intuisi yang murni?

The meaning and concept of philosophy in Islam

2010-02-10T04:16:00.001+07:00

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

In the light of the Qur'an and Hadith in both of which the term hikmah has been used,¹ Muslim authorities belonging to different schools of thought have sought over the ages to define the meaning of hikmah as well as falsafah, a term which entered Arabic through the Greek translations of the second/eighth and third/ninth centuries. On the one hand what is called philosophy in English must be sought in the context of Islamic civilization not only in the various schools of Islamic philosophy but also in schools bearing other names, especially kalam, ma`rifah, usul al-fiqh as well as the awa'il sciences, not to speak of such subjects as grammar and history which developed particular branches of philosophy. On the other hand each school of thought sought to define what is meant by hikmah or falsafah according to its own perspective and this question has remained an important concern of various schools of Islamic thought especially as far as the schools of Islamic philosophy are concerned.

During Islamic history, the terms used for Islamic philosophy as well as the debates between the philosophers, the theologians and sometimes the Sufis as to the meaning of these terms varied to some extent from one period to another but not completely. Hikmah and falsafah continued to be used while such terms as al-hikmat al-ilahiyyah and alhikmat al-muta`aliyah gained new meaning and usage in later centuries of Islamic history, especially in the school of Mulla Sadra. The term over which there was the greatest debate was hikmah, which was claimed by the Sufis and mutakallimun as well as the philosophers, all appealing to such Hadith as "The acquisition of hikmah is incumbent upon you and the good resides in hikmah."² Some Sufis such as Tirmidhi were called hakim and Ibn Arabi refers to the wisdom which has been unveiled through each manifestation of the logos as hikmah as seen in the very title of his masterpiece Fusus al-hikam,³ while many mutakallimun such as Fakhr al-Din al-Razi claimed that kalam and not falsafah was hikmah,⁴ Ibn Khaldun confirming this view in calling the later kalam (kalam al-muta'akhkhirin) philosophy or hikmah.⁵

Our discussion in this chapter is concerned, however, primarily with the Islamic philosophers’ understanding of the definition and meaning of the concept of philosophy and the terms hikmah and falsafah.⁶ This understanding includes of course what the Greeks had comprehended by the term philosophia and many of the definitions from Greek sources which were to find their way into Arabic sometimes with only slight modifications. Some of the definitions of Greek origin most common among Islamic philosophers are as follows:⁷

1 Philosophy (al falsafah) is the knowledge of all existing things qua existents (ashya' al-maujudah bi ma hiya maujudah).⁸

2 Philosophy is knowledge of divine and human matters.

3 Philosophy is taking refuge in death, that is, love of death.

4 Philosophy is becoming God-like to the extent of human ability.

5 It [philosophy] is the art (sind'ah) of arts and the science (ilm) of sciences.

6 Philosophy is predilection for hikmah.

The Islamic philosophers meditated upon these definitions of falsafah which they inherited from ancient sources and which they identified with the Qur'anic term hikmah believing the origin of hikmah to be divine. The first of the Islamic philosophers, Abu Ya`qub al-Kindi wrote in his On First Philosophy, “Philosophy is the knowledge of the reality of things within people's possibility, because the philosopher's end in theoretical knowledge is to gain truth and in practical knowledge to behave in accordance with truth.”⁹ Al-Farabi, while accepting this definition, added the distinction between philosophy based on certainty (al-yaqiniyyah) hence demonstration and philosophy based on opinion (al-maznunah),¹⁰ hence dialectic and sophistry, and insisted that philosophy was the mother of the sciences and dealt with everything that exists.¹¹

Ibn Sina again accepted these earlier definitions while making certain precisions of his own. In his `Uyun al-hikmah he says “Al-hikmah [which he uses as being the same as philosophy] is the perfection of the human soul through conceptualization [tasawwur] of things and judgment [tasdiq] of theoretical and practical realities to the measure of human ability."¹² But, he went further in later life to distinguish between Peripatetic philosophy and what he called "Oriental philosophy" (al-hikmat almashriqi’yah) which was not based on ratiocination alone but included realized knowledge and which set the stage for the hikmat al-ishraq of Suhrawardi.¹³ Ibn Sina’s foremost student Bahmanyar meanwhile identified falsafah closely with the study of existents as Ibn Sina had done in his Peripatetic works such as the Shifa’ repeating the Aristotelian dictum that philosophy is the study of existents qua existents. Bahmanyar wrote in the introduction to his Tahlil, "The aim of the philosophical sciences is knowledge of existents." ¹⁴

Isma'ili and Hermetico-Pythagorean thought, which paralleled in development the better-known Peripatetic philosophy but with a different philosophical perspective, nevertheless gave definitions of philosophy not far removed from those of the Peripatetics, emphasizing perhaps even more the relation between the theoretical aspect of philosophy and its practical dimension, between thinking philosophically and leading a virtuous life. This nexus, which is to be seen in all schools of earlier Islamic philosophy, became even more evident from Suhrawardi onward and the hakim came to be seen throughout Islamic society not as someone who could only discuss mental concepts in a clever manner but as one who also lived according to the wisdom which he knew theoretically. The modern Western idea of the philosopher never developed in the Islamic world and the ideal stated by the Ikhwan al-Safa' who lived in the fourth/ tenth century and who were contemporary with Ibn Sina was to echo ever more loudly over the ages wherever Islamic philosophy was cultivated. The Ikhwan wrote, "The beginning of philosophy (falsafah) is the love of the sciences, its middle knowledge of the realities of existents to the measure of human ability and its end words and deeds in accordance with knowledge."¹⁵

With Suhrawardi we enter not only a new period but also another realm of Islamic philosophy. The founder of a new intellectual perspective in Islam, Suhrawardi used the term hikmat al-ishraq rather than falsafat al-ishraq for both the title of his philosophical masterpiece and the school which he inaugurated. The ardent student of Suhrawardi and the translator of Hikmat al-ishraq into French, Henry Corbin, employed the term theosophie rather than philosophy to translate into French the term hikmah as understood by Suhrawardi and later sages such as Mulla Sadra, and we have also rendered al-hikmat al-muta aliyah of Mulla Sadra into English as "transcendent theosophy"t⁶ and have sympathy for Corbin's translation of the term. There is of course the partly justified argument that in recent times the term "theosophy" has gained pejorative connotations in European languages, especially English, and has become associated with occultism and pseudo-esoterism. And yet the term philosophy also suffers from limitations imposed upon it by those who have practised it during the past few centuries. If Hobbes, Hume and Ayer are philosophers, then those whom Suhrawardi calls hukama' are not philosophers and vice versa. The narrowing of the meaning of philosophy, the divorce between philosophy and spiritual practice in the West and especially the reduction of philosophy to either rationalism or .empiricism necessitate making a distinction between the meaning given to hikmah by a Suhrawardi or Mulla Sadra and the purely mental activity called philosophy in certain circles in^* the West today. The use of the term theosophy to render this later understanding of the term hikmah is based on the older and time-honoured meaning of this term in European intellectual history as associated with such figures as Jakob Bohme and not as the term became used in the late thirteenth/nineteenth century by some British occultists. Be that as it may, it is important to emphasize the understanding that Suhrawardi and all later Islamic philosophers have of hikmah as primarily al-hikmat al-ildhiyyah (literally divine wisdom or theosophia) which must be realized within one's whole being and not only mentally. Suhrawardi saw this hikmah as being present also in ancient Greece before the advent of Aristotelian rationalism and identifies hikmah with coming out of one's body and ascending to the world of lights, as did Plato.¹⁷ Similar ideas are to be found throughout his works, and he insisted that the highest level of hikmah requires both the perfection of the theoretical faculty and the purification of the soul.'⁸

With Mulla Sadra, one finds not only a synthesis of various earlier schools of Islamic thought but also a synthesis of the earlier views concerning the meaning of the term and concept philosophy. At the beginning of the Asfar he writes, repeating verbatim and summarizing some of the earlier definitions, "falsafah is the perfecting of the human soul to the extent of human ability through the knowledge of the essential reality of things as they are in themselves and through judgment concerning their existence established upon demonstration and not derived from opinion or through imitation". ¹⁹And in al-Shawdhid al-rububiyyah he adds, "[through bikmah] man becomes an intelligible world resembling the objective world and similar to the order of universal existence" 2°

In the first book of the Air dealing with being, Mulla Sadra discusses extensively the various definitions of hikmah, emphasizing not only theoretical knowledge and "becoming an intelligible world reflecting the objective intelligible world" but also detachment from passions and purification of the soul from its material defilements or what the Islamic philosophers call tajarrud or catharsis.²¹ Mull! Sadra accepts the meaning of hikmah as understood by Suhrawardi and then expands the meaning of falsafah to include the dimension of illumination and realization implied by the ishrdgi and also Sufi understanding of the term. For him as for his contemporaries, as well as most of his successors, falsafah or philosophy was seen as the supreme science of ultimately divine origin, derived from "the niche of prophecy" and the hukama' as the most perfect of human beings standing in rank only below the prophets and Imams.²²

This conception of philosophy as dealing with the discovering of the truth concerning the nature of things and combining mental knowledge with the purification and perfection of one's being has lasted to this day wherever the tradition of Islamic philosophy has continued and is in fact embodied in the very being of the most eminent representatives of the Islamic philosophical tradition to this day. Such fourteenth/twentiethcentury masters as Mirth Ahmad Ashtiyani, the author of Ndmayi rahbardn-i dmuzish-i kitdb-i takwin ("Treatise of the Guides to the Teaching of the Book of Creation"); Sayyid Muhammad Kazim `Ansar, author of many treatises including Wahdat al-wujud ("The Transcendent Unity of Being"); Mahdi Ilahi Qumsha'i, author of Hikmat-i ildhi khwdss wa amm ("Philosophy/Theosophy - General and Particular") and Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i, author of numerous treatises especially Usul--i falsafa -yi ri dlixm ("Principles of the Philosophy of Realism") all wrote of the definition of philosophy along lines mentioned above and lived accordingly. Both their works and their lives were testimony not only to over a millennium of concern by Islamic philosophers as to the meaning of the concept and the term philosophy but also to the significance of the Islamic definition of philosophy as that reality which transforms both the mind and the soul and which is ultimately never separated from spiritual purity and ultimately sanctity that the very term hikmah implies in the Islamic context.

NOTES

1 For the use of hikmah in the Qur'an and Hadith see S. H. Nasr, "The Qur'an and ,Hadith as Source and Inspiration of Islamic Philosophy", Chapter 2 below.

2 Alayka bilhikmah fa inna'l--khayr f 1-hikmah.

3 See Muhyi al-Din Ibn Arabi, The Wisdom of the Prophets, trans. T. Burckhardt, trans. from French A. Culme-Seymour (Salisbury, 1975), pp. 1-3 of Burckhardt's introduction; and M. Chodkiewicz, Seal of the Saints - Prophethood and Sainthood in the Doctrine of Ibn Arabi, trans. S. L. Sherrard (Cambridge, 1993): 47-8.

4 See S. H. Nasr, "Fakhr al-Din Razi", in M. M. Sharif (ed.), A History of Muslim Philosophy, 1 (Wiesbaden, 1963): 645-8.

5 'Abd al-Razzaq Lahiji, the eleventh/seventeenth-century student of Mulla Sadra who was however more of a theologian than a philosopher, writes in his kalami text Gawhar-murdd, "Since it has become known that in acquiring the divine sciences and other intellectual matters the intellect has complete independence, and does not need to rely in these matters upon the Shari `ah and the proof of certain principles concerning the essence of beings in such a way as to be in accord with the objective world through intellectual demonstrations and reasoning ... the path of the hukamd, the science acquired through this means is called in the vocabulary of scholars hikmah. And of necessity it will be in accord with the true Shari `ah for the truth of the Shari`ah is realized objectively through intellectual demonstration" (Gawhar-murad (Tehran, 1377): 17-18). Although speaking as a theologian, Lahiji is admitting in this text that hikmab should be used for the intellectual activity of the philosophers and not the mutakallimun, demonstrating the shift in position in the understanding of this term since the time of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi. There is considerable secondary material on this subject in Arabic as well as in European languages. See Abd al-Halim Maimed, al- Tafkir al fahaft f:l islAm (Cairo, 1964): 163-71; Mustafa Abd al-Raziq, Tamhid li-ta'rikh al falsafat alislamiyyah (Cairo, 1959), chapter 3: 48ff.; G. C. Anawati, "Philosophie medievale en terre d'Islam", Melanges de l'Institut Dominicain d'Etudes Orientales du Caire, 5 (1958): 175-236; and S. H. Nasr, "The Meaning and Role of 'Philosophy' in Islam", Studia Islamica, 37 (1973): 57-80.

7. See Christel Hein, Definition and Einleitung der Philosophie - Von der spdtantiken Einleitungsliteratur zur arabischen Enzyklopddie (Bern and New York, 1985): 86.

8 This is repeated with only a small alteration by al-Farabi in his al Jam' bayn ra ay al-hakimayn. According to Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah, al-Farabi even wrote a treatise entitled Concerning the Word Philosophy' (Kalam fr ism al falsafah) although some have doubted that this was an independent work.

9. See S. Strouma, AlFarabi and Maimonides on the Christian Philosophical Tradition", Der Islam, 68(2) (1991): 264; and Aristoteles - Werk and Wirkung, 2, ed. J. Weisner (Berlin, 1987). Quoted in Ahmed Fouad El-Ehwany, "Al-Kindi", in M. M. Sharif (ed.), A History of Muslim Philosophy, 1 (1963): 424.

10 Kitab al-Huruf, ed. M. Mahdi (Beirut, 1969): 153-7.

11 KitAb jam' bayn ra ay al-hakimayn (Hyderabad, 1968): 36-7.

12 Fontes sapientiae (Uyun al-bikmah), ed. Abdurrahman Badawi (Cairo, 1954):16.

13 On Ibn Sina's "Oriental philosophy" see Chapter 17 below.

14 Kitab al-Ta{xil ed. M. Mutahhari (Tehran, 1970): 3.

15 Rasail 1 (Cairo, 1928): 23.

16 See S. H. Nasr, The Transcendent Theosophy of Sadr al-Din Shirdzi (Tehran, 1977).

17 See his Tawihdi, in H. Corbin (ed.) Oeuvres philosophiques et mystiques, 1 (Tehran, 1976): 112-13.

18 See S. H. Nasr, Three Muslim Sages (Delmar, 1975): 63-4.

19 Al Asfar al-arba ah, ed. Allamah Tabataba i (Tehran, 1967): 20.

20 Mulla Sadra, al-ShawAhid al-rububiyyah, ed. S. J. Ashtiyani (Mashhad, 1967).

21 See the Introduction of the Asfar.

22 Muhammad Khwajawi, Lawami' al-arifrn (Tehran, 1987): 18ff., where many quotations from the different works of Mulla Sadra on the relation between authentic hikmah and revelation and the spiritual power and sanctity of the Imams (waldyah) are cited.

sumber: www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/nasr-ip1.htm

The Qur'an and Hadith as source and inspiration of Islamic philosophy

2010-02-10T04:12:00.002+07:00

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Viewed from the point of view of the Western intellectual tradition, Islamic philosophy appears as simply Graeco-Alexandrian philosophy in Arabic dress, a philosophy whose sole role was to transmit certain important elements of the heritage of antiquity to the medieval West. If seen, however, from its own perspective and in the light of the whole of the Islamic philosophical tradition which has had a twelve-century-long continuous history and is still alive today, it becomes abundantly clear that Islamic philosophy, like everything else Islamic, is deeply rooted in the Qur'an and Hadith. Islamic philosophy is Islamic not only by virtue of the fact that it was cultivated in the Islamic world and by Muslims but because it derives its principles, inspiration and many of the questions with which it has been concerned from the sources of Islamic revelation despite the claims of its opponents to the contrary.'

All Islamic philosophers from al-Kindi to those of our own day such as 'Allamah Tabatabai have lived and breathed in a universe dominated by the reality of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet of Islam. Nearly all of them have lived according to Islamic Law or the Shari ah and have prayed in the direction of Makkah every day of their adult life. The most famous among them, such as Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes), were conscious in asserting their active attachment to Islam and reacted strongly to any attacks against their faith without their being simply fideists. Ibn Sina would go to a mosque and pray when confronted with a difficult Problem,' and Ibn Rushd was the chief qadi or judge of Cordova (Spanish Cordoba) which means that he was himself the embodiment of the authority of Islamic Law even if he were to be seen later by many in Europe as the arch-rationalist and the very symbol of the rebellion of reason against faith. The very presence of the Qur'an and the advent of its revelation was to transform radically the universe in which and about which Islamic philosophers were to philosophize, leading to a specific kind of philosophy which can be justly called "prophetic philosophy".³

The very reality of the Qur'an, and the revelation which made it accessible to a human community, had to be central to the concerns of anyone who sought to philosophize in the Islamic world and led to a type of philosophy in which a revealed book is accepted as the supreme source of knowledge not only of religious law but of the very nature of existence and beyond existence of the very source of existence. The prophetic consciousness which is the recipient of revelation (al-wahy) had to remain of the utmost significance for those who sought to know the nature of things. How were the ordinary human means of knowing related to such an extraordinary manner of knowing? How was human reason related to that intellect which is illuminated by the light of revelation? To understand the pertinence of such issues, it is enough to cast even a cursory glance at the works of the Islamic philosophers who almost unanimously accepted revelation as a source of ultimate knowledge.' Such questions as the hermeneutics of the Sacred Text and theories of the intellect which usually include the reality of prophetic consciousness remain, therefore, central to over a millennium of Islamic philosophical thought.

One might say that the reality of the Islamic revelation and participation in this reality transformed the very instrument of philosophizing in the Islamic world. The theoretical intellect (al-aql a1-no ari) of the Islamic philosophers is no longer that of Aristotle although his very terminology is translated into Arabic. The theoretical intellect, which is the epistemological instrument of all philosophical activity, is Islamicized in a subtle way that is not always detectable through only the analysis of the technical vocabulary involved. The Islamicized understanding of the intellect, however, becomes evident when one reads the discussion of the meaning of aql or intellect in a major philosopher such as Mulla Sadra when he is commenting upon certain verses of the Qur'an containing this term or upon the section on aql from the collection of Shiite Hadith of al-Kulayni entitled Usul al-kafi. The subtle change that took place from the Greek idea of the "intellect" (noun) to the Islamic view of the intellect (al-aql) can also be seen much earlier in the works of even the Islamic Peripatetics such as Ibn Sina where the Active Intellect (al-aql al fa dl) is equated with the Holy Spirit (al-ruh al-qudus).

As is well known to students of the Islamic tradition, according to certain hadith and also the oral tradition which has been transmitted over the centuries, the Qur'an and all aspects of the Islamic tradition which are 'rooted in it have both an outward (*dhir) and an inward (batin) dimension. Moreover, certain verses of the Qur'an themselves allude to the inner and symbolic significance of the revealed Book and its message. As for the Hadith, a body of this collection relates directly to the inner or esoteric dimension of the Islamic revelation and certain sayings of the Prophet refer directly to the esoteric levels of meaning of the Qur'an.

Islamic philosophy is related to both the external dimension of the Qur'anic revelation or the Shari `ah and the inner truth or Vagigah which is the heart of all that is Islamic. Many of the doctors of the Divine Law or Shariah have stood opposed to Islamic philosophy while others have accepted it. In fact some of the outstanding Islamic philosophers such as Ibn Rushd, Mir Damad and Shah Waliullah of Delhi have also been authorities in the domain of the Sacred Law. The Shari ah has, however, provided mostly the social and human conditions for the philosophical activity of the Islamic philosophers. It is to the Hagigah that one has to turn for the inspiration and source of knowledge for Islamic philosophy.

The very term al-hagigah is of the greatest significance for the understanding of the relation between Islamic philosophy and the sources of the Islamic revelation.⁵ Al-baqiqah means both truth and reality. It is related to God Himself, one of whose names is al-Hagq or the Truth, and is that whose discovery is the goal of all Islamic philosophy. At the same time al-baqiqah constitutes the inner reality of the Qur'an and can be reached through a hermeneutic penetration of the meaning of the Sacred Text. Throughout history, many an Islamic philosopher has identified faisafah or hikmah, the two main terms used with somewhat different meaning for Islamic philosophy, with the Haqiqah lying at the heart of the Qur'an. Much of Islamic philosophy is in fact a hermeneutic unveiling of the two grand books of revelation, the Qur'an and the cosmos, and in the Islamic intellectual universe Islamic philosophy belongs, despite some differences, to the same family as that of ma`rifah or gnosis which issues directly from the inner teachings of Islam and which became crystallized in both Sufism and certain dimensions of Shi'ism. Without this affinity there would not have been a Suhrawardi or Mulla Sadra in Persia or an Ibn Sab'in in Andalusia.

Philosophers living as far apart as Nasir-i Khusraw (fifth/eleventh century) and Mulla Sadra (tenth/sixteenth century) have identified falsafah or hikmah explicitly with the Uagigah lying at the heart of the Qur'an whose comprehension implies the spiritual hermeneutics (ta wil) of the Sacred Text. The thirteenth/nineteenth-century Persian philosopher Jafar Kashifi goes even further and identifies the various methods for the interpretation of the Qur'an with the different schools of philosophy, correlating tafsir (the literal interpretation of the Qur'an) with the Peripatetic (mashshd',) school, to wit (its symbolic interpretation) with the stoic (riwagi),⁶ and tajhim (in-depth comprehension of the Sacred Text) with the Illuminationist (ishraqs) For the main tradition of Islamic philosophy, especially as it developed in later centuries, philosophical activity was inseparable from interiorization of oneself and penetration into the inner meaning of the Qur'an and Hadith which those philosophers who were of a Shiite bent considered to be made possible through the power issuing from the cycle of initiation (dairat al-walayah) that follows the closing of the cycle of prophecy (dd'irat al-nubuwwah) with the death of the Prophet of Islam.

The close nexus between the Qur'an and Hadith, on the one hand, and Islamic philosophy, on the other, is to be seen in the understanding of the history of philosophy. The Muslims identified Hermes, whose personality they elaborated into the "three Hermes", also well known to the West from Islamic sources, with Idris or Enoch, the ancient prophet who belongs to the chain of prophecy confirmed by the Qur'an and Hadith.' And they considered Idris as the origin of philosophy, bestowing upon him the title of Abu'I-I;Iukama' (the father of philosophers). Like_. Philo and certain later Greek philosophers before them and also many Renaissance philosophers in Europe, Muslims considered prophecy to be the origin of philosophy, confirming in an Islamic form the dictum of Oriental Neoplatonism that "Plato was Moses in Attic Greek". The famous Arabic saying "philosophy issues from the niche of prophecy" (yanba`u'l-hikmah min mishkdt al-nubuwwah) has echoed through the annals of Islamic history and indicates clearly how Islamic philosophers themselves envisaged the relation between philosophy and revelation.

It must be remembered that al-Hakim (the Wise, from the same root as hikmah) is a Name of God and also one of the names of the Qur'an. More specifically many Islamic philosophers consider Chapter 31 of the Qur'an, entitled Lugman, after the Prophet known proverbially as a hakim, to have been revealed to exalt the value of hikmah, which Islamic philosophers identify with true philosophy.

This chapter begins with the symbolic letters alif, lam, mim followed immediately by the verse, "These are revelations of the wise scripture [al-kitab al-hakim]" (Pickthall translation), mentioning directly the term hakim. Then in verse 12 of the same chapter it is revealed, "And verily We gave Lugman wisdom [al-hikmah], saying: Give thanks unto Allah; and whosoever giveth thanks, he giveth thanks for [the good of] his soul. And whosoever refuseth --Lo! Allah is Absolute, Owner of Praise." Clearly in this verse the gift of hikmah is considered a blessing for which one should be grateful, and this truth is further confirmed by the famous verse, "He giveth wisdom [hikmah] unto whom He will, and he unto whom wisdom is given, he truly hath received abundant good" (2: 269).

There are certain Hadith which point to God having offered prophecy and philosophy or hikmab, and Luqman chose hikmah which must not be confused simply with medicine or other branches of traditional hikmah but refers to pure philosophy itself dealing with God and the ultimate causes of things. These traditional authorities also point to such Qur'anic verses as "And He will teach him the Book [al-kitab] and Wisdom [al-hikmah]" (3: 48) and "Behold that which I have given you of the Book and Wisdom" (3: 81): there are several where kitab and hikmah are mentioned together. They believe that this conjunction confirms the fact that what God has revealed through revelation He had also made available through hikmah, which is reached through aql, itself a microcosmic reflection of the macrocosmic reality which is the instrument of revelation.⁹ On the basis of this doctrine later Islamic philosophers such as Mulla Sadra developed an elaborate doctrine of the intellect in its relation to the prophetic intellect and the descent of the Divine Word, or the Qur'an, basing themselves to some extent on earlier theories going back to Ibn Sina and other Muslim Peripatetics. All of this indicates how closely traditional Islamic philosophy identified itself with revelation in general and the Qur'an in particular.

Islamic philosophers meditated upon the content of the Qur'an as a whole as well as on particular verses. It was the verses of a polysemic nature or those with "unclear outward meaning" (mutashabihdt) to which they paid special attention. Also certain well-known verses were cited or commented upon more often than others, such as the "Light Verse" (ayat al-nur) (24: 35) commented upon already by Ibn Sina in his Ishardt and also by many later figures. Mulla Sadra was in fact to devote one of the most important philosophical commentaries ever written upon the Qur'an, entitled

Tafrir ayat al-nur, to this verse.¹⁰

Western studies of Islamic philosophy, which have usually regarded it as simply an extension of Greek philosophy," have for this very reason neglected for the most part the commentaries cc Islamic philosophers upon the Quran, whereas philosophical commentaries occupy an important category along with the juridical, philological, theological (kalam) and Sufi commentaries. The first major Islamic philosopher to have written Qur'anic commentaries is Ibn S^-ma, many of whose commentaries have survived." Later Suhrawardi was to comment upon diverse passages of the Sacred Text, as were a number of later philosophers such as Ibn Turkah al-Isfahani.

The most important philosophical commentaries upon the Qur'an were, however, written by Mulla Sadra, whose Asrdr al-ayat and Mafatib alghayb¹³ are among the most imposing edifices of the Islamic intellectual tradition, although hardly studied in the West until now. Mulla Sadra also devoted one of his major works to commenting upon the Usu1 al-kafi of Kulayni, one of the major Shiite texts of Hadith containing the sayings of the Prophet as well as the Imams. These works taken together constitute the most imposing philosophical commentaries upon the Qur'an and Hadith in Islamic history, but such works are far from having terminated with him. The most extensive Qur'anic commentary written during the past decades, al Mizdn, was from the pen of Allamah T_abatabai, who was the reviver of the teaching of Islamic philosophy in Qom in Persia after the Second World War and a leading Islamic philosopher of this century whose philosophical works are now gradually becoming known to the outside world.

Certain Qur'anic themes have dominated Islamic philosophy throughout its long history and especially during the later period when this philosophy becomes a veritable theosophy in the original and not deviant meaning of the term, theosophia corresponding exactly to the Arabic term al-hikmat al-ildhiyyah (or hikmat-i ilahi in Persian). The first and foremost is of course the unity of the Divine Principle and ultimately Reality as such or al-tawhid which lies at the heart of the Islamic message. The Islamic philosophers were all muwahhid or followers of tawhid and saw authentic philosophy in this light. They called Pythagoras and Plato, who had confirmed the unity of the Ultimate Principle, muwahhid while showing singular lack of interest in later forms of Greek and Roman philosophy which were sceptical or agnostic.

How Islamic philosophers interpreted the doctrine of Unity lies at the heart of Islamic philosophy. There continued to exist a tension between the Qur'anic description of Unity and what the Muslims had learned from Greek sources, a tension which was turned into a synthesis of the highest intellectual order by such later philosophers as Suhrawardi and Mulla Sadra.'⁴ But in all treatments of this subject from al-Kindi to Mulla Ali Zunuzi and Haul Mulla Had! Sabziwari during the thirteenth/nineteenth century and even later, the Qur'anic doctrine of Unity, so central to Islam, has remained dominant and in a sense has determined the agenda of the Islamic philosophers.

Complementing the Qur'anic doctrine of Unity is the explicit assertion in the Qur'an that Allah bestows being and it is this act which instantiates all that exists, as one finds for example in the verse, "But His command, when He intendeth a thing, is only that he saith unto it: Be! and it is [kun fa-yakunl " (36:81). The concern of Islamic philosophers with ontology is directly related to the Qur'anic doctrine, as is the very terminology of Islamic philosophy in this domain where it understands by wujud more the verb or act of existence (esto) than the noun or state of existence (esse). If Ibn Sina has been called first and foremost a "philosopher of being ^",15and he developed the ontology which came to dominate much of medieval philosophy, this is not because he was simply thinking of Aristotelian theses in Arabic and Persian, but because of the Qur'anic doctrine of the One in relation to the act of existence. It was as a result of meditation upon the Qur'an in conjunction with Greek thought that

Islamic philosophers developed the doctrine of Pure Being which stands above the chain of being and is discontinuous with it, while certain other philosophers such as a number of Isma`ilis considered God to be beyond Being and identified His act or the Qur'anic kun with Being, which is then considered as the principle of the universe.

It is also the Qur'anic doctrine of the creating God and creatio ex nihilo, with all the different levels of meaning which nihilo possesses,"' that led Islamic philosophers to distinguish sharply between God as Pure Being

and the existence of the universe, destroying that "block without fissure" which constituted Aristotelian ontology. In Islam the universe is always contingent (mumkin al-wujid) while God is necessary (wajib al-wujud), to use the well-known distinction of Ibn Sina.'? No Islamic philosopher has ever posited an existential continuity between the existence of creatures and the Being of God, and this radical revolution in the understanding of Aristotelian ontology has its source in the Islamic doctrine of God and creation as asserted in the Qur'an and Hadith.'s Moreover, this influence is paramount not only in the case of those who asserted the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo in its ordinary theological sense, but also for those such as al-Faribi and Ibn Sina who were in favour of the theory of emanation but who none the less never negated the fundamental distinction between the wujud (existence) of the world and that of God.

As for the whole question of "newness" or "eternity" of the world, or huduth and gidam, which has occupied Islamic thinkers for the past twelve centuries and which is related to the question of the contingency of the world vis-k-vis the Divine Principle, it is inconceivable without the teachings of the Qur'an and Hadith. It is of course a fact that before the rise of Islam Christian theologians and philosophers such as John Philoponus had written on this issue and that Muslims had known some of these writings, especially the treatise of Philoponus against the thesis of the eternity of the world. But had it not been for the Qur'anic teachings concerning creation, such Christian writings would have played an altogether different role in Islamic thought. Muslims were interested in the arguments of a Philoponus precisely because of their own concern with the question of huduth and qidam, created by the tension between the teachings of the Qur'an and the Hadith, on the one hand, and the Greek notion of the non-temporal relation between the world and its Divine Origin, on the other.

Another issue of great concern to Islamic philosophers from al-Kindi to Mulla Sadra, and those who followed him, is God's knowledge of the world. The major Islamic philosophers, such as al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Suhrawardi, Ibn Rushd and Mulla Sadra, have presented different views on the subject while, as with the question of huduth and qidam, they have been constantly criticized and attacked by the mutakallimun, especially over the question of God's knowledge of particulars.' Now, such an issue entered Islamic philosophy directly from the Qur'anic emphasis upon God's knowledge of all things as asserted in numerous verses such as, "And not an atom's weight in the earth or the sky escapeth your Lord, nor what is less than that or greater than that, but it is written in a clear Book" (10: 62). It was precisely this Islamic insistence upon Divine Omniscience that placed the issue of God's knowledge of the world at the centre of the concern of Islamic philosophers and caused Islamic philosophy, like its Jewish and Christian counterparts, to develop extensive philosophical theories totally absent from the philosophical perspective of Graeco-Alexandrian antiquity. In this context the Islamic doctrine of "divine science" (al-ilm al-laduni) is of central significance for both falsafah and theoretical Sufism or alma`rzfah.

This issue is also closely allied to the philosophical significance of revelation (al-wahy) itself. Earlier Islamic philosophers such as Ibn Sina sought to develop a theory by drawing to some extent, but not exclusively, on Greek theories of the intellect and the faculties of the soul.²⁰ Later Islamic philosophers continued their concern for this issue and sought to explain in a philosophical manner the possibility of the descent of the truth and access to the truth by knowledge based on certitude but derived from sources other than the senses, reason and even the inner intellect. They, however, pointed to the correspondence between the inner intellect and that objective manifestation of the Universal Intellect or Logos which is revelation. While still using certain concepts of Greek origin, the later Islamic philosophers such as Mulla Sadra drew heavily from the Qur'an and Hadith on this issue.

Turning to the field of cosmology, again one can detect the constant presence of Qur'anic themes and certain Hadith. It is enough to meditate upon the commentaries made upon the "Light Verse" and "Throne Verse" and the use of such explicitly Qur'anic symbols and images as the Throne (al arch), the Pedestal (al-kursi^-), the light of the heavens and earth (nur al-samdwat wa'l-ard), the niche (mishkat) and so many other Qur'anic terms to realize the significance of the Qur'an and Hadith in the formulation of cosmology as dealt with in the Islamic philosophical tradition .²¹Nor must one forget the cosmological significance of the nocturnal ascent of the Prophet (al-mi raj) which so many Islamic philosophers have treated directly, starting with Ibn Sm!. This central episode in the life of the Prophet, with its numerous levels of meaning, was not only of great interest to the Sufis but also drew the attention of numerous philosophers to its description as contained in certain verses of the Qur'an and Hadith. Some philosophers also turned their attention to other episodes with a cosmological significance in the life of the Prophet such as the "cleaving of the moon" (shagq al-qamar) about which the ninth/fifteenth-century Persian philosopher Ibn Turkah Isfahani wrote a separate treatise.²²

In no branch of Islamic philosophy, however, is the influence of the Qur'an and Hadith more evident than in eschatology, the very understanding of which in the Abrahamic universe was alien to the philosophical world of antiquity. Such concepts as divine intervention to mark the end of history, bodily resurrection, the various eschatological events, the Final Judgment, and the posthumous states as understood by Islam or for that matter Christianity were alien to ancient philosophy whereas they are described explicitly in the Qur'an and Hadith as well as of course in the Bible and other Jewish and Christian religious sources.

The Islamic philosophers were fully aware of these crucial ideas in their philosophizing, but the earlier ones were unable to provide philosophical proofs for Islamic doctrines which many confessed to accept on the basis of faith but could not demonstrate within the context of Peripatetic philosophy. We see such a situation in the case of Ibn Sina who in several works, including the Shifa, confesses that he cannot prove bodily resurrection but accepts it on faith. This question was in fact one of the three main points, along with the acceptance of qidam and the inability of the philosophers to demonstrate God's knowledge of particulars, for which al-Ghazzali took Ibn Sina to task and accused him of kuft or infidelity. It remained for Mulla Sadra several centuries later to demonstrate the reality of bodily resurrection through the principles of the "transcendent theosophy" (al-hikmat al-muta dliyah) and to take both Ibn Sina and al-Ghazzali to task for the inadequacy of their treatment of the subject ²³The most extensive philosophical treatment of eschatology (al-ma ad) in all its dimensions is in fact to be found in the Asfdr of Mulla Sadra.

It is sufficient to examine this work or his other treatises on the subject such as his al-Mabda' wa l ma ad or al-Hikmat al arshiyyah to realize the complete reliance of the author upon the Qur'an and Hadith. His development of the philosophical meaning of ma dd is in reality basically a hermeneutics of Islamic religious sources, primary among them the Qur'an and Hadith. Nor is this fact true only of Mulla Sadra. One can see the same relation between philosophy and the Islamic revelation in the writings of Mulla Muhsin Fayd Kashini, Shah Waliullah of Delhi, Mulla Abd Allah Zunuzi, Hajji Mulla Hath Sabziwari and many later Islamic philosophers writing on various aspects of al-ma ad. Again, although as far as the question of eschatology is concerned, the reliance on the Qur'an and Hadith is greater during the later period, as is to be seen already in Ibn Sina who dealt with it in both his encyclopedic works and in individual treatises dealing directly with the subject, such as his own al-Mabda' wa'l-maid. It is noteworthy in this context that he entitled one of his most famous treatises on eschatology al-Risalat al-adhawiyyah, drawing from the Islamic religious term for the Day of Judgment.

In meditating upon the history of Islamic philosophy in its relation to the Islamic revelation, one detects a movement toward ever closer association of philosophy with the Qur'an and Hadith as falsafah became transformed into al-hikmatal-ilahi_yyah. Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina, although drawing so many themes from Qur'anic sources, hardly ever quoted the Qur'an directly in their philosophical works. By the time we come to Suhrawardi in the sixth/twelfth century, there are present within his purely philosophical works citations of the Qur'an and Hadith. Four centuries later the Safavid philosophers wrote philosophical works in the form of commentaries on the text of the Qur'an or on certain of the Hadith. This trend continued in later centuries not only in Persia but also in India and the Ottoman world including Iraq.

As far as Persia is concerned, as philosophy became integrated into the Shiite intellectual world from the seventh/thirteenth century onwards, the sayings of the Shiite Imams began to play an ever greater role, complementing the Prophetic Hadith. This is especially true of the sayings of Imams Muhammad al-Bagir, Jafar al-Sadiq and Musa al-Kizim, the fifth, sixth and seventh Imams of Twelve-Imam Shi'ism, whose sayings are at the origin of many of the issues discussed by later Islamic philosophers.²⁴ It is sufficient to study the monumental but uncompleted Sharh Usfd alkafi of Mulla Sadra to realize the philosophical fecundity of many of the sayings of the Imams and their role in later philosophical meditation and deliberation.

The Qur'an and Hadith, along with the sayings of the Imams, which are in a sense the extension of Hadith in the Shiite world, have provided over the centuries the framework and matrix for Islamic philosophy and created the intellectual and social climate within which Islamic philosophers have philosophized. Moreoever, they have presented a knowledge of the origin, the nature of things, humanity and its final ends and history upon which the Islamic philosophers have meditated and from which they have drawn over the ages. They have also provided a language of discourse which Islamic philosophers have shared with the rest of the Islamic community.²⁵ Without the Qur'anic revelation, there would of course have been no Islamic civilization, but it is important to realize that there would also have been no Islamic philosophy. Philosophical activity in the Islamic world is not simply a regurgitation of GraecoAlexandrian philosophy in Arabic, as claimed by many Western scholars along with some of their Islamic followers, a philosophy which grew despite the presence of the Qur'an and ,Hadith. On the contrary, Islamic philosophy is what it is precisely because' it flowered in a universe whose contours are determined by the Qur'anic revelation.

As asserted at the beginning of this chapter, Islamic philosophy is essentially "prophetic philosophy" based on the hermeneutics of a Sacred Text which is the result of a revelation that is inalienably linked to the

microcosmic intellect and which alone is able to actualize the dormant possibilities of the intellect within us. Islamic philosophy, as understood from within that tradition, is also an unveiling of the inner meaning of the Sacred Text, a means of access to that Hagigah which lies hidden within the inner dimension of the Qur'an. Islamic philosophy deals with the One or Pure Being, and universal existence and all the grades of the universal hierarchy. It deals with man and his entelechy, with the cosmos and the final return of all things to God. This interpretation of existence is none other than penetration into the inner meaning of the Qur'an which "is" existence itself, the Book whose meditation provides the key for the understanding of those objective and subjective orders of existence with which the Islamic philosopher has been concerned over the ages.

A deeper study of Islamic philosophy over its twelve-hundred-year history will reveal the role of the Qur'an and Hadith in the formulation, exposition and problematics of this major philosophical tradition. In the same way that all of the Islamic philosophers from al-Kindi onwards knew the Qur'an and Hadith and lived with them, Islamic philosophy has manifested over the centuries its inner link with the revealed sources of Islam, a link which has become even more manifest as the centuries have unfolded, for Islamic philosophy is essentially a philosophical hermeneutics of the Sacred Text while making use of the rich philosophical heritage of antiquity. That is why, far from being a transitory and foreign phase in the history of Islamic thought, Islamic philosophy has remained over the centuries and to this day one of the major intellectual perspectives in Islamic civilization with its roots sunk deeply, like everything else Islamic, in the Qur'an and Hadith.

NOTES

1 Within the Islamic world itself scholars of kalam and certain others who have opposed Islamic philosophy over the ages have claimed that it was merely Greek philosophy to which they opposed philosophy or wisdom derived from faith (al-bikmat alyunaniyyah versus al-hikmat al-imdniyyah). Some contemporary Muslim scholars, writing in English, oppose Muslim to Islamic, considering Muslim to mean whatever is practised or created by Muslims and Islamic that which is derived directly from the Islamic revelation. Many such scholars, who hail mostly from Pakistan and India, insist on calling Islamic philosophy Muslim philosophy, as can be seen in the title of the well-known work edited by M. M. Sharif, A History of Muslim Philosophy. If one looks more deeply into the nature of Islamic philosophy from the traditional Islamic point of view and takes into consideration its whole history, however, one will see that this philosophy is at once Muslim and Islamic according to the above-given definitions of these terms.

2 When accused on a certain occasion of infidelity, Ibn Sina responded in a famous Persian quatrain: "It is not so easy and trifling to call me a heretic; 1 No faith in religion is firmer than mine. / I am a unique person in the whole world and if I am a heretic; I Then there is not a single Muslim anywhere in the world." Trans. by S. H. Barani in his "Ibn Sina and Alberuni", in Avicenna Commemoration Volume (Calcutta, 1956): 8 (with certain modifications by S. H. Nasr).

3. This term was first used by H. Corbin and myself and appears in Corbin, with the collaboration of S. H. Nasr and 0. Yahya, Histoire de la philosophie islamique (Paris, 1964).

4 We say "almost" because there are one or two figures such as Muhammad ibn Zakariyya' al-Razi who rejected the necessity of prophecy. Even in his case, however, there is a rejection of the necessity of revelation in order to gain ultimate knowledge and not the negation of the existence of revelation. See Corbin, op. cit.: 26ff.

5. The term riwagi used by later Islamic philosophers must not, however, be confused with the Roman Stoics, although it means literally stoic (riwaq in Arabic coming from Pahlavi and meaning stoa). Corbin, op. cit.: 24.

6. On the Islamic figure of Hermes and Hermetic writings in the Islamic world see L. Massignon, "Inventaire de la litterature hermetique arabe", appendix 3 in A. J. Festugiere and A. D. Nock, La Revelation d'Herm2s Trismegiste, 4 vols (Paris, 1954-60); S. H. Nasr, Islamic Life and Thought (Albany, 1981): 102-19; F. Sezgin, Geschichte der arabischen Schrifttums, 4 (Leiden, 1971).

9 See for example the introduction by one of the leading contemporary traditional philosophers of Persia, Abul-Hasan Sha'rani, to Sabziwari, Asrdr al-hikam (Tehran, 1960): 3.

10 Edited with introduction and Persian translation by M. Khwajawi (Tehran, 1983).

11 The writings of H. Corbin are a notable exception.

12 See M. Abdul Haq, "Ibn Sima's Interpretation of the Qur'an", The Islamic Quarterly, 32(1) (1988): 46-56.

13 This monumental work has been edited in Arabic and also translated into Persian by M. Khwajawi who has printed all of Mulla Sadra's Qur'anic commentaries in recent years. It is interesting to note that the Persian translation entitled Tarjuma yi mafanh al-ghayb (Tehran, 1979) includes a long study on the rise of philosophy and its various schools by Ayatullah Abidi Shahrridi, who discusses the rapport between Islamic philosophy and the Qur'an in the context of traditional Islamic thought.

14 See I. Netton, Allah Transcendent (London, 1989), which deals with this tension but mixes his account with certain categories of modern European philosophy not suitable for the subject.

15 See E. Gilson, Avicenne et le point de depart de Duns Scot, Extrait des archives d'histoire doctrinale et litteraire du Moyen Age (Paris, 1927); and A. M. Goichon, "L'Unite de la pensEe avicennienne", Archives Internationale dHsstoire des Sciences, 20-1 (1952): 290ff.

16 See D. Burrell and B. McGinn (eds), God and Creation (Notre Dame, 1990): 246ff. For the more esoteric meaning of ex nihilo in Islam see L. Schaya, La Creation en Dieu (Paris, 1983), especially chapter 6: 90ff.

17 This has been treated more amply in Chapter 16 below on Ibn Sina See also Nasr, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (Albany, 1993), chapter 12.

18 See T. Izutsu, The Concept and Reality of Existence (Tokyo, 1971).

19 The criticisms by al-Ghazzali and Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi of this issue, as that of huduth and qidam, are well known and are treated below. Less is known, however, of the criticism of other theologians who kept criticizing the philosophers for their denial of the possibility of God knowing particulars rather than just universals.

20 See F. Rahman, Prophecy in Islam, Philosophy and Orthodoxy (London, 1958), where some of these theories are described and analysed clearly, but with an over-emphasis on the Greek factor and downplaying of the role of the Islamic view of revelation itself.

21 On this issue see Nasr, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines^,, and Nasr, "Islamic Cosmology", in Islamic Civilization, 4, ed. A. Y al-Hassan et al (Paris, forthcoming).

22 See H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, 3 (Paris, 1971): 233ff.

23 Mulla Sadra dealt with this debate in several of his works especially in his Glosses upon the Theosophy of the Orient of Light (of Suhrawardi) (Hashiyah 'ala hikmat al-ishrdq). See H. Corbin, "Le theme de la resurrection chez Mulla Sadra Shirazi (1050/1640) commentateur de Sohrawardi (587/1191)", in Studies in Mysticism and Religion - Presented to Gershom G. Scholem (Jerusalem, 1967): 71-118.

24 The late Allamah Tabataba'i, one of the leading traditional philosophers of contemporary Persia, once made a study of the number of philosophical problems dealt with by early and later Islamic philosophers. He once told us that, according to his study, there were over two hundred philosophical issues treated by the early Islamic philosophers and over six hundred by Mulla Sadra and his followers. Although he admitted that this approach was somewhat excessively quantitative, it was an indication of the extent of expansion of the fields of interest of Islamic philosophy, an expansion which he attributed almost completely to the influence of the metaphysical and philosophical utterances of the Shi'ite Imams which became of ever greater concern to many Islamic philosophers, both Shi'ite and Sunni, from the time of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi onwards.

25 The Qur'an and Hadith have also influenced directly and deeply the formation of the Islamic philosophical vocabulary in Arabic, an issue with which we have not been able to deal in this chapter.

sumber: www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/nasr-ip2.htm

Peran Sayyid dan Sharif dalam Dakwah Islam

2010-02-10T04:06:00.004+07:00

Prof. Mehmet Ipsirli talked to Naquib Al-Attas in Malaysia about the Asian journey of the Sayyids (descendants of the Prophet) starting from the early periods of Islam and the applicabillity of Sunnah (practices of the Prophet) in today's world. Himself a Sayyid, Al-Attas is recognized as one of the most
prominent contemporary representatives of the Islamic thought.

His Life

Sayyid Muhammad Naquib al-Attas was born in Bogor, Java into a family with a history of illustrious ancestors, saints, and scholars, of Hadhrami Arab and Turkish descent. He received a thorough education in Islamic sciences, Malay language, literature and culture. His formal primary education began at age 5 in Johor, Malaya (later known as Malaysia), but during the Japanese occupation of the peninsular, he went to school in Java, in Madrasah Al-`Urwatu’l-wuthqa, studying in Arabic. After World War II, in 1946 he returned to Johor to complete his secondary education. He was exposed to Malay literature, history, religion, and western classics in English, and in a cultured social atmosphere developed a keen aesthetic sensitivity. This nurtured in al-Attas an exquisite style and precise vocabulary that were unique to his Malay writings and language.
After al-Attas finished secondary school in 1951, he entered the Malay Regiment as cadet officer no. 6675. There he was selected to study at Eton Hall, Chester, England and later at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, UK (1952-1955). This gave him insight into the spirit and style of British society. During this time he was drawn to the metaphysics of the Sufis, especially works of Jami, which he found in the library of the Academy. He traveled widely, drawn especially to Spain and North Africa where Islamic heritage had a profound influence on him. Al-Attas felt the need to study, and voluntarily resigned from the King's Commission to serve in the Royal Malay Regiment, in order to pursue studies at the University of Malaya in Singapore (1957-1959).
While an undergraduate at University of Malaya, he wrote Rangkaian Ruba`iyat, a literary work, and Some Aspects of Sufism as Understood and Practised among the Malays. He was awarded the Canada Council Fellowship for three years of study at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Montreal. He received the M.A. degree with distinction in Islamic philosophy in 1962, with his thesis Raniri and the Wujudiyyah of 17th Century Acheh. Al-Attas went on to the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London where he worked with Professor A. J. Arberry of Cambridge and Dr. Martin Lings. His doctoral thesis (1962) was a two-volume work on the mysticism of Hamzan Fansuri.
In 1987, with al-Attas as founder and director, the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) was established in Kuala Lumpur. This institution strives to bring an integrated Islamization into the consciousness of its students and faculty. Al-Attas envisioned the plan and design of every aspect of ISTAC, and has incorporated Islamic artistic and architectural principles throughout the campus and grounds.
He is also an able calligrapher, and his work was exhibited at the Tropen Museum in Amsterdam in 1954

Books and Monographs

(1970) The Correct Date of the Terengganu Inscription, Kuala Lumpur Museum Department.
(1975) Comments on the Re-Examination of Al-Raniri's Hujjat au'l Siddiq: A Refutation, Kuala Lumpur Museum Department.
(1978) Islam and Secularism
(1980) The Concept of Education in Islam
(1988) The Oldest Known Malay Manuscript: A 16th Century Malay Translation of the `Aqa'id of al-Nasafi
(1989) Islam and the Philosophy of Science
(1990) The Nature of Man and the Psychology of the Human Soul
(1990) On Quiddity and Essence
(1990) The Intuition of Existence
(1992) The Concept of Religion and the Foundation of Ethics and Morality
(1993) The Meaning and Experience of Happiness in Islam (tr. into German by Christoph Marcinkowski as Die Bedeutung und das Erleben von Glückseligkeit im Islam, Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC, 1998)
(1994) The Degrees of Existence
(1995) Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam: An Exposition of the Fundamental Elements of the Worldview of Islam

Interview Part I: Asia Islamized via the Sayyids

-What are the places of Sayyids and Sharifs in the Islamic tradition?

Nowadays, I feel that these two concepts have become separated in such a way that the Sharif are Hasanese (i.e. following Hasan), and the Sayyid are Husseinese (i.e. following Hussein). I think that this was probably the same in earlier times. Sayyids were called Sharif, and Sharifs were called Sayyid. Of course it is true that the Hasanese gradually became the Sharifs of Mecca and the post of Sharif was established by the Abbasids. I noticed that when I was reading Tabari, he mentioned that Al-Ma'mun appointed one of the sons of Ali as the Sharif of Mecca. The main aim of Al Ma'mun here was to neutralize the followers of Ali in a diplomatic way, as at first they were opposed to the Umayyads and later to the Abbasid's as well. Thus, he was trying to be friendly with them and to show his favor by appointing such people. Now, Al Ma'mun lived around the year 800; another man al-Dimashki, who was a geographer, wrote in 1200 that the first missionaries to be sent to Asia were in the time of Uthman's caliphate; therefore, he said, the missionaries were here because they were running away from Al-Hajjaj, from his persecution, in the time of the Umayyads. They first fled and then they came to that part of Indo-China known at that time as Shampa, and now called Sand in Cambodia. And they then came to Southeastern Asia. Al-Dimashki referred to them as Alaviyyun (followers of Ali). This was in the time of Uthman. Therefore in the time of Al-Ma'mun and at later dates there were many envoys who were sent to China; it is said that there were at least 32 envoys sent between the time of the Umayyad and Abbasids until around the year 500 (Hijrah).

-Was there any policy to send envoys that had been particularly chosen from the Prophet's descendants?

Yes, I think that the Chinese emperor respected them more because they were from the Prophet's descendants. I suppose the reason why the Tang dynasty sent a Chinese ambassador to the court of Medina at the time of Umayyads was because the political center was still in Medina at that time, not in Mecca. There was a Sharif in Mecca, but the seat of caliph was in Medina. The purpose of this ambassador was to report to the emperor about this new power in the world. Who was this new power? It was reported back to China that they were worshipping heaven. They had no idols and they did not eat pork. The source that mentions this ambassador also records that an Arab general accompanied the ambassador back to China. We are not sure who this general it was. Some say that he was Sad b. Abi Vaqqas; the Chinese believe that he is buried in the north of the country. This was at the time of the Companions.

-Was there a difference between the Sayyids and the Sharifs in this sense?

The role of the Sharifs, I think, was more administrative. They gradually became the Sharifs of Mecca. That is, they acted like governors and gradually became the rulers. But the Sayyids were the ones who continued to struggle, as the Umayyads were more opposed to the Husseinese rather than the Hasanese. Many of them were located in southern Arabia. What is now known as Oman at that time was called Hadramout - Hadramout is even mentioned in the Bible, and this was at the time of Moses - and this was a very important area.
Many of the Husseinese were located in this area. They were a seafaring people, who traveled by sea. It is for this reason that Ibn Khurdabbe talks about the sea routes, and he mentions how the Sayyids got to China and how they went on to India and so on. They were people who spread Islam following the hadith (sayings of the Prophet). You know the Dutch scholars and Western scholars talk about merchants and traders. Merchants and traders would not be able to be close with ruling powers. The ruling powers would only have respected people who were descendants of the Prophet. For that reason, the locals intermarried a great deal with the Sayyids, just like in Sumatra.
I think one of the characteristics of the Sayyids is that wherever they went, they were not very nationalistic or racist. I think it was Seyyid Ali who was the first one to marry with a non-Arab, the daughter of the Persian emperor, Yezdecarb. In other words, the Sayyids married non-Arabs, but other Arabs did not act like this. When the Sayyids went to Africa, they gradually became like the Africans with this intermarriage, and the same can be stated for China.
But what is important here is that the role of these people, this mission, was prepared in advance. It did not happen accidentally. In other words, they were selected as pious people who knew Islam, and were brave enough to go on these dangerous routes. They were not only traders and merchants either. The western people knew that traders and merchants would not able to spread the religion. They claim that in Islam everybody is a missionary. Of course, theoretically this is true, but in reality, a missionary must be acquainted with many things, because ultimately he has to speak with the king. They have to be able to be close to the kings. Much of the missionary work consists of this high-level diplomacy. That is what is most important in my opinion.

-In your opinion, what is the social responsibility of descending from the family of the Prophet?

These descendents of the Prophet spread knowledge. Even Western orientalists say that the descendants of the Prophet are the ones who spread the knowledge. They mentioned the Fatimids and the Al-Azhar. These people established universities and places of education, and much more.
Of course, not everybody was doing all of these things. Some of them, the simple people, may have been doing nothing. It was a question of spreading knowledge and the religion.
And they were careful not to add to the heresy. They were more traditional, and being traditional entailed going back to the ways of the Prophet. This was because, particularly in the southern part of Hadramout, they were insolated. The early Sayyids who came here learned the hadiths, and then they read the works of the ulama. The books that we can see they were using were ones like Kutb al-Kulub, al-Maki, al-Kuseyri's Resala and several others, as well as Ghazali, of course, and then Juniab.
As for Hadramout, the first man who brought Sufism (tasawwuf) was a man called Fakih al-Mukaddaam, and this must have been sometime in the 15th century.

-We see that these journeys started very early from the time of the Prophet. As soon as they learned about Islam they left their country and went to a different part of the world. The Prophet also encouraged the Companions to make these journeys.

Yes, as we have said already, before the advent of Islam, it has been acknowledged that there were already Arabs in Europe, even at the time of Christ in that area, and they were involved in trade at the time of the Romans.
But I think the role of the Sayyids was to spread Islam. This was the most important. The second factor was that they were trying to teach people the proper forms of Islam from such books. They did not add any thing. Of course, they studied the hadith, so they had more information about what was legitimate. They also read other works. But they did not seek publicity. They also did not care if people acknowledged them or not. They just completed their tasks.

-How were the Sayyid roots of the first people arriving into Asia influential in the Islamization of the region?

It is true that the Sayyids came first. These Sayyids were already in the north of Sumatra. They came first to Sumatra, then to the Malay peninsula and then to Joho. Malaca, of course is Joho, and from there they went to Brunei and from there to Sulu and then finally Jaba. I think the reason why they arrived last in Jaba is because Jaba was very powerful at that time and the kingdom was very large. There were also Arab writers there in ancient times; it is said that the maharaja was not called a maharaja, but rather known by the Japanese title batara. It is said that he had a hundred thousand troops and weapons ships. In other words, this was a very strong kingdom with a tradition of Hinduism or Hindu -Buddhist.
So, the plan was probably to first Islamize the Malay side and when that was done then to go on to Jaba. It would not have been possible to go to Jaba first, because they were so powerful. Gradually, of course, by coming to them in the 1470s, the Japanese kingdom fell into the hands of Islam. However, some Arabs navigators writing in the 1430s said they Muslim kingdoms were already present in Jaba. The problem is that I am not sure if this date is correct.
The simpler meaning of Sayyid is those people who went to the villages. They taught people Islam, and the question of adab (manners). This is still going on. If you go to Indonesia you can find many of such people in the villages. They demonstrate a certain exemplary behavior, and they are very pious people. You can the see Hasanese in Singapore; they are very popular in Singapore, even among the non-Muslims, because they are simpler and more open-handed as well.

Interview Part II: "We have to be well acquainted with the West as well as Islam"

-Can we adapt to the modern world without destroying our tradition? How can we protect the authentic Islamic traditions today? How can the sunnah be applied today?

Is the sunnah (practices of the Prophet) not applied today? In other words, it is not possible to say that the sunnah is not applied today. It is applied. But I think we have to go back to learn about these people; we must go back to study the past, return to their books, and so on. Otherwise, how can people understand such things? It is necessary that there be proper teachers, as the schools now do not give much information. Having proper teachers means having qualified people who know about the sunnah and who are close to the early traditions; even in the modern world we can dress like a modern man, but our mind must not be like this. The important thing is to teach people, that is all. That is the only way to return to the tradition. Otherwise today, modern Muslims, particularly western-educated Muslims do not know, and they demand proof. They think that they are being rational, although they are not really being rational at all. Therefore, we have to counter all this by teaching all these things again. We must teach them what is real, because they do not know. They do not know anything about Islam. I mean, here they are following the West. They think that Islam started in the 13th century and it is just a simple religion of merchants, and therefore rather out of date, rather ancient. But we should teach them the real history, bring it out and teach it. And by example we must also know that we have to be well acquainted with the West as well as Islam.
Look at how we get education now. We learn their thoughts, their philosophies, and we make critical analysis, we accept that some of what they say is the truth. Yes, and most of our scholars are uttering the truth; even if it was first said by an infidel, it is still the truth.
In Turkey you are doing the same thing. I think this is important. I think there is no other way. We have to teach slowly; this is what people did before. They came to the Hindus and Buddhists. Hundreds of them, thousands of them, even the rulers, became Muslim. Then after this, we cannot keep track of their numbers. But remember that because of what these people did, there are more than 200 million of people Muslim here. This is due to their work.

-Is an Islamization of knowledge possible?

Of course. But what do we mean by this? The Quran Islamized knowledge and the Arabs Islamized their knowledge through the language. In other words, the importance of language in Islamization is very important. That is why I think, although I am not sure, Ali Caksu's paper raises such an important question; I read only the abstract but he asks if there is such a thing as the Islamic language it seems that he thinks that although there is no Islamic language, there is a Muslim language. Well, I do not agree with this. What we mean by an Islamic language is the Muslim languages. But within the Muslim languages there are certain basic vocabulary items, key terms, that belong to the Quran and this is what is important. So, in this way Muslim languages become the Islamic language, even though they are different languages. The Turkish language is different from Persian, from Arabic, and from Malay languages. But within this there are certain words which are important links uniting them. This is what I call the Islamic language, this basic vocabulary. These words come from the revelation but they can be given different meanings, which is the cause of the confusion that exists today. And then they do not correlate with one another anymore. Thus, conflict arises.

-What kind of education policy should be followed?

The policy I think is to be acquainted with the West and Islam in addition to our own national, what is called ethical and cultural tradition. We must be familiar with the West, because without this knowledge it the unknown can only become a problem. That is why the modern day ulama cannot do anything; they do not understand the West. They may be acquainted with the law in Islam, but this is also not very profound. Therefore the education system must be balanced with knowledge of Islam. Going back to the past, we cannot just stop at the former politicians. At least, the mind of people have begun to open, they have become new people. They are pleased that we opened things that they have not seen before. As far as Islam and its interpretation are concerned, sometimes people might bring up certain questions that may cause problems. It might be better if we did not bother with these questions, or even the hadiths. To the modern mind it is not very beneficial to introduce our hadith, as from the point of view of the modern mind they are irrational or unacceptable. But, this is what they are doing now. We should put a stop to this. What about hadiths that deal with science and with ethics? The hadiths of the Prophet are like the Quran. The hadith have been classified. But nobody does this today. Maybe one day someone will classify the hadith. There are hadiths of the Prophet concerned with science and which deal with metaphysics and profound philosophy. There is a hadith which says "O Allah, show me the things that really exist." The Prophet is asking about metaphysical and philosophical ideas here. This kind of hadith cannot be classified. Thus, there are spiritual hadiths, legal hadiths, and historical hadiths. We must study them in this way.

-What kind of educational policies can the Islamic world develop in this new century? How can we attain a certain quality of education?

The only way is if the people who are teaching are really good scholars and the qualities they have are passed on to their students. So, in other words, they must be equipped with a knowledge of languages, apart from, of course, Arabic - the language of the Quran. That is, they must understand the Quran and the hadiths that were written in the past as well as their own language and European languages, depending on their fields. So, in other words, those who are studying medieval philosophy must know something about the medieval scholars who wrote in Latin, and the Greeks. Then they will be able to apply many of the things that they learn and analyze them. This is a quality education; anything else is no different from a factory.

-How should we introduce Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to our age?

That is a very important question. How should we introduce the Prophet to our time? Many talk about him when the subject is concerned with ethics. And yet those hadiths that are concerned with ethics are not mentioned. Even the Prophet himself is not mentioned. Even here, they talk about Allah, but not about Muhammad.
We must ensure that the knowledge of hadiths does not turn people against the Prophet. For example, if you are talking to women only, and you say that the Prophet said: "Women are crooked", you should stress that this has to do with their rib bones. But if such a hadith were to spread among the people they would only blame the Prophet. Or they would say the hadith is false. That is why I think we should stop talking about such hadith. If somebody brings it up, we should not answer. Only by ignoring them can we stop such a problem. But bringing out hadiths that deal more with what we know to be our problems today is more important.
The emblem of my institute is the name of Prophet Muhammad.
The Islamic university uses the Quran. But the Quran cannot be used as an emblem. It is the word of God, and thus to fulfill the importance would be very difficult. In fact, it is a form of arrogance to think that one can do this. Thus, Prophet Muhammad should be the symbol of Islamic education and thought, because he is like us, a human being. There are some people who do not understand this and say that such universities are Islamic, and the Quran becomes nothing more than a simple sort of word.
The Quran itself talks about many things, about history, about science, about knowledge, about man, yet these people are not concerned with such things. They are only concerned with what politics to follow, even now they are mainly dealing with problems that are political; of course, one must encounter such problems. But how can we confront such problems if we do not know our own tradition and if we are not acquainted with the West or able to discuss such things in a dialogue.
I also realized that nobody has defined what they mean by the West. When I talk about the West I understand not so much the people and the place but rather the world view. This world view has evolved from the Greco, Roman, Judea, and Christian traditions and they have been fused together; in addition the pagan traditions of the European peoples has been added - the Celts, the Visigoths, Teutonic, and Germanic people. So, gradually this has produced a certain world view. This world view is constantly involved in a dynamic dialectic of thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis. Then this synthesis has begun to turn again to thesis, and continues like this.
To sum up, this is what I mean by problematic. That is, we are saying that they have reached a synthesis and that there are no more theses to create an antithesis. Then they talk about secularization. The eternity of the world is a matter that is discussed; Einstein talked about whether God is still relevant today because he was an Aristotelian. He thought that God was only relevant at the beginning and that after that, the world was just left to evolve, so Einstein asked what God's role today is. And his conclusion was that God had no more role. But our God is always active. It is not possible for Him not to have a role.

sumber: www.lastprophet.info/en/content/view/807/2/

“Walaupun Puyuh Mencuri Sayap Elang, Dia tak Bisa Terbang”

2010-02-10T03:59:00.001+07:00

Prof. Dr. Wan Mohd Nor bin Wan Daud
(Peneliti Utama, Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, ATMA-UKM ):

“Walaupun Puyuh Mencuri Sayap Elang, Dia tak Bisa Terbang”

Tidak banyak profesor yang mudah ditemui dan senang diajak berbincang dengan para mahasiswa. Prof Wan Daud adalah salah satu pengecualian. Di kamar kerjanya sekarang, ATMA-UKM –setelah lebih lima tahun terpaksa meninggalkan ISTAC— hampir tiap hari ia menerima tamu. Mulai dari yang memberi pertanyaan, mengadukan masalah atau yang ingin silaturrahim untuk berdiskusi. Tamu yang datang pun bervariasi, mulai dari profesor, doktor, mahasiswa biasa atau tokoh-tokoh ketua perhimpunan mahasiswa.

Berbincang dengan Prof Wan, seperti berbincang dengan sahabat dekat. Ia akan melayani, menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan dan berdiskusi dengan kita dengan riang gembira. Mungkin karena kepribadiannya yang menarik itulah, maka Prof Naquib al Attas jatuh hati padanya mengajak bersama untuk membangun ISTAC (International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization), 1988. Prof Wan Daud pun menyambut ajakan ini dengan tangan terbuka. Karena ini adalah proyek besar yang berniyat untuk menjayakan pemikiran dan peradaban Islam semula.

Tapi takdir berkehendak lain. Setelah membangun dan mengelola ISTAC selama lebih kurang 15 tahun, Prof Naquib dan Prof Wan Daud dipaksa hengkang dari ISTAC. .Kini Prof Naquib banyak di rumah membuat karya dan memberikan kursus-kursus tentang Islam dan Prof Wan pindah ke ATMA-UKM, melanjutkan kepeduliannya membina para mahasiswa, khususnya tingkat master dan doktoral.

Selain banyak berdiskusi dan membimbing para mahasiswa, Prof Wan juga kini sibuk menulis. Ia kini sedang mempersiapkan tiga buku, yang diharapkan dapat terbit tahun ini atau tahun depan. Yaitu buku tentang tanggapan/tulisan para tokoh atau murid-murid tentang Prof Naquib Al Attas, buku tentang aliran-aliran filsafat yang menghancurkan ilmu pengetahuan dan buku tentang syarah ar Raniri, Aqaid an Nasafi.

Prof Wan Daud lahir di Kelantan pada 23 Desember 1955. Ia menyelesaikan sarjana mudanya jurusan Ilmu Biologi dan masternyajurusan pendidikan di Notthern Illinois University, AS. Gelar PhD-nya diraih di The University of Chicago. Selama studi di Amerika, ia aktif dalam kegiatan-kegiatan mahasiswa Islam. Ia pernah menjadi “President of the National Malaysian Islamic Study Group” dan “President of Muslim Student Association of USA and Canada”.

Lelaki beristri satu dan mempunyai anak empat ini, telah menulis lebih dari 12 buku dan monograph. Ia juga telah menulis lebih dari 30 makalah-makalah akademik yang serius yang dimuat dalam jurnal nasional dan internasional. Di antara buku-bukunya yang telah diterbitkan adalah: The Concept of Knowledge in Islam: Its Implications for Education in Developing Country, The Beacon on the Crest of Hill, Penjelasan Budaya Ilmu, Pembangunan Malaysia: Ke Arah Satu Pemahaman Baru yang Lebih Sempurna, The Educational Philosophy and Practice of Syed Muhammad Naquib al Attas: An Exposition of the Original Concept of Islamization, Mutiara Taman Adabi: Sebuah Puisi Mengenai Agama, Filsafat dan Masyarakat dan lain-lain.

Saat ini, selain banyak menjadi nara sumber atau penceramah tentang Islamisasi, filsafat Islam, pendidikan Islam dan tamadun Islam, Melayu dan Barat di berbagai Negara, seperti Amerika, Inggris, Rusia, Pakistan, Rusia, Turki, Afrika Selatan, Singapura dan Indonesia, Prof Wan juga sering diminta untuk menjadi pembicara tentang kepemimpinan. Bulan Juni 2009 lalu, ia diminta IDB (Islamic Development Bank) dan universitas-universitas di Timteng, untuk memberikan pelatihan bagi para pemimpin perbankan/profesional, dosen-dosen, mahasiswa-mahasiswa di Jedah dan Bahrain. Ia juga banyak memberikan pelatihan kepemimpinan di negerinya sendiri, Malaysia. Bukunya terbaru yang ditulis bersama dengan Prof. Naquib Alatas: The ICLIF Leadership Competency Model (LCM): an Islamic Alternative, menjadi buku panduan untuk pelatihan itu.

Berikut adalah petikan wawancara dari koresponden Hidayatullah di Malaysia, Nuim Hidayat, yang mewawancarai Prof Wan Daud di kantornya ATMA-UKM, Bangi-Selangor, Malaysia:

Setelah menggulirkan Islamisasi, mengapa Anda dan Prof Al Attas secara bersamaan mengeluarkan buku tentang Leadership ini?

Pertama sekali kita katakan, bahwa islamisasi dalam bentuknya yang paling intensif berlaku pada pribadi. Apabila pribadi itu mau diislamkan, maka aspek pertama yang diislamkanya adalah akal pikirannya. Apabila alam pikriannya tidak dikuasai dengan pandangan alam Islami, maka tindak-tanduknya, akhlaknya baik di tingkat pribadi maupun sosial atau di tingkat negara atau global tidak akan dapat dibentuk mengikut kehendak Islam.

Dan akal pikiran seseorang itu dibentuk melalui ilmu pengetahuan. Dalam Al Qur’an penekanan terhadap ilmu pengetahuan ini adalah cukup fundamental. Menurut Prof Hamidullah dan banyak pengkaji lainnya, bahwa setelah nama-nama Allah yang paling banyak disebut Al Qur’an, maka setelah itu banyak disebut kata yang berkait dengan ilmu pengetahuan, makna-maknanya dan contoh-contohnya. Seperti ungkapan, ya’lamun, ya’qilun, yatafakkarun, dan sebagainya.

Ayat-ayat ini banyak ayat Makiyyah. Maknanya ini adalah pembinaan pada generasi pertama. Yakni untuk mempersiapkan kepemimpinan umat masa itu dan juga kepemimpinan umat mendatang. Mereka yang akan menjadi pemimpin dan pengikut yang bijak. Sehingga kemudian ketika di Madinah, ilmu menjadi budaya.

Dalam Perang Badar saja, ada satu kaidah perang yang penting, yang digunakan oleh Rasulullah saw. Bahwa Rasulullah memberikan syarat pembebasan tawanan pada siapa-siapa yang bisa mendidik sepuluh umat Islam. Maka di sini pendidikan itu adalah ‘resiko politik’, di mana Rasulullah membebaskan tawanan yang paling pandai. Biasanya di zaman sekarang, tawanan yang paling pandai itu dipenjarakan dalam waktu yang lama. Tetapi bagi Rasulullah, bila seorang paling pandai bisa mendidik sepuluh orang, maka keuntungan bagi umat Islam sepuluh kali lipat.

Ada buku Prof Naquib al Attas, yang cukup terkenal dan monumental, yaitu Islam and Secularism. Ia menyebut bahwa masalah umat Islam yang paling fundamental bukanlah ekonomi, ketentaraan/militer, politik, sains --walaupun itu adalah masalah yang penting-- tapi masalah fundamental yang menimbulkan berbagai masalah ini, adalah kekeliruan dan kekacauan ilmu pengetahuan yang berakhir pada kehilangan adab umat Islam. Kehilangan adab dan kekeliruan ilmu pengetahuan ini melahirkan kepemimpinan yang salah dalam semua bidang.

Maka sebenarnya permulaannya kita diminta oleh Direktur Eksekutif ICLIF (The International Centre for Leadership in Finance, Kuala Lumpur), Datuk Rafiah binti Salim yang kemudian dia diangkat pemerintah Malaysia mejadi rektor wanita pertama di Universiti Malaya. Dia meminta kita menulis buku tentang leadership itu. Selepas 3-4 bulan minta penulisan itu, dia dilantik menjadi rektor di Universiti Malaya. Jadi dia tidak sempat ‘melihat’ buku ini, walaupun tentu dia tentu dapat buku ini kemudian.

Buku ini sebenarnya merupakan satu proses natural dalam proses Islamisasi yang kita gulirkan bersama. Sesungguhnya kita tidak mengira akan melahirkan buku leadership itu secepat ini, kalau tidak diminta oleh Datuk Rafiah itu. Bisa jadi tidak tidak tahun 2007 terbit, mungkin tahun depan. Jadi dia datang lebih awal sedikit dari semula yang kita rencanakan. Karena dalam kehidupan ini sering tidak mengikut jadwal yang kita rencanakan. Hidup mati kita juga begitu.

Tapi dari segi proses Islamisasi, penerbitan buku ini adalah natural. Karena masalah kita sekarang adalah belum cukupnya para pemimpin yang benar di segala bidang. Banyak kepemimpinan bidang ekonomi, sosial, pendidikan, agama dan politik yang tidak menepati kehendak alam Islam dan akhlak yang mulia. Ini karena Confusion of Knowledge (kekacauan ilmu pengetahuan). Confusion of Knowledge ini disebabkan karena hilangnya adab.

Jadi tidak ada upaya untuk meletakkan sesuatu di tempat yang betul. Sebab umat Islam ini bukan tidak ada resources (sumber daya). Bukan tidak ada minyak, tidak ada kekayaaan, fasilitas, ilmu dan sebagainya, tapi masalahnya itu semua tidak digunakan secara betul. Misalnya kini, tokoh non Muslimdigunakan sebagai rujukan utama dalam kajian Islam atau dalam bidang politik seorang penyanyi atau pelawak diminta untuk menjadi pemimpin politik.

Bagaimana sifat kepemimpinan itu?

Perlu diingat, bahwa dalam Islam, kepemimpinanan bukanlah.bersifat satu dimensi. Pertama sekali kepemimpinan itu adalah satu kualitas insaniyah. Seseorang itu harus bisa memimpin dirinya. Bermakna, bagaimana dia memimpin jiwa aqlinya, memimpin jiwa badaninya, nafsunya, syahwatnya atau marahnya. Karena itu ini ada kaitannya dengan ilmu dan adab/akhlak.

Kalau dia ada ilmu tentang dirinya, tentang ilmu aqidah, halal haram, maka dia bisa mengontrol secara rasional kehendak hewaninya dalam dirinya itu. Kehendak hewani bukan harus dimatikan, tapi perlu dikontrol. Sebab kita perlu ada rasa syahwat, kalau tidak kita tidak punya anak. Perlu ada marah, sehingga bisa berjuang, berjihad di jalan yang benar. Juga berani menyatakan yang benar. Karena menyatakan yang benar ini adalah manifestasi dari rasa marah itu. Cuma jangan marah selalu. Juga jangan syahwat selalu.

Kepemimpinan bersifat multidimensi (lintas sektoral) ini contohnya, pemimpin dalam bidang politik maka dia juga pemimpin keluarganya. Banyak keputusan politik, ditentukan oleh keluarganya yang tidak dipilih oleh rakyat. Jadi dia tidak bisa memimpin rakyat, kalau dia tidak bisa memimpin keluarganya itu. Banyak kita tahu bahwa pemimpin dalam bidang, perbankan, politik, universitas contohnya, memutuskan pelantikan atau pengangkatan seseorang, kadang-kadang ditentukan di rumahnya. Oleh suaminya, oleh anaknya atau istrinya. Begitu juga ketika seseorang memimpin universitas.

Maka kepemimpinan dalam ekonomi ada hubungannya dengan politik. Politik ada hubungannya dengan keluarga. Semuanya interrelated. Walaupun kita targetkan misalnya mendidik golongan-golongan pemimpin perbankan, profesional, maka prinsip-prinsip, contoh-contoh tidak hanya dari perbankan. Malah kita rujuk kepada Al Qur’an, Hadits, sejarah Rasulullah, sahabat dan para ulama-ulama yang kemudian. Para pemimpin di masa Utsmani, Mughol, Safawi, Andalusia, Melayu dan lain-lain. Jadi pendidikan kepemimpinan itu bukan khusus untuk para peniaga, meskipun mereka terlibat dalam pernigaaan, keuangan dan sebagainya.

Malah bila saya hadiri kursus-kursus di antara para pemimpin-pemimpin bank ini, mereka juga tidak menggunakan contoh-contoh dalam budang ekonomi saja. Mereka menggunakan contoh dalam bidang tentara, militer. Seperti Sun Tzu dalam The Art of War atau menggunakan Strategy of Jengis Khan dan sebagainya. Di mana tokoh-tokoh ini bukan seorang ekonom, tapi seorang tentara. Mereka juga menggunakan contoh sang Budha.

Jadi dalam training-traing tertinggi golongan direktur/manajer industri keuangan itu, mereka merujuk bukan hanya tentang ekonomi, tapi juga tentang hal-hal yang personal atau global. The Art of War misalnya, walaupun ditulis lebih dari 2000 tahun yang lalu, dimana isinya banyak tentang peperangan, tapi digunakan untuk ‘analogi’ pengurusan ekonomi, sosial dan lain-lain. Karena leadership memang begitu. Ia interrelated. Buku Niccollo Machiavelli, The Prince juga digunakan. Karena banyak asas kepemimpinan, peniagaan, dll. sekarang ini adalah Machiavellian. Padahal Machiavelli berbicara dalam konteks politik, yang banyak dibaca orang politik juga.

Apa saja karakter-karakter dasar yang mesti dimiliki seorang pemimpin?

Pemimpin itu dalam konteks Islam harus memahami dan menghayati worldview Islam. Worlview Islam adalah pandangan Islam yang sebenarnya harus terwujud dalam diri manusia (Muslim). Tentang tuhan, ruh, alam, manusia dan seterusnya. Tentang hakekat manusia, bahwa dia dijadikan, tidak kekal. Ada alam akhirat setelah alam dunia ini. Juga tentang arti kekuasaan, ilmu pengetahuan dan kebahagiaan. Ini akan membentuk worlview Islam pada diri seseorang (pemimpin). Sehingga tidak dikelirukan oleh worldview lain.

Tapi kita tahu beberapa tahun belakangan ini, pandangan alam Islam itu telah dikelirukan. Dengan unsur-unsur sekuler yang sekarang ini marak, dengan kejahilan umat Islam sendiri, dengan kaidah-kaidah yang salah dalam memahami teks-teks Al Qur’an dan Hadits dan sejenisnya. Bila hal-hal seperti ini berlaku maka worlview berubah. Bila worldview berubah, tujuan berubah. Motivasinya, kaidahnya juga berubah. Dia menjadi bukan lagi Islami. Meskipun tak sepenuhnya anti Islami. Tapi Islami dari segi komperehensif, tidak mewujud dalam dirinya. Maknanya bila pemahaman Islamnya komperehensif dan clear, walaupun dia buat silap (kesalahan), dia tahu itu suatu kesalahan, maka dia akan bertobat. Dia tahu jalan untuk memperbaikinya. Karena worlview itu telah jelas dalam dirinya. Tapi kalau worldview itu kelitu, maka dia tidak tahu kalau yang dia buat itu salah. Karena dia tidak tahu benarnya.

Contohnya dalam ekonomi dan perbankan Islam. Riba itu haram. Jelas riba itu haram. Tapi persoalan dalam Islam, bukan hanya riba, tapi juga pengentasan kemiskinan. Bank Islam harus dapat mengentaskan kemiskinan. Ini hanya satu contoh kecil saja. Bagaimana telah berlaku kekeliruan.

Juga dalam kepemimpinan politik Muslim.Bukan hanya pemimpin menjaga bidang ekonomi, perniagaan atau kesejahteraan. Tapi penjagaan terhadap jiwa dan akhlak rakyat, terhadap keselamatan yaumil akhirah haruslah dibuat dengan baik. Para pemimpin di bidang itu kini tak berbuat sewajarnya. Dianggap bahwa pembangunan ekonomi itu yang paling tinggi. Dalam Islam, ekonomi tentu tak dikecilkan. Kita harus menjada harta kita, menjaga keluarga, menjaga negara kita, tapi semua adalah alat untuk kemajuan rohani dan ukhrawi. Tapi sekarang justru yang rohani dan ukhrawi ini ditepikan. Bukan dibuat sebagai kebijakan utama. Ekonomi yang dinomorsatukan.

Dalam konteks sekarang, misalnya krisis ekonomi yang berlangsung sekarang. Bila perusahaan itu bangkrut, apakah manajer/direktur mau dikurangi pendapatannya? Perusahaan mengalami kerugian, ramai pekerja-pekerja yang dipecat, tapi ia (manajer) itu tidak mau rugi. Mereka tidak mau mengeluarkan uangnya atau dipotong gajinya. Sebab ia hanya melihat dari segi kontrak saja. Kontrak dengan pekerjanya bisa dibatalkan setiap waktu, sedang kan kontrak dia nggak mau diapa-apakan. Maka disini bukan kontrak itu yang terpenting, tapi segi maslahat ia lupakan. Hilang sifat ihsan, sifat kasih sayang kepada manusia lain.

Dalam buku ini juga kita paparkan bagaimana contohnya orang yang paling praktikal macam para sahabat yang menjadi khalifah sebagai teladan. Misalnya.Jendral Abdullah bin Husain. Dia seorang jendral dalam sejarah Islam. Dulu jenderal itu orang yang mengerti hal-hal yang praktis (paktikal). Tapi dia menulis surat kepada anaknya, agar ingat kepada Allah SWT, ingat hari pembalasan, orang miskin dan sebagainya. Apabila kita bicara dengan jenderal sekarang, bagaimana? Jenderal sekarang ini, bukan praktikal. Kalau dulu mereka maju perang, kalau kalah ditebas kepala mereka. Contoh-contoh yang disebutkan dalam buku itu adalah bagaimana hal-hal ukhrawi, imani, akhlaki itu mejadi pendorong utama bagi hal-hal duniawi.

Contoh Sayyidina Ali. Dia orang yang sangat praktikal. Tapi dalam surat ke gubernurnya, ia sangat menekankan hal-hal yang bersifat ukhrawi, imani, dan lain-lainl. Ibnu Sina, juga seorang yang praktikal (ahli kedokteran), dia menekankan pada ilmu, pada shalat nawafil dll. Dalam kaidah Islam ada satu kesatuan yang saling menyokong (ukhrawi duniawi). Sekarang ini telah banyak dikelirukan. Maka contohnya bila kita bercakap tentang keilmuan, pemikiran, itu praktikal dan logical. Orang dulu sebenarnya lebih pratikal dari orang sekarang. Mereka political juga. Aqidah, pandangan alam Islam ini teoritikal. Tapi teoritikal yang terkait langsung dengan paktik. Sekarang telah berlaku dualisme, tentang hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan aqidah, terpisah dengan hal-hal keuangan, politik, dsbnya.

Bagaimana adab yang dimiliki seorang pemimpin?

Adab yang dimaksudkan di sini adalah disiplin aqli, rohani dan fisik. Di mana seseorang itu menempatkan sesuatu di tempatnya yang betul, mengikut sistem Islam. Sehingga dia menempatkan Allah sebagai Tuhan di tempat yang sebenarnya. Tujuan adab sebenarnya adalah menjadikan seseorang itu menjadi ibadurrahman, menjadi muslim yang terbaik. Allah diletakkan pada tujuan pertama, bukan tujuan kedua atau ketiga. Sekarang ini kalau pemilihan umum, orang berjanji ke masyarakat, setelah pemilu lupa kepada tujuan awalnya itu. Jadi Allah dia gunakan untuk mendapatkan dunia. Kekuatan kepemimpinan akan berlaku, selama adabnya betul.

Contohnya bila seorang Muslim menjadikan Nabi sebagai contoh yang paling utama, dan juga para sahabatnya, maka keteladanan itu harus dioperasionalkan. Tapi karena sekarang ini adab berlalu, Nabi dan para sahabatnya dianggap sebagai out of date. Mereka lebih suka menggunakan Sun Tzu, Jengis Khan, yang tokoh-tokoh ini --memang boleh digunakan contoh (hikmah)-- tapi jangan dikatakan bahwa Nabi dan sahabat-sahabatnya itu out of date.

Atau kita lebih baik meneladani tokoh-tokoh ulama lain, seperti ulama-ulama Melayu. Syekh Yusuf Makarsari, Syekh Ar Raniri, Raja Ali Haji dsb nya. Sebab dalam politik Islam, tempat-tempat mereka ini bukan dibatasi oleh sejarah. Kita berprinsip bahwa siapa-siapa yang baik, mereka akan tetap baik (diteladani). Walaupun ada unsur-unsur pada dirinya atau pemikirannya yang mungkin saat ini boleh berubah. Seperti apa yang mereka pakai, dia makan dsbnya. Tapi akhlaknya itu tetap bisa diteladani. Juga bisa diteladani tentang keadilannya, kesabaran, keberanian, tawadhunya dll.

Kehilangan adab juga menyebabkan jatuhnya kepemimpinan. Dia mungkin baik-baik, tapi karena kelemahan kecil, ia dijatuhkan oleh kawannya yang tidak ada adab. Dia adianggap sebagai orang yang konservatif, out of date, tidak progresif. Padahal ulama-ulama itulah yang mau agar Melayu maju dari dulu sampai dengan sekarang.

Dengki juga mengakitbatkan kehilanga adab. Bagaimana dia berdengki kepada seorang pemimpin yang telah berjaya. Pemimpin itu misalnya mau menyatukan umat, menjayakan umat, ada di antara mereka yang dengki. Mestinya pemimpin seperti itu ditempatkan di tempat yang betul. Dia mestinya didukung. Tapi kadang-kadang adayang membuat fitnah-fitnah untuk menjatuhkan dia. Kita boleh menasihati dia kalau tidak setuju, bukan buat fitnah. Seorang pemimpin kalau zalim sekalipun, tentu kita tidak membenarkan kezalimannya, kita harus ikut dia. Tapi dia harus terus dinasihati. Atau kalau diganti harus dengan cara-cara yang bijak. Kalau kita jatuhkan dia, bukan tidak mungkin yang naik nanti akan buat kezaliman yang lain. Ini akan menimbulkan khawarij. Khawarijme ini akan menimbulkan ketidakstabilan dalam bidang politik. Karena tidak ada pemimpin yang tidak buat kesalahan. Dan bila berlaku instability maka akan berlaku kezaliman yang lebih merusak lagi.

Karena itu bagi Prof Naqib, untuk mengembabalikan budaya ilmu, budaya Islam harus berpegang pada adab. Kita harus me-refer kepada Rasulullah. Kepada ulama seperti Imam al Ghazali misalnya. Kalau al Ghazali dikecam juga, kita nanti akan merujuk pada orang-orang yang salah yang tidak berbuat apa-apa kepada Islam. Walaupun mungkin al Ghazali buat kesalahan, kesalahan yang ia buat kecil, sedangkan orang-orang yang jadi rujukan para pengecam al Ghazali itu, justru membuat kesalahan-kesalahan yang lebih besar.

Adab itu adalah satu syarat untuk mengembalikan kepada kepemimpinan dan intelektual masyarakat Islam. Jadi kita harus merujuk pada pemimpin yang sesuai, pemimpin ini tidak ramai. Kalau banyak orang nggak betul, maka seorang pemimpin pun cukup. Misalnya adalam bola, ada Maradona. Maka tidak banyak orang seperti Maradona. Dan Maradona harus ditempatkan sebagai pemain utama, kalau dia dibuat sebagai pemain sampingan maka tak berfungsi Maradona itu.

Orang-orang seperti itu tak ramai, tapi harus diberikan peranannya yang utama. Kalau orang yang hebat itu ramai, maka dia bukan orang hebat. Sifat ketokohan tertinggi itu tidak ramai. Imam Syafii seorang saja. Juga Imam Malik. Tapi pembangunan tamadun di Andalusia itu, meskipun pemain-pemainnya ramai, tapi mereka semuanya bermazhab Maliki, walaupun mereka tidak bersetuju dengan semua yang Imam Malik katakan, tapi mereka menghormati Imam Malik itu. Begitu juga ketika masa Utsmani.. Di Anatolia Turki, mereka bermazhab pada Imam Hanafi, dari segi teologi mereka bermazhab Imam Maturidi. Kita boleh berbeda, boleh ada perubahan, tapi mesti ada respek. Seperti orang Melayu ini, orang Jawa, Batak, Malaka, tapi hampir semuanya bermazhab Syafii.

Syekh ar Raniri misalnya membuat syarah an Nasafi. An Nasafi itu madzhabnya Maturdii. Raniri memuji Nasafi dan Taftazani (yang membuat syarah an Nasafi), tapi dia juga mengatakan bahwa dalam beberapa hal, Imam Syafii lebih hampir kepada kebenaran. Maka kalau ada orang menyatakan bahwa mazhab ini memecah belah umat Islam itu salah. Dalam bidang aqidah, ulama besar-besar merujuk pada ulama-ulama besar dari mazhab lain juga.

Bagaimana memulai lagi, menumbuhkan pemimpin-pemimpin baru?

Pertama sekali umat Islam harus bangkit dengan pandangan alam Islami yang tadi. Kita tentu tak bisa mengharapkan kesempurnaan. Karena kesempurnaan itu hanya pada Nabi saja. Dan para pemimpin kita harus menerima nasihat-nasihat, karena mereka juga tidak sempurna. Kita harus mengenal pasti siapa di antara umat Islam itu yang memancarkan pandangan alam Islam ini. Dan juga akhlaknya dan juga kewibawaannya untuk memimpin, sehingga orang lain memahami. Kalau orang nggak memahami dia sebagai pemimpin, maka ia tidak boleh memimpin. Jadi harus ada kecakapan memimpin.

Misalnya kepahaman dia (tentang Islam) tidak begitu mendalam, tapi dia mempunyai kecakapan memimpin dan akhlak yang baik, maka dia harus memimpin. Untuk meningkatkan pemahaman ini, maka dia harus konsultasi atau meminta nasihat yang lebih ahli. Inilah juga yang diharapkan Imam al Ghazali, Taftazani dan ar Raniri. Tak semestinya bahwa setiap pemimpin itu adalah orang yang paling baik dalam pemahaman dan dalam akhlak sekalipun. Tapi dia harus orang yang paling cakap mempimpin. Dia harus mengenali dirinya itu dan berkonsutasi dengan tokoh-tokoh yang lebih berwibawa. Dia harus mendengar nasihat-nasihat itu. Kalau tidak dia akan membenarkan kejahatan, membenarkan kezaliman. Kalau pemimpin itu membenarkan kejahatan, kezaliman dia boleh diberi sanksi dan dia boleh bertobat.

Taubat adalah kesadaran aqliyah dan rohaniyah tentang apa-apa yang telah dilakukannya. Taubat adalah karena dia tahu perbuatannya salah.Tapi kalau dia justifikasi bahwa dia tidak bersalah, maka dia merasa tobat tak perlu lagi. Dia merasa benar, malah yang benar dia anggap salah. Dalam teks aqidah ar Raniri dia katakan: Raja yang zalim, dia boleh memegang kepemimpinan. Tapi bila raja itu berbuat yang menjatuhkan imannya, menyatakan bahwa babi itu halal, arak itu halal, itu kufur, maka dia boleh dijatuhkan. Kalau dalam demokrasi dia boleh dijatuhkan dalam pemilu atau impeachment.

Dalam umat Islam sekarang ini, ketidakstabilan berlaku, karena terlalu banyak pertukaran pemimpin. Padahal dia membuat kesalahan-kesalahan yang tidak fundamental. Duit yang diguakan dalam demokrasi ini begitu besar. Lebih mahal dari pembinaan manusia yang berkualitas, lebih mahal dari pembinaan rumah-rumah rakyat kecil yang diperlukan. Duit dibuang untuk pemilu. Inti demokrasi untuk membangun rakyat, kesejahteraannya, sekarang berubah, intinya adalah proses. Hanya pada proses, tak mengira pada perubahan yang terjadi. Ini bukan suatu tindakan yang bijak.

Jadi, pandangan alam Islami ini harus dipahami lebih mendalam, baik di masyarakat level paling atas maupun tingkat paling bawah. Peningkatan pemahaman worldview ini harus dimulai dari level atas. Sebab rakyat awam mengikut golongan yang paling atas. Kalau dia benar sekalipun, kalau golongan atas tak melakukan, maka kebenaran itu biasanya akan dinafikan. Karena itu, kata Prof Naquib, perubahan yang paling strategis adalah prubahan di level atas.

Karena itu perubahan yang terpenting adalah perubahan pendidikan di tingkat tertinggi. S3, S2, S1. Ini bukan bersifat elitis yang negaitif, tapi elitis yang strategik. Pendidikan juga mengubah orang dewasa dahulu. Yakni kalau orang dewasa telah berubah, maka anak-anak akan berubah. Tapi alau anak-anak berubah, orang-orang tua atau dewasa tidak berubah, perubahan akan kecil maknanya. Anak-anak shalat, bapaknya tidak shalat. Lama-lama anaknya tidak shalat. Itu kaidah Ilahi juga, Semua anbiya’ diturunkan untuk orang-orang dewasa. Dan mereka menyadarkan pemimpin-pemimpn politik tertinggi saat itu. Karena itu kita mendirikan ISTAC dulu, juga Prof Naquib ketika tahun 70-an Seminar di Mekkah tentang Pendidikan, mengingatkan tentang pentingnya Universitas.

Bila universitas telah dibereskan, maka sekolah-sekolah menengah juga akan beres. Sebab guru-guru sekolah menengah dari universitas juga, pegawai-pegawai keuangan juga universitas, paling kurang S1. Kalau fokus di level bawah, maka perubahan itu tidak akan berlaku dengan sebaik-baiknya. Orang-orang Barat faham akan hal itu. Mereka tidak menggarap SD, atau sekolah menengah, tapi menggarap di tingkat universitas.

Nampaknya dunia Islam tidak serius dalam menggarap pendidikan tinggi ini?

Bukan tidak serius, pendidikan tinggi ini paling sulit. Untuk mendidik orang-orang yang pintar ini paling sukar. Karena itulah kita memerlukan leadership, intelektual yang pintar itu. Diberikan pinjaman untuk mahasiswa, juga dididik keberaniannya dan lain-lain. Tapi tentu harus dipikirkan semuanya. Pendidikan di tingkat bawah atau menengah juga Ok digarap. Tapi jangan pikir itu sudah selesai. Sebab semuanya menjurus ke atas.

Masalah umat ini bukan karena SDM yang tidak bagus, tapi karena kepemimpinan yang tidak bagus. Mereka mungkin pergi shalat, umrah, pakai jilbab, tapi worldviewnya bagaimana. Juga akhlaknya. Dia pikir selesai pergi ke masjid dapat pahala. Jangan diperentengkan pahala itu. Jadi ada ibadah-ibadah fardi/ individu yag mungkin bisa dilaksanakan, tapi yang ijtimai/kemsyarakatan ini mesti harus dilaksanakan secara serius.

Mengapa Barat ramai atau serius memperhatikan masalah universitas ini?

Mereka ramai (serius) karena mereka telah mengenal pasti masalah itu. Mereka tahu petanya dimana. Dalam kehidupan kita kalau banyak tokoh alhamdulillah. Tapi persoalannya tokoh itu sedikit, dan dari sedikit ini apa yang telah kita lakukan. Jadi kalau yang sedikit tokoh ini diabaikan, tak diberi kesempatan, maka tak akan jadi ramai. Sebab siapa yang akan belajar kepada dia? Sebab dia ditutup, dibungkus. Jadi pertama cari dulu tokoh yang ada, kemudian kasih posisi. Sehigga dia ada peluang untuk mendidik dan mengajar. Sehingga nanti akan jadi ramai murid-muridnya.

Maka persoalan yang paling awal, siapakah dalam bidang-bidang itu yang paling berwibawa? Yang mempunyai integritas. Tapi masalahnya jumlah yang sedikit ini tidak diberdayakan. Orang lebih yang rendah ilmu dan kepribadiannya, dipernobatkan diangkat-angkat. Dan mereka ini bila berada di posisi itu, maka ia akan mengecil-ngecilkan yang besar. Kemudian menuduh seorang tokoh ini tak bisa kerjasama dengan orang, angkuh, jahat, anti kerajaan, sufi, pro syiah dan lain-lain, dia menfitnah. Maka dalam buku saya, saya katakan: “Walaupun puyuh mencuri sayap elang, dia tak bisa terbang. Dia tak bisa mengawal kuatnya angin di awan, hatinya sebesar kuman.”

Jadi walaupun orang itu diletakkan tinggi-tinggi, menjadi perdana menteri, pengarah/direktur, dia tidak bisa memegang amanah itu. Sebab amanah memerlukan ilmu, keberanian, akhlak dan keadilan. Jadi masalahnya bukan tak ada menteri, profesor, presiden, tapi masalah kecakapan. Macam puyuh tadi. Sehingga akhirnya mereka-mereka ini malah menjadi rayap, hewan yang meruntuhkan bangunan dari dalam.

Karena itu dalam hadits yang terkenal dikatakan bahwa “Bila Allah murka dalam satu umat, dia akan tarik ilmu dengan mematikan orang-orang yang berilmu dan digantikan dengan orang-orang yang tidak berilmu. Dan orang ini bila diminta pandangan, maka dia menyampaikan pada orang-orang ramai dan pandangannya sesat menyesatkan.”

Mematikan ilmuwan (ulama) itu bukan hanya maknanya mencabut nyawa ilmuwan itu saja. Ilmuwan yang mati, tapi ilmunya dimanfaatkan, diguna banyak orang, dia masih belum mati. Mati bila ilmu tak digunakan lagi. Seperti Imam Malik dan Imam Ghazali mereka tidak mati, karena ilmunya terus dipergunakan orang sampai sekarang. Tapi bila orang-orang yang tak berilmu memimpin, maka menjadi rusaklah dirinya dan umat juga. Orang yang tak berilmu akan mengatakan yang haram itu halal atau sebaliknya.

Dalam buku saya yang baru akan terbit nanti, saya mengutip al Ghazali bahwa ada empat kategori orang. Pertama, orang yang tahu bahwa dirinya tahu, ia harus diikuti. Ia harus diperhelangkan (dijadikan semacam burung elang). Yang kedua, orang yang tahu, dia tidak tahu. Ia harus diajari. Semacam kita-kita ini. Yang ketiga, tidak tahu bahwa ia tahu. Ia harus dikejutkan, harus diberi kesadaran. Keempat, ia tidak tahu bahwa dirinya tidak tahu, ia harus ditepikan. Problemnya justru orang yang seperti ini kadang dipernobatkan, padahal ia akan buat banyak masalah.

Karegori ini penting, agar kita tahu menempatkan orang dimana. Orang yang tahu bahwa dirinya tahu, perlu dipernobatkan. Ar Raniri dan Raja Ali Haji perlu diteladani misalnya, agar rakyat menjadi terbimbing. Tapi kalau ia tidak tahu, hanya menuruti nafsunya, hanya karena keluarganya dari yang berkuasa, bapaknya orang berkuasa, atau ia menjadi menantunya kemudian berkuasa, maka rusaklah rakyat itu. Maka Abdullah Munsyi menyebut, bagaimana personifikasi orang di zamannya, setelah kerajaan Malaka hancur: Belalang disangka elang, cacing disangka ular naga, kutu disangka kura-kura. Jadi terjadi confussion and error.

Ada yang menyebut bahwa kepemimpinan yang benar itu adalah kepemimpinan berfikir, bukan kepemimpinan politik, ekonomi, militer, dan lain-lain. Bagaimana pendapat Anda?

Mengikut Imam Ghazali, ada tiga tipe kepemimpinan. Pertama, kepemimpinan para anbiya’, yang memimpin jiwa dan tubuh manusia. Kedua, kepemimpinan para umara’ yang memimpin tubuh saja. Ketiga kepemimpinan para ulama, yang memimpin jiwa. Bagi al Ghazali dan berlaku umat Islam juga, kepemimpinan yang paling afdhal, selepas Nabi, adalah kepemimpinan ulama. Sebab ulama dalah pewaris anbiya. Walaupun tubuh itu penting, tapi yang terbesar dalam manusia ini adalah jiwanya. Jiwanya bukan untuk hidup duniawi, tapi juga ukhrawi. Kalau boleh kedua-keduanya tentu lebih afdhal. Sebab ada di kalangan umara yang berupaya memimpin jiwanya masyarakat, ilmunya ada. Dan juga ada ulama yang bisa memimpin masyarakat, karena dia pewaris anbiya’ itu. Seperti contohnya para sahabat. Jadi ini bukan tiga kategori yang terpisah. Tapi tak banyaklah orang seperti ini.*

(Petikan wawancara bisa dinikmati di Majalah Hidayatullah, edisi Oktober 2009).

sumber: www.nuimhidayat.blogspot.com

Kalam of The Age

2010-02-10T03:54:00.001+07:00

diambil dari rausyanfikir.com

Tafakkur, taddabur, tabayyun, and tahafut. Only the Ignoramus and Obstinate Muslims dare to challenge the status quo of Kalam in our Tradition.

by Dr. Adi Setia of Himpunan Keilmuan Muda (HAKIM)

The “kalam of the age” (kalam al-‘asr) is the systemic deconstruction of all the western sciences and their reconstruction from within the conceptual framework of the Worldview of Islam, by which, along the way, some of these sciences may be seen to be discardable altogether, while others reexamined, remodified, restructured and redirected to serve the higher purposes of the divine Law (Maqasid al-Shari‘ah), i.e., to serve the true purpose of our life as Muslims in this world.

Do not let our present preoccupation with the puerile, incoherent ramblings of the Wahhabis and the neo-Mu'tazilis divert us from drawing creatively from the profound lessons of traditional classical kalam to meet head on the real challenge of the age, the challenge of a subtle and sophisticated secularism, materialism and nihilism systemically imparted into minds and hearts of Muslim students, researchers and scholars in Western and Western-type universities.

This call of the kalam of the age is precisely the call which Shaykh Afifi al-Akiti and Dr. Hisham Hellyer are inviting us to heed in their jointly authored article, “The Negotiation of Modernity through Tradition in Contemporary Muslim Intellectual Discourse: The Neo-Ghazalian, Attasian Perspective,” in Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud & Muhammad Zaini Uthman, eds., Knowledge, Language, Thought & the Civilization of Islam: Essays in Honor of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas (Kuala Lumpur: UTM, 2010), pp. 119--134.

In light of this consideration, the study of the Ghazalian Tahafut and its creative re-articulation in contemporary philosophical, sociological and scientific terms, should be madefardu 'ayn on all who are studying, teaching, researching or practicing the western sciences. For the real intellectual battleground for Muslims in the modern age is not puerile neo-Wahhabism or neo-Mu’tazilism, but the neo-Dahrism of the western sciences which they all gleefully imbibe, including those who are right now sitting at the feet of the great livingshuyukhs of our time in Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Morrocco, Tarim, Malaysia and India, drinking from the wellsprings of tradition.

They gleefully imbibe the western sciences without fathoming the subtle neo-Dahrism lurking within these sciences because they lack the conceptual framework to be able do so. And this “conceptual framework to be able do so” is the kalam of the age, and the mutakallimun of this age need to develop and elaborate it. When I say “gleefully,” it is the gleeful innocence and naivete of those who do not have a clue as to what they are actually imbibing as "education" or "knowledge" or "skills" in modern universities. Yes, gleeful, precisely because they are unwitting intellectual victims of that grand, elaborate charade called science, technology and economics. The Tabah Foundation nanotech “position paper” is one instance, another is a “sufi” biomedical friend who fail to see anything wrong with vivisection, or that one with his MBA studies and forthcoming Wall Street job, or the thousands teaching, researching and working in so-called Islamic Banking and Finance. At IIUM I can multiply these instances to the thousands by first hand experience.

The great task of these students and scholars is to approach these western sciences investigatively (tabayyun) by systemically constructing and elaborating a conceptual or intellectual framework through which the tradition can be brought to bear creatively and critically on the western sciences, or shall they go on allowing the tradition to be intellectually impotent and acquiescently silent in the face of an arrogant and aggressive neo-Dahrism? The fault then lies not within the tradition but within their own minds and hearts. What I say here is nothing new, for even the conscientious thinkers of the West are making this very same indictment of their own intellectual edifice (“wa shahiduu 'alaa anfusihim”) such as Heidegger, Serge Latouche, et al.

Knowing the tradition alone is not enough, for the carriers of this tradition must also know how to read the “situation of the age” (ahwal al-‘asr) that they may bring the former to bear creatively and critically on the latter, and thereby avoid falling into the pitfalls of nihilistic neo-Dahrism (call it evolution, progress, historicism, growth, development, whatever). I’m calling it neo-Dahrism, so we may be shocked to real intellectual and educational action and not reduce the kalam discourse to merely a means to whack the puerile Wahhabis; let them be childish with their silly ramblings, but we simply have to move on. The Wahhabis and the neo-Mu’tazilis are mosquitoes, and at times we have to really smack them, but the neo-Dahris are the real monsters, but where are our kalam champions to be called into mortal combat against these monsters?

The whole problem with neo-Dahrism is that it does not present itself to us as heresy and we don’t see it as such, but to see it as such is to revive the kalam jadid of the Ghazalian Tahafut and the Fakhrurazian Matalib. Failing to do so may not necessarily render us formal neo-Dahris (i.e., self-conscious believers in secular progress), but we’ll be neo-Dahris in practice all the same because the neo-Dahrist disciplines we imbibe in the universities present themselves to us as value-neutral objective truth, and we are gullible enough to accept that presentation, lock, stock and barrel. In brief the heresy of the age demands a kalam of the age to expose its true face to all thinking Muslims who care enough about reviving the tradition and organizing their personal, communal & civilizational life on it.

Metafora Melayu

2010-02-10T03:47:00.002+07:00

oleh Meutia Fauziah

“Siapa mencipak air, terkenalah ia wajahnya sendiri,” tentu pepatah ini tak lagi asing bagi kita. Itu adalah pengibaratan melalui pola yang kita tahu pada sifat air yang kita kenai dengan akibat yang didapat oleh seseorang karena perbuatannya sendiri. Pemetaan hubungan antara kedua pola yang kita pahami tersebut adalah untuk pemudahan suatu konsep abstrak dalam kehidupan kita. Itulah metafora, bagian dari gejala bahasa sebagai pengungkapan khusus yang bukan sekadar bahasa biasa. Metafora terbentuk semenjak pikiran kita berproses secara konseptual. Ia tidak hanya ujaran secara literal. Bukan pula hanya alat untuk menyampaikan pesan dalam komunikasi keseharian. Metafora menjadi suatu proses berbahasa yang unik yang tercipta oleh pikiran-pikiran kreatif.

Tidak jauh dari pembahasan mengenai berbahasa dan metafora, adalah soal kesusastraan. Karena bentuk-bentuk indah berbahasa biasa kita temukan dalam tulisan-tulisan sastra pada masa kini atau kitab pada masa lalu. Meski pada perkembangannya, pembahasan metafora tidak selesai pada fungsi figuratifnya saja, melainkan telah pula terstruktur dalam pikiran kita dalam pemahaman bahasa secara keseluruhan. Namun, demikian pula sastra pada pengertian dasarnya bukan sekadar tulisan indah, tetapi juga bermafaat, dan bermakna dalam.

Braginsky, seorang orientaslis pengamat sastra Melayu mengungkapkan sejak datangnya Islam, ”tasawuf kitab” dan ”sastra kitab” secara umum telah memberikan kontribusi yang signifikan di dalam transformasi sastra Melayu. Karya-karya yang telah tertransformasi tersebut, yang disebut tasawuf puitik, menyediakan serangkaian simbol-simbol meditatif. Simbol-simbol tersebut seolah-olah mendefinisikan konsep-konsep tasawuf tertentu yang tidak melibatkan kegiatan logika. Di lain pihak, pengaruh ”tasawuf puitik” terhdap sastra Melayu klasik pada umumnya juga sangat mendalam. Dari kalangan Sufi ini jugalah telah lahir bentuk puisi tertulis Melayu yang pokok, yaitu syair.

Latar belakang tersebut menjadi dasar yang kuat bagi pembentukan konsep metafora dalam teks bahasa Melayu. Za’ba mengartikan metafora Melayu sebagai peribahasa yang menyebutkan suatu maksud dengan diumpamakan atau dikiaskan kepada suatu perkara lain dan oleh karena itu menjadi dua lapis arti. Menurutnya metafora Melayu dibagi menjadi beberapa jenis, misalnya metafora yang dibentuk melalui perumpamaan atau perbandingan, atau jenis yang bersifat analogis yang disampaikan melalui pelbagai jenis simpulan bahasa, peribahasa, pepatah, bahasa kiasan dan sindiran, bidalan, tamsil ibarat, metonimi, dan personifikasi.

Pembagian jenis metafora Melayu tidak mempunyai batas yang jelas sebagai pemisahan yang satu dengan yang lainnya. Hal tersebut disebabkan proses mental yang mendasar dalam pembentukan metafora Melayu adalah proses analogi atau perbandingan dan perumpamaan. Perkara penting yang digarisbawahi adalah bahwa ungkapan metafora konseptual tersebut tidak saja lahir secara spontan, tetapi berdarkan pengalaman yang berkepanjangan dan melalui renungan akliah pemikir Melayu berinteraksi dengan alam sekelilingnya.

Dua hal penting yang diungkapkan Za’ba dalam memahami pembentukan metafora Melayu adalah tiap-tiap peribahasa yang telah terbentuk pada suatu bangsa diuji kebenarannya dengan dirasai atau dilihat sendiri beberapa lama, dengan proses mula-mula sebutan itu keluar dari mulut seseorang yang bijak dan pantas pikirannya. Perkataan tersebut ringkas dan memenuhi tujuan, mengandung suatu kebenaran yang telah dirasakan atau telah diperhatikannya. Kandungan kebenaran tersebut telah diperhatikannya dengan cermat dan juga berlaku pada diri orang-orang lain. Lalu apabila orang-orang menerimanya dengan baik dengan berkenan untuk mendengarkannya, maka akan dipakai secara berulang-ulang dan disampaikan dari satu ke yang lainnya secara berkesinambungan.

Hasaan Ahmad lebih lanjut mengelaborasi tiga proses dalam pembetukan pemikiran Melayu melalui metafora dari dua paparan Za’ba tersebut, yaitu:
1. Metafora dan hasil pemikiran Melayu terbentuk melalui proses pengalaman, akliah, dan renungan intuisi atau ”rasa hati”.
2. Metafora Melayu dibentuk oleh manusia Melayu yang bijak dan pantas pikirannya.
3. Metafora Melayu menghasilkan suatu sistem pandangan hidup bersama bangsa Melayu atau sistem rangkaian sosial pemikiran Melayu melalui evolusi sosial.

Jika ingin melihat kebijaksanaan masyarakat suatu bangsa, lihatlah bahasanya. Terutama melalui ungkapan-ungkapan metaforanya. Dalam hal ini metafora mempunyai kedudukan penting karena ia mencerminkan pola pikir sebuah bangsa yang terlandasi oleh pandangan alamnya sendiri. Ungkapan-ungkapan metaforis mengandung gagasan yang semenjak pembentukkannya terlandaskan oleh pandangan hidup sebuah peradaban. Tidak hanya itu, gagasan yang termaktub dalam sebuah metafora adalah refleksi filosofis dari sebuah kebudayaan. Jika Melayu sebagai sebuah bangsa mempunyai banyak ungkapan metaforis yang bernilai tinggi, maka hendaknya ada pelestarian juga pemahaman secara mendalam untuk menakar kebijaksanaan dalam kehidupannya. Hal itu pula lah kalau dapat direnungkan, lagi kan banyak muncul ungkapan metafora dengan gagasan-gagasan cerdas dan berlimu yang dapat bermanfaat bagi ummat.

Sumber:
Ahmad, Hassan. 2003. Metafora Melayu: Bagaimana Pemikir Melayu Mencipta Makna dan Membentuk Epistimologinya. Malaysia: Akademi Kajian Ketamadunan.
Braginsky, V.I..1998. Yang Indah, Berfaedah, dan Kamal: Sejarah Sastra Melayu dalam Abad VII-IX. Jakarta: INIS.
Danesi, Marcel and Paul Perron. 1999. Analyzing Culture An Introduction and
Handbook. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University.
Knowles, Murray and Rosemund Moon. 2006. Introducing Metaphor. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.

The Celestine Insights

2010-02-10T03:43:00.001+07:00

By James Redfield

THE FIRST INSIGHT . . . A CRITICAL MASS

A new spiritual awakening is occurring in human culture, an awakening brought about by a critical mass of individuals who experience their lives as a spiritual unfolding, a journey in which we are led forward by mysterious coincidences.

THE SECOND INSIGHT . . . THE LONGER NOW

This awakening represents the creation of a new, more complete worldview, which replaces a five-hundred-year-old preoccupation with secular survival and comfort. While this technological preoccupation was an important step, our awakening to life's coincidences is opening us up to the real purpose of human life on this planet, and the real nature of our universe.

THE THIRD INSIGHT . . . A MATTER OF ENERGY

We now experience that we live not in a material universe, but in a universe of dynamic energy. Everything extant is a field of sacred energy that we can sense and intuit. Moreover, we humans can project our energy by focusing our attention in the desired direction...where attention goes, energy flows...influencing other energy systems and increasing the pace of coincidences in our lives.

THE FOURTH INSIGHT . . . THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER

Too often humans cut themselves off from the greater source of this energy and so feel weak and insecure. To gain energy we tend to manipulate or force others to give us attention and thus energy. When we successfully dominate others in this way, we feel more powerful, but they are left weakened and often fight back. Competition for scarce, human energy is the cause of all conflict between people.

THE FIFTH INSIGHT . . . THE MESSAGE OF THE MYSTICS

Insecurity and violence ends when we experience an inner connection with divine energy within, a connection described by mystics of all traditions. A sense of lightness--buoyancy--along with the constant sensation of love are measures of this connection. If these measures are present, the connection is real. If not, it is only pretended.

THE SIXTH INSIGHT . . . CLEARING THE PAST

The more we stay connected, the more we are acutely aware of those times when we lose connection, usually when we are under stress. In these times, we can see our own particular way of stealing energy from others. Once our manipulations are brought to personal awareness, our connection becomes more constant and we can discover our own growth path in life, and our spiritual mission--the personal way we can contribute to the world.

THE SEVENTH INSIGHT . . . ENGAGING THE FLOW

Knowing our personal mission further enhances the flow of mysterious coincidences as we are guided toward our destinies. First we have a question; then dreams, daydreams, and intuitions lead us towards the answers, which usually are synchronistically provided by the wisdom of another human being.

THE EIGHTH INSIGHT . . . THE INTERPERSONAL ETHIC

We can increase the frequency of guiding coincidences by uplifting every person that comes into our lives. Care must be taken not to lose our inner connection in romantic relationships. Uplifting others is especially effective in groups where each member can feel energy of all the others. With children it is extremely important for their early security and growth. By seeing the beauty in every face, we lift others into their wisest self, and increase the chances of hearing a synchronistic message.

THE NINTH INSIGHT . . . THE EMERGING CULTURE

As we all evolve toward the best completion of our spiritual missions, the technological means of survival will be fully automated as humans focus instead on synchronistic growth. Such growth will move humans into higher energy states, ultimately transforming our bodies into spiritual form and uniting this dimension of existence with the after-life dimension, ending the cycle of birth and death.

THE TENTH INSIGHT . . . HOLDING THE VISION

The Tenth Insight is the realization that throughout history human beings have been unconsciously struggling to implement this lived spirituality on Earth. Each of us comes here on assignment, and as we pull this understanding into consciousness, we can remember a fuller birth vision of what we wanted to accomplish with our lives. Further we can remember a common world vision of how we will all work together to create a new spiritual culture. We know that our challenge is to hold this vision with intention and prayer everyday.

THE ELEVENTH INSIGHT . . . EXTENDING PRAYER FIELDS

The Eleventh Insight is the precise method through which we hold the vision. For centuries, religious scriptures, poems, and philosophies have pointed to a latent power of mind within all of us that mysteriously helps to affect what occurs in the future. It has been called faith power, positive thinking, and the power of prayer. We are now taking this power seriously enough to bring a fuller knowledge of it into public awareness. We are finding that this prayer power is a field of intention, which moves out from us and can be extended and strengthened, especially when we connect with others in a common vision. This is the power through which we hold the vision of a spiritual world and build the energy in ourselves and in others to make this vision a reality.

Hening

2010-02-10T03:35:00.000+07:00

oleh Mutiara

Hening di sini pada pelataran hati
Kembara desau cinta bertepi-tepi
Menyelubung hangat bertautan
Memeluk lirih derai malam
dan di ujung lorong itu lilin temaram

STIGMA

2010-02-09T11:12:00.002+07:00

Oleh Khayrurrijal

Kadang-kadang manusia merasakan dirinya terjepit oleh kata-katanya sendiri. Coba bayangkan seseorang yang mengatakan bahwa "Kebenaran itu tidak ada" terjepit dengan nilai kebenaran dari pernyataan itu. Tentu saja, pernyataan itu harus benar. jika tidak, maka hanya omong kosong.

Jepit-menjepit dengan kata akan menghubungkan kita dengan beberapa istilah misalnya, stigma, tanda, merek, dan brand. Kata-kata yang digunakan pun seringkali berkonotasi negatif, ejekan, peyorasi, dan perendahan. Dalam hal ini, seseorang yang disematkan stigma akan dinilai sebagai pesakitan. Ia dibicarakan dari jauh, dari mulut-ke-mulut, pandangan masyarakat pun miring. Inilah yang akan diderita oleh pribadi yang distigma oleh pihak lain.

Stigma yang kuat seringkali terhubung dengan kekuatan kekuasaan, media, dan atau sosial. Dengan kepemilikan itu semua, seseorang mampu membunuh karakter dengan sempurna, sembari menyematkan karakter buatan pihak penstigma. Tentu saja, stigma dibuat beserta tindakan sosial, politik, atau kultural. Sebab, hanya dengan inilah penstigmaan mencapai tujuannya.

Memang, stigma itu dibuat antar kelompok yang memiliki konflik. Sekarang ini, ada banyak produksi stigma seperti, ”neoliberal”, ”liberal”, ”sekuler”, ”fundamentalis”. Hal ini pun sering dinilai hanya mengeruhkan pertukaran pendapat, atau bahkan memustahilkannya.

Nampaknya, semuanya dapat terjerat oleh stigma, bahkan diri pembuatnya sendiri. Dan dengan demikian menjadi sebuah persoalan the devil circle.

Akan tetapi, melulu reduksi seperti itu memang terjadi karena ada hal-hal penting lain yang diabaikan. Apakah itu? Itu adalah tentang wewenang individu, Tuhan, dan kebenaran.

Cobalah memikirkan tentang seseorang yang memberikan nama atau julukan pada dirinya sendiri. Hal ini seperti kasus penamaan diri Fundamentalisme yang dilakukan oleh orang-orang Protestan di

Amerika. Pamflet mereka yang berjudul The Fundamentals itu dimaksudkan sebagai sesuatu yang bernilai positif. Tentu saja, kini Fundamentalisme telah berkonotasi menyeramkan dan menjadi stigma di seluruh dunia. Ini hanya satu contoh di antara banyak contoh lainnya misalnya, Sosialisme, Komunisme, Leninisme, Kapitalisme, dan Liberalisme. Ini adalah contoh riil tentang penamaan diri sendiri oleh diri sendiri.

Kemudian, hal lain yang diabaikan adalah Tuhan. Bagaimana tentang Kabar dari Tuhan yang menyebut satu kelompok manusia dengan sebutan mu'min dan yang lainnya dengan sebutan kafir. Jelas, penyebutan ini disertai dengan karakter masing-masing dan balasan yang akan diterima di akhirat. Jika dikontraskan lebih lanjut, kelompok itu bisa disebut kelompok Kebaikan dan Keburukan. Dan jelas pula, bahwa manusia tidak menginginkan keburukan bagi dirinya. Tuhan adalah Yang Maha Baik. Ia mengetahui yang terbaik bagi manusia. Dan kebaikan itu disampaikan lewat Kabar-Nya kepada Utusan-Nya.

Hal lain yang juga terhubung dengan Tuhan adalah kebenaran. Tuhan juga bernama al-Haqq, Yang Maha Benar-Nyata. Maka apa yang disampaikan-Nya itu adalah kebenaran. Pengelompokkan yang dibuat-Nya itu juga adalah sebuah kebenaran penting yang harus diperhatikan oleh manusia. Terlebih, jika manusia itu menginginkan kebaikan sejati.

Hanya saja, yang perlu diingat juga adalah sifat tidak rigidnya pengelompokkan itu. Tuhan sangat memudahkan manusia untuk memilih jalannya masing-masing. Pintu taubat pun disediakan dan diganjar
kebaikan dan kesucian bagi yang melakukannya. Hanya saja, orang-orang berotoritas atau orang-orang berilmu harus mengawasi orang-orang yang masih dengan sengaja menjelek-jelekkan orang-orang yang sudah bertaubat. Jika Tuhan Yang Maha Pengampun saja sudah memaafkan, lantas kesalahan seharusnya menjadi pelajaran, dan pelajaran bukan untuk dicemooh.

Stigma dari Tuhan adalah anugerah untuk mengingatkan manusia kepada jalan yang benar dan baik bagi dirinya sendiri. Akan tetapi, bahkan bagi orang yang distigma kafir pun, terdapat keharusan bagi mu'min untuk memperlakukannya dengan baik. Meskipun stigma Tuhan melekat, tetapi tidak menghalangi mu'min untuk berbuat baik kepada mereka. Jadi, alih-alih menjepit dengan kata, stigma dari Tuhan justru menjadi pengingat menuju kesejatian. Sungguh, stigma dari Tuhan adalah sebaik-baik stigma.

Awalnya...

2010-02-06T10:55:00.002+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

awalnya kusangka masalah dasar kita adalah politik...
awalnya kusangka masalah dasar kita adalah ekonomi....
awalnya kusangka masalah dasar kita adalah sosial, budaya...
tapi kusalah.....itu hanya mimpi....yang menghijab....
nyatanya masalah dasar itu adalah pengetahuan.....yang diwesternisasi, sadar atau tidak, yang mungkin dilakukan kita, lewat bahasa, pikiran menggunakannya untuk melihat dunia.....
mungkin ini tidak sederhana, tapi ini jauh lebih sederhana dari hanya menyelesaikan masalah pada tingkat "buah" bukan pada tingkat "akar"...
bagi yang tersinggung atau merasa....
lihat dengan kesadaran apakah itu akan membuka hijab atau membiarkannya tertutup.....
jangan mulai dengan keraguan, tapi kepasrahan...
jangan berakhir dengan kebimbangan, tapi keyakinan....
jika ragumu tidak beralasan, maka minta obat pada Rabbmu
jika bimbangmu tidak beralasan, maka sadarlah akan keterbatasan...

Berkenalan dengan Cinta, Bagian 1

2010-02-06T10:13:00.007+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

ku bertemu dengan Cinta
tertarik hati tuk mengenalnya
karna nampaknya ia tiada terlihat lelah
tiada terlihat sehabis dari perjalanan

ku duduk dalam takzim
hendak bertanya:
"dari mana asalmu?"
tapi ia sudah menyapa dan menjawab:
"Assalaamu'alaikum. Namaku Cinta. Aku dari atas sana."

sudah kuduga ia bukan dari sini
tapi dari sana
tapi, bukankah yang di sini pun berasal dari sana

ku pinta padanya:
"ceritakan padaku tentang dirimu."

Cinta berkata:
"sudahkah kau mengenal Dunia? dia adalah kerabatku. seandainya kau belum mengenalnya. kamu tidak akan dapat mengenalku, meskipun ku ceritakan tentang diriku."

"lalu, sudahkah kau mengenal Alam? oh, dia adalah sahabat baikku. dia selalu menjadi penunjuk kepada siapapun yang memperhatikannya dengan baik. ia akan menunjukkan jalannya, termasuk menuju diriku. jika kamu belum mengenalnya, aku pun tidak dapat kau pahami."

"bagaimana dengan orangtuamu? leluhurmu? banyak dari mereka yang sudah mengenalku. meskipun, mereka tidak dapat mengenalkanku langsung kepadamu. mereka hanya dapat membimbing kamu untuk mengenalku. mereka adalah sejarahmu. kenali mereka. tidak ada pohon yang tumbuh baik, jika akarnya terpotong. seandainya kamu belum mengenal mereka, kamu tidak akan mengenaliku."

Aku pun berpikir keras...

mengapa untuk mengenali Cinta, aku harus mengenali itu semua?
"apa gunanya?", batinku.

tiba-tiba Cinta menjawab tanya itu:
"apakah kamu berpikir hal-hal tadi tiada berguna? coba kamu pikirkan lagi, dengan sabar dan perlahan."

"oh iya, kamu sudah kenal dengan keluarga Manusia. itulah mereka. kebetulan mereka sedang lewat di sekitar sini. mari ku kenalkan kepada mereka."

"yang pertama ini bernama Ruh Manusia. yang kedua bernama Akal Manusia. yang ketiga bernama Hati Manusia.
yang keempat bernama Nafsu Manusia. mereka semua tinggal di sebuah rumah. rumah mereka sering disebut Rumah Jasmani."

"mereka semua ini saudara kembar. menarik bukan. kamu harus lebih mengenal mereka. berkunjunglah ke rumah mereka. tapi, jangan hanya berkeliling di halaman rumah. masuklah ke dalamnya. eh, tetapi jangan lupa mengucapkan salam."

aku bertanya: "memang apa yang terjadi jika tidak mengucapkan salam?"

Cinta menjawab: "kamu mungkin akan menemui mereka sedang dalam kondisi yang tidak baik untuk dikunjungi. kacau, berantakan, banyak benda-benda yang tidak pada tempatnya. meskipun, mungkin saja kamu bertemu mereka sedang dalam kondisi baik. tapi, mengucapkan salam akan membuat mereka sadar bahwa ada tamu istimewa, yaitu Pria Salam, begitu mereka menyebutnya."

Aku heran, "Pria Salam?"

Cinta menjawab, "ya, Pria Salam. sebab, keluarga Manusia itu telah dipesankan oleh Tuannya, untuk menjamu Pria Salam dengan sangat baik. Pria Salam adalah tamu istimewa."

"Oh begitu!", seruku.

Cinta melanjutkan, "tapi jangan lupa untuk mengenali mereka satu per satu. pertama kali, kamu akan bertemu dengan Nafsu. Ia seringkali terlihat membawa bahan makanan sambil berkeliling rumah. ia tidak pernah tertidur. selalu berkeliling dan berkeliling."

"tapi, Nafsu itu jika sedang diganggu Pengusik dari luar rumah, maka potensinya untuk merusak menjadi terlihat. itulah mengapa Nafsu saat berkeliling sering terlihat mengenakan rantai kemuliaan yang dibuat oleh Tuannya. rantai inilah yang diawasi dan dikendalikan oleh Hati Manusia."

"sebelum aku bercerita tentang Hati, sebaiknya ku ceritakan terlebih dahulu tentang Akal Manusia. Akal itu tinggal di lantai dua rumah Jasmani. yang cukup menarik dari Akal, adalah fasilitas di lantainya itu. di lantainya terdapat fasilitas receiver dan transmitter. ia sangat terbantu oleh kesan-kesan yang masuk ke dalam rumah. Jendela rumah difungsikan menjadi perekam visual. lubang angin, cerobong, difungsikan untuk merekam suara dan bau. oh iya, dinding rumah pun difungsikan sebagai pendeteksi tekstur."

"setelah masuk ke dalam rumah, semua kabar itu akan diproses oleh alat yang dibuat Akal. sebuah alat yang menggabungkan seluruh kabar itu. setelah itu, kabar-kabar itu akan dimasukkan ke dalam alat olah imajinasi untuk distempel dan diklasifikasi. kabar-kabar itu pun kemudian diproses di sebuah alat digital yang canggih, yang dapat Memotraksi. istilah ini diciptakan Akal untuk menyebut MemotretAbstraksi. setelah berada di alat Memotraksi, dihasilkan sesuatu yang lebih universal dari sebuah kabar. dan Memotraksi ini pun bisa dilakukan lagi kepada hasil potretan pertama itu."

Aku kagum, sekaligus bingung, "Wah... A..ku...baru tahu..."

Cinta berhenti sejenak. sambil menerima sebuah panggilan yang entah darimana, ia mengangguk-angguk dan tersenyum. "Baiklah, mari kita lanjutkan", jelasnya.

"Nah, itu adalah Akal Manusia di lantainya. yang ketiga adalah Hati Manusia. Hati adalah seorang yang halus. Ia juga adalah penanggungjawab rumah Jasmani. semuanya harus tunduk kepadanya. jika tidak, rumah Jasmani pun binasa."

"Tugas Hati sebagai pemimpin sejati, tentu disertai dengan perlengkapan yang memadai. Nafsu dan Akal pun ditugaskan membantunya. Hati juga memakai sebuah mahkota yang terbuat dari emas. itu hanya sebuah tanda mengenali kemuliaannya. tapi, kamu harus lihat tentang dirinya. dirinya itulah yang mulia. hanya saja, tanda-tanda kemuliaannya menjadi penting bagi orang-orang yang baru bisa melihat pada tanda, bukan jiwa."

"Hati tinggal di lantai tiga. ia selalu mengawasi seluruh rumah. meskipun kadang Nafsu, yang sangat dekat dengan Pengusik, terkadang melakukan makar. yah begitulah."

Aku bertanya, "memangnya ada konflik di keluarga Manusia?"

Cinta menjawab, "ya, ada. konflik ini sering terjadi antara Nafsu dengan seluruh anggota keluarga. sebab, seperti sudah ku bilang, Nafsu adalah yang paling dekat dengan Pengusik."

"Aku penasaran dengan si Pengusik ini. siapa dia?" tanyaku.

"Pengusik ini bisa dalam bentuk bisikan dari luar rumah. atau terkadang masuk ke dalam rumah Jasmani, selalu tanpa mengucapkan salam. atau dari rumah lain di lingkungan ini, yang sudah terpengaruh atau menjadi anggota kelompok Pengusik."

"Oh begitu", ujarku sambil mengangguk.

"Baiklah, ku lanjutkan", jelas Cinta.

"Hati Manusia banyak sekali memperhatikan lintasan-lintasan yang ada di dalam rumah. lintasan ini bisa saja muncul dari Pengusik yang memasukkannya lewat Nafsu, atau dari rumah-rumah di langit, atau lewat mata air di dalam rumah. Hati pun siap untuk menerima apa saja yang diberikan oleh Tuannya. pemberian Tuannya itu dapat berubah Kitab, Angin sejuk, Aroma Wangi, Melodi indah, dan Kehalusan. Hati pula yang menerima tamu-tamu seperti diriku ini", ujar Cinta. "Hati juga kadang menerima tamu seperti Takut, dan lain-lain. tetapi, sesungguhnya semua tamu itu selalu membawa hadiah dari Tuannya. sebab, tamu-tamu itu memang diutus Tuannya. hanya saja, untuk menerima hadiah tersebut, Hati harus berbaik sangka kepada Tuannya. jika tidak, maka ia akan merasa merugi dan mencela dirinya sendiri."

"dan anggota keluarga terakhir adalah Ruh Manusia. Pengenalan orang terhadapnya sesungguhnya hanya sedikit. yang diketahui orang pun hanya sebatas apa yang disampaikan oleh Tuan Rumah Jasmani itu kepada Hati. tetapi ingat, ini bukan berarti bahwa Hati itu sudah tahu sebelumnya. Hati hanya diberitahu dan meriwayatkannya. Hati tidak membuat-buatnya."

"kembali kepada Ruh. Ruh itu tinggal di lantai tanpa lantai. ia pun tidak pernah terlihat ataupun terdengar. tetapi, seluruh anggota keluarga sangat sadar keberadaannya. Ia tidak berada di dalam rumah atau pun di luar rumah. bahkan, ia tidak akan pernah meninggal ketika rumah Jasmani runtuh. hal inilah yang kadang membuat Ruh, dikatakan sebagai mitos atau legenda. ia tidak pernah ada. ini kabar yang ku dengar dari negara mentari terbenam."

"tentang Ruh, mungkin hanya itu yang baru bisa kukatakan kepadamu", terang Cinta.

"lalu bagaimana tentang dirimu?", tanyaku.

"Kamu harus mengenal mereka terlebih dahulu. usai itu, nanti kita akan bertemu lagi, jika Dikehendaki. Aku harus pergi. Assalaamu'alaikum", Cinta mengucapkan itu sambil berdiri lalu melangkahkan kaki menuju ke arah tanpa arah.

sedangkan aku, terpesona dengan penjelasannya tentang jalan mengenalnya. tapi, tetap saja dirinyalah yang ingin ku ketahui. mungkin suatu saat nanti...suatu saat nanti...kita akan bertemu lagi.

Alasan Penciptaan

2010-02-04T12:49:00.001+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

Dia tidak butuh siapa
Dia tidak butuh apa
Dia tidak butuh mengapa
Dia tidak butuh bagaimana
Dia tidak butuh kapan
Dia tidak butuh dimana

Selain-Nya lah yang butuhkan-Nya
Selain-Nya lah yang mengabdi-Nya
Selain-Nya lah yang ma'rifati-Nya

Banyak makhluk yang buta bertanya
"apa gerangan alasan-Nya mencipta?"
Nampaknya mereka tidak puas dengan Kitab Mulia
Padahal mereka kan Kenal dari menghamba

Kehidupan ini untuk mengenal-Nya
tapi, kita hanya banyak diberitahu tentang kita
bukan Dia
Terserah kepada-Nya untuk BerCerita
Cerita yang pasti baik untuk kita

Dia tidak butuh penghambaan
Dia tidak butuh Pengenalan
Kebutuhan hanya dimiliki makhluk-Nya

Cukuplah bagi kami apa yang Engkau Berikan
Engkau tiada dapat dipahami oleh kefanaan

Kamuflase dan Ketidakadilan

2010-02-03T08:30:00.002+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

Ketidakadilan memang dapat saja dilakukan atas nama keadilan bagi orang banyak. Sebuah kamuflase atas keinginan hewaniah manusia. Hal ini ironis. mengingat diri manusia menjadi sejati bukan disebabkan faktor kehewanan itu.

Kamuflase ini lambat laun dianggap sebagai realitas. orang-orang tidak lagi mampu mengenali jati diri ketidakadilan. Bahkan, di titik ekstrem, keadilan pun dikeluarkan dari "keanggotaan" realitas. keadilan hanyalah angan manusia. hal itu hanya berita yang disampaikan dari masa lalu, yang diklaim berasal dari Tuhan. ditambah dengan sinisme dan sekularisasi terhadap Tuhan, maka keadilan pun mudah dienyahkan dari kesadaran manusia. Keadilan ditolak dan hanya ada ketidakadilan. keadilan sangat relatif, tapi ketidakadilan bernilai absolut. Hal ini seperti sebuah "perayaan" yang berlebihan terhadap intervensi manusia kepada segala sesuatu. bahkan, Tuhan pun menjadi tidak ada, atau minimal relatif. Sebab, yang ada hanyalah pemahaman tentang Tuhan, dan ini tidak berarti bahwa Tuhan itu ada. Dalam benak orang seperti ini ungkapan, "Bukankah manusialah yang menciptakan Tuhan?" atau "Teologi hanyalah sublimasi antropologi" menjadi lumrah.

Akan tetapi, ada hal yang aneh. Ketidakadilan diafirmasi. Ketidakadilan adalah penindasan, dan ini harus diselesaikan. Sebab, penyelesaiannya adalah sebuah keadilan?! Aneh bukan. Cara berpikir semacam ini justru membawa seseorang ke hadapan "pintu" yang semula dihindari, bukan seperti multi-"pintu" dalam pikiran poststrukturalis. Ah, mungkin keadilan yang hendak dicapai hanya keadilan fragmentaris. Cukup itu saja. Pencapaian mungkin bukan lagi utama. setelah sampai, maka horizon kehidupan masih terus bergerak. Tiada kata "sampai" yang sesungguhnya. Akan tetapi, bukankah ini justru melemahkan semangat pencapaian? Atau ini sesungguhnya adalah afirmasi terakhir terhadap kehidupan. Tragis!

Ketika kamuflase membuat ketidakjelasan menjadi atmosfer dominan, banyak orang menjadi "sesak napas". Gelombang massa begitu melarutkan, bahkan memiliki efek "morfin". Ya, mungkin ini memang dibutuhkan oleh mereka yang tragis. Dengan "morfin" mereka melepaskan segala cemas, takut, dan kematian. Meskipun, mereka pasti akan kembali sadar, bukan!

Memang orang yang tidak membaca kitab suci sekalipun merasa kebutuhan akan keabsolutan. Sebab, ayat-ayat dirinya tiada pernah berubah, namun hanya dinafikan. Ia "kafir" dan "dustai" dirinya sendiri. Kitab suci memang bukan kesukaan orang-orang macam ini. "Cukuplah dengan pikiran dan kesepakatan", begitu ujarnya. Tetapi, mereka pun sadar bahwa "mata" pikiran mereka itu terjangkiti "minus". Mereka "rabun" dekat dan jauh, lalu bersegera menilai realitas, dengan kondisi mereka yang “sakit”. Aneh! seharusnya mereka coba memakai "kacamata" yang diturunkan Tuhan. Mereka mungkin tidak suka. Akan tetapi, coba pakai terlebih dahulu! dan berhentilah menragedikan kehidupan ini.

Kamuflase memang sering dilakukan oleh orang-orang yang berkuasa. Hak dan wewenang menjadi sangat "indah" untuk diperagakan dengan cara yang congkak. Godaan untuk testcase pun sangat menawan hati.

Kamuflase mengingatkan kepada topeng, persembunyian. Hal ini sangat terkait dengan perlindungan diri, membenarkan diri. Sebab, jika tertampil nafsu diri, maka merasa diri layaknya akan mati. Bunglon adalah salah satu hewan yang berkamuflase. menariknya, kamuflase sering dilakukan oleh orang berkuasa. Aneh, bukankah mereka tidak perlu bersembunyi. Takutkah mereka? Kepada siapa?
Seandainya para penguasa itu berkaca pada bunglon, mungkin mereka akan malu. Jika mereka berpikir dengan sembunyi mereka bisa bahagia, maka mereka keliru. Jika mereka berpikir bahwa tiada yang dapat memandang tembus menerobos kamuflase itu, maka mereka pun keliru. Nampaknya mereka berusaha memuaskan diri dengan realitas kosong karya sendiri, bahwa mereka tersembunyi dan kuat! Padahal mereka lemah dan selalu terlihat!

Cinta

2010-02-03T07:01:00.001+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

Cinta dikenalkan Tuhan
kepada manusia
lewat makhlukNya, khususnya manusia

untuk apa Tuhan mengenalkan cinta?

untuk apa?

ada orang yang membuang saja rasa cinta
di tempat "sampah"
di sudut-sudut "rumah"
di asingkan ke tempat antah berantah
karena diduga belum saatnya

tapi, untuk apa Tuhan mengenalkan cinta?

ada orang yang menikmati cinta
menuju "tepian"nya
menyentuh "ombak"nya
lalu hanyut dan tenggelam...

tapi, ini cinta untuk siapa?

ada orang yang berlari dari cinta
ada orang yang berlari menuju cinta
tapi, banyak yang lupa
cinta kepada makhluk-Nya adalah tangga

Limitasi

2010-02-03T06:49:00.001+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

limitasi punya banyak "saudara", "keturunan", dan "nenek moyang".
cobalah berkenalan lebih lanjut!
pasti kau akan temukan Indah.

stage

2010-02-03T06:44:00.000+07:00

by khayrurrijal

well, you are the protagonist
on your own stage performance.
and all that you did is part of that great show.
even, if you didn't move at all.

Success and wake up

2010-02-03T06:31:00.000+07:00

by khayrurijal

success also meant that we could wake up again
in the better world.
and make a pray,
"alhamdulllahilladzi, ahyana ba'dama, amatana wailahinsyur."
and continuing this life,
even the night before, we decide to quit on something. :)

Boundary and Trip

2010-01-30T13:14:00.000+07:00

oleh khayrurrijal

the boundary...
find it in the deep of inside the knowledge

it is not about the boundary,
but about completeness.
because there is a "Place"
that even the word horizon can not enter.

take a trip, it doesn't meant that all is horizon.
take a trip, can also meant take a trip with finality.

finality is important to guide the trip,
to interpret the horizon of life,
of creation that every time of atom made by God.

eventhough there is called change,
the truth is
that change is only a shadow...

Do You (really) Believe in Allah?

2010-01-29T10:21:00.002+07:00

by MD ASHAM AHMAD
(diambil dari rausyanfikir.com)

Everybody knows “Allah” is not a Malay word but nobody would question a Malay using the word to refer to the god that he or she worships because Malays are Muslims, and all Muslims of all nations call Him with this name because He says in the Qur’an that that is His name, and He is to be addressed with that name.

Now we are here talking about “naming” god; we can’t afford to have it wrong. Even ordinary people would feel offended (let alone people like the royalties, politicians or film stars) if their names are not pronounced correctly. Just imagine what they would feel if wrong names or titles were attributed to them!

But why must there be a need to “name” Him in the first place? Should not He, if He ever revealed anything, reveal His own name? And if there is anything worthy of being called the word of god, His name should not be unknown because how can one ever find god if even His name is not known to him?

Muslims do not create names for god or borrow names from whatever language to refer to god. They are not used to that kind of practice because even the name of their religion, i.e. Islam, and the name of those who submit to god by following that religion, i.e. Muslim (pl. Muslimun) are given by Allah Himself, not their own creation, let alone the outsiders. Hence, they do not accept when the Christians called them Mohammedans, and their religion Mohammedanism.

Firstly, Muhammad to the Muslims is not what Jesus Christ is to the Christians; Muslims do not worship Muhammad.

Secondly, Islam is not an ideology created by Muhammad for it to be called Mohammedanism. And thirdly, Muslims were conscious of their own identity from the very beginning, they do not call themselves Muslims because people have been calling them with that name, unlike the Christians who took their name from their enemies, the Romans.

From a Muslim’s perspective, it is not proper for a religion which claims to be a truly revealed religion not to know the name of god whom it calls all mankind to worship. It is even shameful, to say the least, for a religion to borrow the name of god of other religions and even more so if the religion from which the name is borrowed is considered a false or deviant religion!

When the Christians, whose conception of the nature of god is diametrically opposed to that of Islam, insist on their right to use the term “Allah” to denote the Christian god, of course the Muslims would oppose it. It is not that they want to “monopolize” the term as some people claimed it to be the case. On the contrary, the Muslims are demanding the Christians to be precise in their employment of terms that could confuse the public.

Practically they cannot prevent the Christians from using whatever term they like for their god including the term “Allah” or even Mickey Mouse for that matter. Still, they have to oppose because as far as they are concerned the word “Allah” as used and understood in Malay language is not the god of Christianity.

The Christians argue that “Allah” also means the god of Christianity in Malay language because they claim the term was used in an old Malay bible and Christian prayer book. They also argue that the word “Allah” had been used by the Christian Arabs long before Islam.

Suppose that they can prove the existence of the above mentioned documents in which the term “Allah” can be found. We can argue that it does not grant the conclusion that “Allah” also means the Christian god in Malay. It simply means the attempt by Christian missionaries to impose Christian meaning on the term is not something new. Whether the document is old or new is not what matters here because our contention is still the same: the Malays never used the term “Allah” to mean a Christian god, it is the Christians, now and then, who have been trying very hard to make them accept that.

Furthermore, if “Allah” also means a Christian god in Malay there is no point of attempting to “Christianise” the Malays because they were already Christians!

Muslims and Christians claim that their religions respectively are based on the scriptures, the revealed words of god. Muslims’ scripture, the Qur’an, which was revealed in Arabic, clearly mentions Allah as the name of god that every Muslim, regardless of race and nation, worship.

What we know is that the word “Allah” never occurred in the Hebrew, Greek, or Latin versions of the Old and New Testament, and there is no reliable evidence of the existence of any pre-Islamic Arabic translation of the bible. The first and most important Arabic version, which became the standard version for all Jews in Muslim countries was made by Sa’adia ben Joseph (892–942).

Several modern Arabic translations by both Protestants and Catholics were made in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is possible that the term Allah is used to refer to Christian god in these translations. But why “Allah”, not the terms used in Hebrew, Greek, or Latin versions?

Obviously the term Allah is only used in bibles translated into the languages of the Muslim peoples, including Malay, where the term exists as the result of the Islamization of the language and mind of the Malays. One would not find the term “Allah” in Algonquin Bible which was translated for the American Indians in 1663, let alone in English versions like Wycliffe’s, Tyndale, Douay, King James or Confraternity.

There is no reason to use the term Allah to refer to the Christian god because “Allah” had never been the god of American Indians or the English people, hence the word do not exist in their languages.

It is thus very interesting to know why some Christians in this country are so adamant in demanding what they call their right to use the term “Allah” citing the usage of the term by Christian Arabs long before Islam. Since when did the Christian Arabs and their language (Arabic) became very important to Christianity and the Christian community as a whole? Arabic is not at all important compared to Hebrew, Greek and Latin when it comes to understanding Christianity from its original sources.

But nobody can understand the Qur’an and the religion of Islam without the knowledge of Arabic, and by Arabic here we mean the Islamised Arabic, the language that was thoroughly transformed with the revelation of the Qur’an. The importance of (Qur’anic) Arabic with regard to the making of the worldview of the Muslim peoples cannot at all be compared with the importance of Arabic in Christianity.

When the Christians here tell the government to let them use of the word “Allah” because pre-Islam Christian Arabs had used the word, the assumption is that the Malays are automatons who will comply with anything that comes from Arabia. They are utterly mistaken. When the Malays use the word “Allah” in their language they mean Allah of the Qur’an, not Allah of the pagan or Christian Arabs.

The Malays had no cultural or religious relation with the pagan or Christian Arabs, before or after Islam. Their special connection with the Arabs and Arabic language is founded upon something that they commonly share, namely Islam and the Qur’an. All the key terms (together with their meanings and significations) that make up the worldview of the Malays are derived from the Qur’an. As a matter of fact these key terms are shared by all Islamic languages, not just Malay language.

Clearly what the Christians are trying to do is to de-Islamise Malay language for missionary purpose. And if they say it is their right to do mission to the Malays (which is not a secret) then shouldn’t we, the Malays, also claim our right to repel any effort to undermine our religious and cultural identity?

Unfortunately it was the Malays themselves who had sabotaged their own culture and religion. They did that first of all by allowing “Bahasa Melayu” to be named “Bahasa Malaysia”.

* Md. Asham Ahmad is a Fellow, Centre for Syariah, Law and Political Studies at the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM)

A Refutation by a pastor regarding the polemical usage of the word "Allah"

2010-01-29T10:20:00.000+07:00

(diambil dari rausyanfikir.com)

Below an interesting article from a friend. Dalam kesibukan beberapa sektor ilmuan muslim ber hujah dan "meng-sesuaikan" dalil naqli /aqli untuk meng-iyakan hujjah & kehendak Archbishop Pakiam baru baru ini, atas nama "multiracialism harmony", atau "religious tolerance", atau "established & best practises of other countries", atau "getting out of defensive & siege mentality bla bla bla", atau "by hook or by crook nak menang PRU13" etc;

Kalangan ilmuan Kristian sendiri bukan semua yang sependapat dengan Archbishop Pakiam malah, menolak kehendak Archbishop Pakiam, dan memperlihatkan element of malafide/anomaly dalam niat dan perbuatan pakiam.

Walaupun artikel dibawah tidak digunakan oleh orang orang islam sebagai dalil atau reference yang memboleh kan atau melarang, namun, ianya amat sesuai untuk kefahaman am, serta sesuai di kedepankan kepada rakan rakan multiracial Malaysians yang belum islam (buddhist, hindu etc etc) yang amat berminat memahami isu semasa tersebut. Tentunya mereka belum dapat memeluk dalil naqli dan aqli islam sahaja, maka, pandangan berbeza Kristian dapat membuka mata serba sedikit.

(**note: jangan pula go to the other extreme; setelah melihat hujjah pastor di bawah, maka, kita meng-iyakan Arcbishop Pakiam, atas dasar that "it might work in favour of muslims")

Pastor Brutus Balan of a Baptist Church in Australia in the Facebook (FB) which you can follow more here: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=248123628088&topic=16741

In his posting Pastor Brutus Balan says,

1. In today's religious context, the word 'Allah' is a word loaded with Islamic theology. The God of the Christian Bible Yahweh-Elohim from Genesis to Revelation is a trinitarian mono God. IT is not a creation of the Church but it is a inspired revelation. Its maths is hard to understand but it is the heart of John 3: 16 and Jesus' life will be nonsensical as much as His sacrifice for sinful and doomed humanity if the second person of the Trinity did not incarnate in the human flesh. The Christian Gospel is based on this redemptive revelation of the triune Godhead. The Quranic concept of 'Allah' is in total opposition to this. There is NO similarity between them whatsoever.

2. The early 'Christian missionaries', mostly Roman Catholics erred when they started to Christianize pagan words (jargon/terminology), concepts, icons, statues (Mother and child), festivals and celebrations (like Christmas/Easter) and included them as Christian so the 'converts' from the Christianized societies are not brought into a cultural vacuum. Therefore the word `Allah' that pre-dates Islam, a word that was and is a non Hebrew word for a pagan deity was Christianized and retained among the middle Eastern converts and used in the Bible translation. This syncretism was followed in Asia with the use of the word, Allah among minority ethnic 'converts'. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.

3. The word 'Allah' is a transliteration of the Arabic word. Why would a Christian missionary/translator use an Arabic word to represent a Hebrew God of the Bible? It is due to the syncretistic attitude as mentioned above. To be true, the translators and 'Christian missionaries' at that time ought to have transliterated the Hebrew word, 'Jehovah' for `Lord' and 'Elohim' for 'God' in the available script of each ethnic group of converts and not the word 'Allah'. Why use the pre-Islamic Arabic word 'Allah' for the Biblical God written in Hebrew the language of the Old Testament? After all 'the people of the Book', the Jews were worshipping Jehovah-Elohim 500 years before Mohammed. No matter how it is insisted, it is a betrayal of the the God of the Bible. Words do not exist in a vacuum and they are loaded with implications. When we import from the Quran a word that is alien to the Hebrew Bible, we also import its foreign teachings.

4. Bible translations are the efforts of humans and in this digital age correction can be made easily to remove the word 'Allah' and replace it with `Jehovah' and `Elohim' or close to its sound in any ethnic laguage. Christians who have used the Islamic word, 'Allah' must be told of its implications and the error made earlier and enlighten them as to why we need to change. Education is the enlightening of people from ignorance to knowledge as new information avails as it is realized or discovered. Most who claim to be Christians are untaught of the Biblical truths. Most are adherents to the rites and form without a clue to its theological basis to their faith. So, like any other education, evangelical teacher/pastors need to educate the dill and the bright. New Bible translation with 'Allah' removed ought to be phased in with education. The use of any word depicting/portraying the God of the Bible should be in keeping with the Hebrew jargon and etymology. Words may have common roots in a locality but they are not to be thought as one and the same. Hebrew script and language is vastly different from the Arabic.

5. The present controversy over the use of the word in the Christian context has a political agenda both sides are guilty of. The so called fear of the erosion of Christian rights and its domino effect if unchallenged is to the detriment of the Christian faith. The rights of minorities must be challenged in Courts as a political matter. Christian theology should not have been used as a means to that.The Roman Catholic Church in my opinion made an unwise move plunging the country to this sad polarisation of people.

6. If I were a Muslim I would welcome the Christians to use the word 'Allah' for it plays into the Islamic faith. Well, if the Christian God is also Allah, then the Christian is none other than a wayward Muslim for that is the God of the Quran. In time when the lines are blurred and ignorance of the biblical doctrines blooms to bliss, Islam will be a tempting option for a nominal 'Christian'. The use of the word 'Allah' then is the Islamization of the Christian. (Note - on this part definitely Muslims have their own reasons on why they are against it)

7. Finally, I speak as an evangelical Christian, believing the Bible as THE Word of God, uncorrupted and the final word to humanity. It is Jesus who said that 'He is the way and the truth and the Life. No man comes unto the Father (God) but by me' (John 14: 6). Jesus affirmed and confirmed the Hebrew Bible and never once used the Arabic word, 'Allah', referring to His Father (Jehovah-Elohim). So Christians who take the Bible as God's Word should not use the word 'Allah' to refer to the Hebrew God of the Bible.

In response to a post by a fellow Christian, Brutus Balan said,

1. IBS like any Bible translators will loathe to change a word or words lest the revised version makes the former void. They from time to time conference and decide in line with pragmatism. So they kept the error and defend it with vigour and gobbledegook.

2. The early translators erred in TRANSLITERATING the Arabic word 'Allah' borrowed from Islam at that time in Asia, a common usage by the Muslims then and incorporated it into the Indonesian Bible text. That is to keep with the religious context of those who were converting to Christianity. Since the OT of the Bible was written in Hebrew, the language of the Jews, I cannot understand why these modern translators cannot use the TRANSLITERATED Hebrew words for the God of the Bible as it is now, ie. LORD God = Yahweh or Jehovah Elohim as part of the Malay / Indon translation. The same consistency to apply even for the New Testament in BM words for God and Lord (Theos and Kurios) for it is a reference to the same Biblical God. The' Lord Jesus' = Jehovah or Yahweh Yesus. If there are no indigenous word or equivalence for a word of another language, people have always transliterated the foreign word, contextualizing it and adding it to the local vocabulary.

3. The Indonesian and Malaysian languages are testament to this, like 'confrontasi', reformasi, etc.. Adonai too as it is found in the Bible must be retained as it is transliterated for it is another word for Jehovah. They will then be part of the Malay/Indon vocabulary posing no problem. We don't even need to worry about 'Tuan' Tuanku or Tuhan. The BM readers of the Bible will have a clear understanding of its meaning. Why the unwarranted intrusion of an Arabic word 'Allah' into the translation of the Hebrew Bible? No matter what the root and all the semantics about 'Allah', this word is not found in the Biblical text in reference to the Biblical God. After about 500 hundred years AD, this 'Allah' is now well distinguished as the deity of the Quran.The 'Allah' of the Quran is in total contradiction to the triune Jehovah-Elohim of the Bible.

The third response by Brutus Balan is as below;

1. The Indonesian/Malay Bibles erroneously use the word 'Allah' to refer to the God of the Bible. I have explained it in my posts. Even though the argument that it is not an exclusive word for the Muslims for it pre-dates Islam and that it is currently used by non English speaking Christian minority, this Islamic deity called 'Allah' is never found in the Hebrew text of the Bible. Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic languages may have similar linguistic root from where it branched out but since the birth of Islam, Allah, is a word that refers to the deity of the Quran. This Muslim deity is antithetical to the Biblical God, Jehovah-Elohim. They are poles apart even though many say there is only a minor difference. They mean well but have not investigated the content of the Bible and the Quran, its theology.

2. Allah, in today's understanding and context refers solely to the Islamic god. If Christians continue the use of the word 'Allah', we are then likening and admitting that the Allah of the Quran is the same God of the Bible and in time this blurring of meaning and import will eventually draw us closer to Islam. Reading the posts here and other blogs you can see how many people are now saying that there is little difference between Muslims and Christians and that we all worship the same God. The blurring of the line has happened right now with this generation.

3. The Muslims are saying that the Triune God of the Bible is the corruption that Mohammed was raised by Allah to set right . They are also caliming all the Jewish, Hebrew speaking Biblical patriachs as their own, and to be Muslims and that Christians are in error believing a God who exists in three persons, yet one God, a revelation of the Bible. In no time those who are reading the BM Bible with 'Allah' as god, will soon begin to think that it is the same God of the Bible. This is the goal of the Ecumenical Movement and the Interfaith purpose of the dialogue to unite all religions as worshipping one and the same God. NO, WE DO NOT! The word 'Allah' since Mohammed is the god of the Quran as defined by Mohammed.

4. It is foolish of the TBS to retain this word in the BM Bibles arguing on semantics and pre-Islam history of this word. It is foolish of TBS to not correct it by transliterating the Hebrew word as is to Jehovah for Lord and Elohim for God to refer to the Biblical God. This God is different from 'Allah'. The TBS could have changed it easily and explained the changes in the Introduction or the Preface of the BM Bibles but they foolishly decided to carry on with the error of the early translators. I have read their goobledegook arguments and it is wasted ink.

5. If there is a strong public demand from BM using Christians for this change, then the TBS will print a revised edition of the BM Bibles. Demand it. In the meantime, teach the BM users not to read it as 'Allah' but as 'Jehovah' (Adonai) for LORD and Elohim or 'Tuhan' for God, and Tuan for Lord in reference to people. Teach them the Islamic import of the word 'Allah' and that it is not our God.

6. When this begins to happen in Malayasia, it will reverberate to the other parts of the Christian minority of the world for the change. What is wrong must be corrected no matter how long the error was commitied. This Malaysian controversy over this issue may be a blessing in disguise. Start this movement in your neirgborhod. Let the Muslims have the use of 'Allah' of their Quran and let Christians distinguish themselves with their Biblical God. Fighting for this Arabic word to refer to the Hebrew Biblical God is running after another god of another religion. But maintain a deep respect for the Muslims and live in peace, Dare to be different with mutual respect. Those who seek the truth will investigate and Truth will find them.