[Cerpen] Panahanmu aku sambut

1.

Irfan berkalih selang beberapa minit. Malam ini terasa serabut. Hatinya tidak tenang. Hujan lebat dan kilat menyabung tidak menambah apa-apa kecuali keresahan. Sejak kebelakangan ini, semuanya tidak menjadi. Hatinya terasa kering dan gersang. 'Alangkah lucunya hati ini. Di luar sana sedang musim hujan, dalam hati ini musim kemarau. Allah.'

Guruh semakin galak berdentum. 'Ahh..menganggu tidur sahaja!' katanya. Irfan semakin geram. Dia berkalih sekali lagi. Kali ini kaki di kepala katil pula, terbalik. Dia terfikir kenapa sampai begini hatinya resah. 'Ada apa-apa yang aku buat salah ke?' fikirnya.

Usrahnya sudah tak basah seperti dulu. Tadabur dan tilawah al Qurannya juga seperti tidak membawa makna apa-apa. Semakin bosan. Solat pun sudah hilang umphnya. Puasanya hanya kerana mengikut ikhwah-ikhwah lain yang turut berpuasa. Tiada lagi semangat dalam hatinya. Galau sungguh rasa. 'Kenapa?' monolognya.

Ditambah serabut dengan tanggungjawab persatuannya dan assignmentnya lagi. 'Ahh..serabut. Classmate tak boleh harap, semua nak aku buat. Ikhwah akhawat pun kerja lembab semacam je. Kata nak dakwah, tapi ambil tanggungjawab acuh tak acuh. Nak kejar syurga, tapi kerja macam tak nak syurga.' keluhnya geram.

'Baik aku keluar ambil angin sekejap. Duduk dalam bilik lagi serabut jadi'.


Di ruang tamu, kelihatan seorang sahabatnya, Aiman sedang bertahajjud. 'Oh..sudah pukul 4 rupanya'. Dia keluar diam-diam ke halaman rumah, tidak mahu menganggu sahabatnya itu. Irfan membuka pintu dengan berhati-hati, tanpa mengeluarkan sebarang bunyi dan menutupnya kembali dengan perlahan. Dia menuju ke bangku di sebelah rumah.

Kawasan luar rumahnya berbumbung, menghadap bendang yang sangat luas. Dia dan kawan-kawannya sering duduk di situ berehat-rehat, melepaskan tekanan seharian di universiti. Namun, pagi ini dia bersendirian. Dia ingin merungkai permasalahan hatinya.

Irfan duduk. Keluhannya berat. Hujan masih lebat. Kelihatan nun di sana kilat sabung menyabung, bagaikan menari-nari di kaki langit.

'Allah..bantu aku ya Allah. Kenapa hatiku rasa begini gersang?'

Irfan berharap dia mendapat jawapannya malam itu. Dia termenung jauh. Jauh ke arah kilat yang saling menyabung di kaki langit sana. Bercahaya dan terang benderang. 'Cantik...' katanya. Irfan berbaring dan terlena.

2.

Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar! Azan sayup-sayup kedengaran. Irfan terbangun. 'Oh..aku tertidur di sini rupanya...' bisiknya. Badannya sudah menggigil kesejukan. Tidur di luar sepanjang malam yang hujan membuatkan badannya berhempas pulas mengekalkan core temperaturenya. Rumah sudah bercahaya, tanda penghuni-penghuninya sudah bangun.

Alhamdulillah. Semenjak duduk di sini, Subuhnya terjaga, solat-solatnya andai tidak di Pusat Islam di universiti, akan di surau. Dakwah masyarakat kan? Semestinya penduduk teringin ikut sekali ke surau andai kelihatan mahasiswa-mahasiswa yang mengimarahkan masjid. Yang sedang dalam perjalanan ke surau pula sentiasa berdoa, memberi salam kepada penduduk kampung yang berselisih jalan dengan mereka.

'Kita perangi mereka dengan kasih sayang. Dakwah kita berlandaskan 'athifah. Kecintaan yang mendalam kepada manusia..' Irfan mengelamun. Teringat daurah Dakwatuna dalam Risalah Himpunan Hasan al Banna semester lepas.

'Tapi macam mana aku nak memberi kasih sayang andai aku pun rasa hati aku kosong macam ni?' keluhnya.

Irfan bingkas bangun, bersiap-siap sekali dengan ikhwah lain untuk ke surau.

'Lah...sini rupanya nta..ana ingat nta dah ke surau awal tadi..' ujar Aiman yang mencari Irfan sejak azan berkumandang lagi.

'Tak..ana di luar. Ana pergi siap-siap kejap..' balas Irfan basa-basi.

3.

Kelas hari ini semuanya bosan. Nombor-nombor yang memenuhi kertas-kertas kelihatan tak bermakna. Rasa konkrit dan kosong. Lagi menyakitkan kepala melihat skema litar yang berselirat sana-sini, dengan simbol-simbol yang menambah kekusutan di kepala.

'Nasib baik circuit atas kertas je. Kalau kena mengadap circuit betul lagi berserabut aku jadinya..' getus Irfan.

Rasa hati Irfan semakin menganggu dirinya. Pening dia memikirkan apa yang sudah terjadi dengan dirinya. Dahulu, dia amat meminati subjek-subjeknya. Setiap hari ke kelas semangat untuk mempelajari perkara baharu kekal hidup. Tapi, apa sudah jadi pada hatinya sekarang pun dia tak tahu dari mana hendak mula mencari jawapan. 'Allahu musta'an...' doanya dalam diam.

Tak sabar nak menghabiskan sesi makmalnya yang terakhir. Sudah hampir 3 jam setengah dia berada di dalam makmal itu. Geramnya pada classmates bising dan riuh itu membuatkan dia ingin saja mempateri mulut seorang demi seorang. 'Soldering pen dah ada, timah dah ada. Tinggal nak buat je..' Irfan mengomel seorang diri.

Dia mengambil sebiji kapasitor  berkapasiti 10 mikrofarad untuk dipateri pada litarnya. Untuk menenangkan diri, dia merenung kapasitor itu lama-lama. Pelik. Dia seperti merasakan jawapannya kepada persoalan hatinya ada pada kapasitor ini. Pelik. Apa kaitan hatinya dan kapasitor?

'Ahh..bakal electrical engineer tak ada masa nak melayan intuitif punya kata hati macam ni..aku bukannya artis...imaginasi yang diperlukan, bukan kata hati pelik macam ini..' Irfan menidakkan kata hatinya.

'Allahu musta'an..' bisik Irfan. Dia sudah semakin lemas dalam kegersangan hatinya. Dia kembali memateri kapasitor di litarnya. Bagaikan berada seorang diri di dalam makmal, dia fokus menyiapkan kerjanya tanpa mempedulikan apa yang berlaku sekelilingya.

Dia tak sabar untuk ke kolam renang selepas ini. Setidaknya itulah kebebasan yang dia masih miliki sejak kebelakangan ini. Kebebasan untuk bergerak sebebas-bebasnya di dalam air. Tenang. Tiada yang menganggu.

4.

Guruh berdentum sekali lagi. Malam ini hujan lagi. Ditambah dengan riuhnya guruh dan kilat di luar. Irfan kembali ke bangku di luar rumah. Dia semakin menyukai tempat itu. Ditambah pula dengan pertunjukan kilat di hadapan matanya dan hujan yang menambah syahdu. Dia memerlukan sesuatu untuk mengisi rasa hatinya yang kosong. Jam menunjukkan tepat jam 4 pagi.

Dia duduk termenung. Kemudian Irfan membuka mushafnya untuk dibaca. Dia berharap dapat menemui jawapan dalam tilawahnya itu nanti.

Dalam hujan malam itu, dia membaca penuh pengharapan. 

Tangisannya diseka. Tilawah al Quran membuatkannya menangis. Tapi tangisnya bukan kerana menyesal atas dosa. Tangisnya kerana merasa sangat takut dengan apa yang berlaku dengan dirinya. Dia menginginkan agar Allah menunjukkan jalan padanya. Dia masih tidak faham apa yang sedang berlaku.

Dia sudah meninggalkan maksiat, dia sudah melengkapi mutaba'ahnya, perkara-perkara harus sudah dikurangkan, namun kenapa rasa hatinya masih begini? Masih kosong. Iman itu seperti melarikan diri daripadanya.


'Assalamu'alaikum, Irfan. Ana tumpang duduk boleh?' Aiman menyapa tiba-tiba.

'Astaghfirullah! Terkejut ana. Ingatkan hantu mana tadi.. bagi lah salam dulu kalau ye pun..' Irfan mengurut-urut dadanya.

'Ana dah bagi dah..' Aiman menjawab sambil tersenyum.

'Hah..duduklah. Wa'alaikumussalam..' Irfan menjawab.

Aiman mengambil tempat di sebelah Irfan. Kedua-duanya diam. Menikmati angin hujan seketika. Aiman memulakan perbualan.

'Ana pernah baca dalam Dr Gray punya buku, Men from Mars and Women from Venus yang lelaki ni bila ada masalah dia masuk dalam gua dia. Diam seorang diri, sampai dia jumpa jawapan. Baru dia keluar gua dia balik. Dia jarang nak berkongsi dengan orang. Jadi, ana hormat nta sebagai seorang lelaki.. ' Aiman berkata-kata sambil tersenyum.

'Apa maksud nta?' Irfan bertanya kehairanan.

'Ana dah nampak nta macam ada masalah. Cuma, ana biar dulu nta settle sendiri. Mungkin nta perlu masa bersendirian. Cuma, ana nak beritahu kalau nta perlukan teman mendengar atau nak consult sesiapa, ana ada di sini..' ujar Aiman sambil tersenyum lagi.

'Ok. Takpe..kalau ana perlu ana cakap. Sekarang ana perlu masa berfikir. Cuma, kalau nta tak keberatan, nta teman ana duduk di sini kejap boleh?' pinta Irfan. Di sebalik keengganannya untuk berkongsi masalahnya, dia akui dia memerlukan seorang teman untuk bersamanya ketika ini.

'Emm..ok!' jawab Aiman pantas.

Tiada gesaan ke atasnya pagi ini. Qiamnya sudah cukup 8 raka'at, muraja'ah al Qurannya sudah dilakukan sekaligus di dalam solatnya, solat witir dan doa qunut juga sudah dipanjatkan untuk pejuang-pejuang Islam seantero dunia juga untuk mereka yang dizalimi. Sekarang sudah hampir waktu sahur, sunnahnya ialah berhenti qiam dan beristighfar sehingga waktu subuh. Ayat al Quran 'Wal mustaghfirina bil ashar' dan 'wa bil ashari hum yastaghfirun' dipahat di dalam kepala.

Kedua-duanya diam. Membiarkan dentuman guruh mengisi telinga masing-masing. Irfan dengan fikirannya dan Aiman dengan istighfarnya. Di dalam hati masing-masing mengagumi keindahan suasana hujan dan kilat yang saling menyabung di hadapan mereka.

Lama mereka diam.

'Tengok kilat tu..cantik kan?' Aiman sekali lagi memulakan perbualan.

'Haah..cantik.' jawab Irfan lemah. Dia masih sibuk menyelami rasa hatinya yang sedang mencari jawapan.

Mereka berdua diam kembali.

Irfan yang masih berfikir tiba-tiba mendapat idea. Dia teringat peristiwa petang tadi di mana dia merasakan kapasitor yang dipegangnya dapat memberikan jawapan kepada persoalannya.

'Bagus..mamat sebelah aku ni budak dekan elektrik, mesti boleh jawab!' Irfan bermonolog.

'Akhi..emm. Boleh nta terangkan pada ana tak pasal kapasitor? Ana tahu ana macam orang gila tiba-tiba pagi buta ni tanya pasal kapasitor. Tapi ana nak tahu..' pinta Irfan.

Aiman memandangnya kehairanan. Dia mengangguk dan diam sebentar. Kelihatan seperti mencari cara terbaik untuk menerangkan pada Irfan mengenai kapasitor. Kemudian dia memandang Irfan dan tersenyum.

'Tu....' Aiman berkata sambil menunjuk ke arah bendang.

'Erk..apa dia yang nta tunjuk tu?' tanya Irfan kehairanan.

'Kilat..' Aiman menjawab. 'Untuk pengetahuan nta, kilat adalah sebuah kapasitor semula jadi.. konsepnya sama seperti dengan kapasitor yang kecil tu..cuma, kilat lebih besar, bertenaga, dan tak terkawal. Dan ianya ciptaan Allah yang sangat indah..!' sambung Aiman sambil bertasbih.

'Elaborate more please...' Irfan meminta sambil tersengih. Dia tertarik mengenai kaitan kilat dengan kapasitor.

'Nta tahu macam mana kapasitor berfungsi kan secara basic kan? Cuba terangkan pada ana. Kita revise balik pagi ini..' Aiman bertanya kembali.

'Tahu. Kapasitor berfungsi bila dua plate yang dijarakkan, di caj di satu plate positif dan lagi satu plate negatif. Bila charge positif dan negatif makin banyak terkumpul di plate masing-masing, voltan antara kedua-duanya semakin tinggi, sehingga tiba ke satu tahap yang digelar breakdown, udara atau material yang memisahkan kedua-duanya yang pada asalnya penebat menjadi konduktor kerana breakdown yang berlaku. Bila dua-dua plate itu discharge, tenaga terhasil. Arus eletrik pun mengalir.. Nta nak ana bagitahu sekali ke formula-formulanya? Ana ingat lagi ni..hehe.' jawab Irfan sambil mneyeringai kebanggaan.

'Fenomena kilat secara asasnya pun macam itu lah akhi..kilat ini secara sejarahnya merupakan fenomena yang membolehkan manusia memanfaatkan api. Kalau nta pernah tengok cerita Spongebob Squarepant macam mana Spongebob, Patrick dan Squidward manfaatkan api yang terhasil daripada sambaran kilat..' Aiman mula menghuraikan. 'Walaupun mereka duduk di laut..' Aiman berbisik. Baru dia sedar mengarutnya Spongebob. 'Ada api dalam laut?' monolognya.

'Ana tak sangka nta minat Spongebob...' Irfan memintas. Dia menjeling Aiman. Aiman minat Spongebob? Kelakarnya.Tak logik langsung, macam 1+1=3.

'Eh..ke situ pulak. Itu dulu. Lelaki ini kadang-kadang muka je legend, dalam hati ada taman..' Aiman membela diri. Takut tercalar imej kejantanannya. Jatuh sahamnya kalau pakcik-makcik ejen Baitul Muslim tahu ini. Macam mana nak kahwin dengan akhawat qawiyyah macam ini.

'Plate dalam fenomena kilat ini ialah tanah dan awan. Dalam proses yang saintis pun tak faham sepenuhnya, caj-caj negatif terkumpul di dasar awan dan caj-caj positif tertarik ke kawasan awan yang lebih tinggi. Saintis percaya matahari memainkan peranan penting dalam proses pemisahan caj-caj ini.. ' Aiman menerangkan sambil tangannya menggayakan awan dan matahari.

'Bila caj-caj negatif terkumpul di bahagian bawah awan, caj-caj positif terkumpul di daratan. Cuba nta tengok sekarang, nampak tak dalam banyak-banyak kilat itu, ada kilat yang tak sampai ke bawah? Dia keluar in branches tapi tak cecah tanah. Fenomena itu dipanggil stepped leader atau downward leader. Ianya terjadi bila caj-caj negatif yang ingin turun tak disambut oleh caj-caj positif dari darat. Nampak tak mereka macam cuba nak turun tapi tak dapat?' Aiman bertanya.

'Haah.. macam cinta tak disambut pun ada. Bertepuk sebelah tangan..' Irfan menjawab.

'Macam cinta Allah yang tak disambut oleh hambaNya kan?' Aiman menambah.

Irfan terasa. Dia mula mencari makna di sebalik fenomena itu diam-diam. 'Astaghfirullah..' bisik Irfan.

'Kilat ini akan jadi bila stepped leader disambut oleh upward streamer dari daratan. Udara antara awan dan daratan akan break down, menyebabkan pokok-pokok atau konduktor dapat mengalirkan caj-caj positif dengan berkesan. Medan elektrostatik yang tinggi akan menyebabkan udara di ionize dan memudahkan laluan untuk pertemuan caj-caj positif dan negatif. Boom! Kilat pun menyabung..Pertemuan dua kelompok caj itu akan menghasilkan cahaya yang gemilang beserta dengan energy transfer yang sangat-sangat tinggi!..' Aiman meneruskan huraiannya. Hatinya semakin gembira dengan takbir, membesarkan keagungan Tuhannya. Allahu Akbar.

'Ianya semacam dua-dua sumber tenaga yang melimpah-limpah bila bertemu. Mereka mengalirkan tenaga yang begitu tinggi.. Semacam empangan yang dibuka setelah sekian lama ditakung..Masya Allah..' Aiman tenggelam dalam kekagumannya pada ciptaan Allah.

'Senang cerita, untuk kilat ini terjadi ada dua syarat. Yang pertama, perbezaan voltan antara dua kawasan mestilah sangat tinggi. Yang kedua, mesti adanya medium yang menghalang aliran tenaga daripada berlaku. Macam udara yang kemudiannya break down. Atau macam dinding empangan. Sebab itu bila kilat menyabung, semacam flood gate terbuka..' Aiman menamatkan penerangannya sambil tersenyum. Episod Spongebob kembali menjengah mindanya. Teringat babak di mana Spongebob berkongsi api membakar makanan. 'Tapi, api dalam laut? Hish..mengarut..'Aiman berkhayal.

'Akhi..terima kasih!' Irfan memeluk Aiman erat.

Irfan merasakan dia semakin hampir dengan jawapannya.

'Sama-sama. Akhi, buka Surah ad-Dhuha. Tadabbur maknanya, baca kisah di sebalik penurunannya..moga Allah mempermudahkan..' Aiman merasakan pelukan Irfan semakin erat, dadanya kembang kempis.

Irfan bangun dan terus masuk ke dalam rumah. Menahan sebak di dalam dadanya.

5.

Irfan cepat-cepat menghabiskan lapnya yang terakhir di kolam tersebut. Freestylenya ditambah dengan drill slow arm recovery, quick catch dan high swingers sebagai final push. Rasanya tidak sabar lagi untuk pergi ke library. Ingin mencari maklumat mengenai Surah ad-Dhuha seperti yang disarankan oleh Aiman.

Setibanya Irfan ke perpustakaan, dia terus menuju ke makmal komputer untuk mencari di Internet dan direktori buku-buku di situ. Mencari asbab nuzul surah itu, pendapat perawi-perawi dan Imam-imam hadith mengenai surah itu.

Setelah lebih tiga jam berulang-alik tingkat satu dan dua, mengupload artikel-artikel ke dalam dropboxnya untuk dibaca di telefon pintarnya, membawa buku-buku rujukan dan kitab ke mejanya dan menelaah serta menelefon asatizahnya, akhirnya dia puas.

Surah ad-Dhuha diturunkan kepada nabi Muhammad untuk menghiburkan hati Baginda, yang merasa ditinggalkan oleh Allah dan Jibril kerana sudah lama tidak menerima wahyu. Juga untuk menenangkan Baginda yang berduka cita kerana ejekan kafir Quraisy.

Bismillah

 Demi waktu dhuha,

  Dan malam apabila ia sunyi-sepi -

  (Bahawa) Tuhanmu (wahai Muhammad) tidak meninggalkanmu, dan Ia tidak benci (kepadamu, sebagaimana yang dituduh oleh kaum musyrik).

Dan sesungguhnya kesudahan keaadaanmu adalah lebih baik bagimu daripada permulaannya.

  Dan sesungguhnya Tuhanmu akan memberikanmu (kejayaan dan kebahagiaan di dunia dan di akhirat) sehingga engkau reda – berpuas hati.

  Bukankah dia mendapati engkau yatim piatu, lalu la memberikan perlindungan?

  Dan didapatiNya engkau mencari-cari (jalan yang benar), lalu Ia memberikan hidayah petunjuk (dengan wahyu – Al-Quran)?

  Dan didapatiNya engkau miskin, lalu Ia memberikan kekayaan?

  Oleh itu, adapun anak yatim maka janganlah engkau berlaku kasar terhadapnya,

  Adapun orang yang meminta (bantuan pimpinan) maka janganlah engkau tengking herdik;

  Adapun nikmat Tuhanmu, maka hendaklah engkau sebut-sebutkan (dan zahirkan) sebagai bersyukur kepadaNya.

'Indah sungguh ayat-ayat Allah untuk NabiNya...cukup indah. Maafkan aku ya Allah.. Maafkan aku..' Irfan menitiskan air mata selepas membaca surah ad-Dhuha. Ayat-ayat Allah itu satu persatu menerjah hatinya, membasahi daerah yang sekian lama kontang dengan iman, menerangi negeri yang sudah lama dicengkam kegelapan.

Irfan menangis tersedu-sedu. Hatinya digamit kesedihan yang begitu pahit. Betapa dia menyangka Allah telah meninggalkannya. Betapa dia merasakan bahawa Allah telah membiarkan dirinya keseorangan. Betapa dia sering menganggap Allah membiarkan doanya tak bersambut. Begitu sangkaannya selama ini.

'Ayat ini untuk aku!' Irfan terus merintih. Dia membacanya berulang-ulang kali. Ulang dan ulang. Hatinya merayu sedalam-dalamnya, memohon ampun dan menghinakan dirinya di hadapan yang Maha Mulia.

(Bahawa) Tuhanmu (wahai Muhammad) tidak meninggalkanmu, dan Ia tidak benci (kepadamu, sebagaimana yang dituduh oleh kaum musyrik).

Irfan merasakan nikmat yang tak terhingga. Hatinya mula kembang setelah sekian lama kuncup. Bagaikan nafas kehidupan kembali memenuhi setiap rongga di dalam hatinya. Rasa hangat dan dicintai. Pengharapannya yang sekian lama sunyi kini bersambut. Bersambut dengan penuh hikmah dan kefahaman. Hatinya bagai dibelai-belai dengan kasih sayang dari yang Maha Penyayang. Dia mula sedar dan bangkit. Dia mula segar dan kembali hidup, setelah sekian lama hatinya mati.

'Ya! Ianya bagaikan kilat! Setelah sekian lama rasa sunyi dan kosong, hatiku ini sangat-sangat memerlukan cinta yang bersambut. Alhamdulillah pada hari ini cintaku telah bersambut...' Irfan mula memahaminya.

'Allah memang tidak meninggalkanku. Dia ingin mengujiku sejauh manakah pengharapanku padaNya! Aku lulus ya Allah..aku lulus! Hahahahahahaha.....' Irfan semakin gembira. Air matanya tumpah kegembiraan. Dia menarik nafas, kemudian melakukan sujud syukur. Sujudnya lama. Bagaikan hamba yang pulang ke pangkuan tuannya setelah lama menghilangkan diri. Irfan tunduk. Mengagungkan kemuliaan Tuhannya.

6.

'Kunci kebahagiaan kita ini ada pada ta'abbud kita kepada Allah. Itulah seperti yang diungkapkan oleh Ibnu Qayyim dalam menghuraikan rahsia dan hikmah di sebalik solat. Ibadah itu tiada tujuan lain, hanya semata-mata ta'abbud kepada Allah. Puncak kenikmatan dalam beribadah ialah merasakan betapa hinanya kita di hadapan Allah..hati ini dipersembahkan kepada Allah, anggota-anggota kita semua ikut tunduk kepada hati. Kita serahkan segalanya untuk Allah..dengan itu, hati menjadi hidup. Sambutlah cinta Tuhanmu wahai ikhwah sekalian..bagai kilat menyambut tetamunya. Agar kehidupan mengalir di dalam hidupmu. Ia..agar ia mengalir dengan segar..' Irfan mengakhiri tazkirahnya. 

Dan sesungguhnya kesudahan keaadaanmu adalah lebih baik bagimu daripada permulaannya.

Irfan mengulang-ulang ayat daripada surah ad Dhuha itu. Dia menyedari hikmah musim kemarau yang melanda hatinya dahulu. Kini dia mendapat pengajaran yang mendalam. Dia menyedari kesilapannya dahulu.

Dan didapatiNya engkau mencari-cari (jalan yang benar), lalu Ia memberikan hidayah petunjuk (dengan wahyu – Al-Quran)?

Pengajarannya yang dia perolehi terus daripada surah ad Dhuha tersebut. Dulu dia hanya memfokuskan peningkatan kualiti dirinya sahaja. Farqiyyah! Peningkatan vertikal. Dia lupa dia juga ada tanggungjawab terhadap aspek ufuqiyyahnya. Peningkatan horizontal.

 Oleh itu, adapun anak yatim maka janganlah engkau berlaku kasar terhadapnya,

  Adapun orang yang meminta (bantuan pimpinan) maka janganlah engkau tengking herdik;

Nabi berhijrah dari Mekah ke Madinah berdua. Kembali ke Mekah dengan sepuluh ribu orang. Islam ini nikmatnya bukan untuk seorang diri. Tapi, untuk dikongsi. Tak ada makna andai cinta ini dinikmati seorang diri tanpa menghiraukan orang lain di sekeliling. Dakwah itu dasarnya 'athifah. Inilah 'athifah yang diungkapkan oleh Imam Al Banna. Kasih sayang mendalam terhadap umat manusia. Ya..kasih sayang dan cinta.

7.

Irfan kembali ke bangku kesukaannya. Hari ini dia menghabiskan qiamnya awal. Dikejutkan juga rakan-rakannya yang lain. Dia ingin orang lain merasakan apa yang dirasakannya. Walaupun dia lebih suka qiamnya dia seorang sahaja yang tahu. 

Irfan tersenyum memandang ke arah bendang yang luas di hadapannya. Malam ini hujan lagi. Kilat dan guruh kembali menjadi temannya. 

'Kilat..aku rungkaikan rahsia kau pada hari ini. Rupanya bukan cintaku tak disambut Tuhan. Tetapi aku yang tidak menyambut pengharapan manusia lain padaku. Manusia yang masih di dalam kejahilan dan kegelapan jahiliyah yang pekat...'

'Kilat..aku rungkaikan rahsia kau pada hari ini. Aku menyedari nikmat kehidupan itu tersembunyi dalam bermanfaatnya aku pada makhluq yang lain. Tenaga kehidupan yang mengalir hasil interaksi yang lahir daripada kasih dan cintanya aku pada umat manusia...'

'Kilat..aku rungkaikan rahsia kau pada hari ini. Aku akan ingat, andai suatu hari nanti aku mengalami kesusahan yang menjatuhkan, masa yang memeritkan, saat yang mendukacitakan, dan keputusan yang mengecewakan - akan ku pahat di hatiku bahawa ia hanya merupakan permulaan untuk panahan cinta yang lebih hebat. Itu lah ujian. Dan ujian tidak lain dan tidak bukan sebagai kafarah dan tapisan dari Tuhan, untuk mengetahui siapakah dalam kalangan HambaNya yang terpilih. Dan aku berdoa, agar aku dapat bertahan sehingga panahan cinta menyambutku sekali lagi. Sehingga maut menjemputku... '

'Dan pada hari ini, panahanmu telah ku sambut..' Irfan berkata. Dia mengakhiri luahannya dengan syahadah. Syahadah yang dimaknakan sedalam-dalamnya, menghadirkan hati dan mindanya, membulatkan tekad dan azamnya.

'Ini jual beliku ya Allah..terimalah..'

Di belakang Irfan, Aiman memerhatikan dengan tenang. Dia tersenyum. Alhamdulillah, Irfan berjumpa dengan jawapannya. Dia gembira untuk Irfan.

'Tapi..dah sambut panahan kilat? Ceh..mamat ni ingat dia avatar Aang ke apa nak main sambut-sambut kilat. Lain lah macam aku..ada rupa Jeneral Iroh..' Aiman kembali perasan.

Tamat.

Nota kaki :

1. Kajian mengenai kilat juga dikenali sebagai fulminologi. Masih banyak yang belum difahami mengenai fenomena kilat ini. Sila search untuk maklumat lanjut. Istilah dark lightning ada menjelaskan mengenai interaksi antara elektron dan positron (anti matter of electron). Malah, ada fenomena yang dikenali sebagai ball lightning. Peminat Naruto, bayangkan Raikiri. Ha..itu lah dia. Kepada Allah dikembalikan segala pujian, Subhanallah.

2. Ayat beristighfar waktu sahur - Ad Dzariyat:18(وبالأسحار هم يستغفرون) dan Ali Imran:17(والمستغفرين بالأسحار).

3. Idea tercetus bila Ayaz tanya macam mana kilat terjadi.

4. Image from Spongebob episode Cavemen.

4. Sebarang ketidaktepatan maklumat atau kesalahan minta dibetulkan. Terima kasih. Selamat mengambil pengajaran. :)

Beautiful - Euler's identity

Just arrived home this morning. Hoping to join the task force for PR in KL. Still waiting for further instruction.

Perspective.

In the midst of this intense political weather, men must not forget to attend the prayer at mosque and to maintain their akhlaq. It's easy to lose your cool head especially when you meet someone who is so irrational in front of hard evidence. Fanatics, or as we students prefer to call them, macai. But even I may be in the same spot as him in his view. Wallahu a'lam. May Allah guide us and free us from fanaticism and blind obedience.

My best friend, Asyraf Roslan showed me this identity. And hitherto, it is the most beautiful identity I've ever seen. It is known as Euler's Identity. Want to know more about Euler? Click

Why suddenly? Today is his birthday. He was an exceptional mathematician. I'm a student of science and math, so I think our Malaysian society should know more about these wonderful heroes of the world that have contributed so much to the world without us realizing it. So, check out the grand identity of Euler, as Richard Feynman(physicist) put it, 'the most remarkable formula in mathematics'.

Euler's Identity

Beautiful isn't it? Just simple, elegant, wonderful, and truly magnificent. Masya Allah.

Selamat berPRU dengan berakhlaq dan selamat.

Salam.

What do we mean by second, meter....? A peek into the world of measurement

Last semester, I took a very interesting subject, Electrical Measurement. And Alhamdulillah, I was taught by a very strict lecturer who was very particular and cared for her students. Thank you Miss Anis Diyana for that. Basically the subject deals with statistical analysis, how the measurement is acquired, how we calculate and deal with errors, the mechanism of the measuring instrument itself, to its errors and sensitivities. Simply put, a very technical subject full with lengthy calculations and mechanism explanations.

One of the many things that popped in my head while dealing with this subject is to wonder how accurate and precise our measurement is. The thought was induced because what I learned was how to calculate errors, not only one layer but layer upon layer upon layer of errors. If I could describe it simply, it is like there is a boundary between the outside world and our measurement. What we measure isn't what exactly 'out' there. There will always be a slight deviation in term of its real value and the measured value - perhaps technology one day might close the gap who knows. Nevertheless, my true purpose of posting this is not to bring you along in my convoluted, complex unneccessary questions and thoughts, but to share with you what I love to share. Knowledge! :)

Have you ever wondered about all the units we use in our daily life, on what are they based upon? Units of measurement like second or meter. When we say, 'I'll be there in five minutes!' or 'Boss, 2 kilos brown beras please..', have you thought about it? Did the question 'How the whole world came to an agreement of what a second is or a kilogram is?' ever pop up in your head? Malaysian kilogram shouldn't be no different than the US' kilogram right? (Actually there is, very-very minute difference.. I'll explain later).


So what do we mean by second, meter......?


There are seven base units of SI(International System of Units) unit, namely second for time, meter for length, kelvin for temperature, kilogram for weight, candela for luminous intensity, ampere for current, and mole for amount of substance. And the whole world uses these units to indicate, measure, monitor and define. For us public, defining these units is not a thing to be concerned of. For example, when we came late to class, our lecturer said "Stop, stand right there. You are one minute late." And then we said "But my one minute is different than yours. I'm just following my standard, you can't punish me for that." Exaggerated. Point taken right? But, in big laboratories, institutional research lab, giant factories, and standard maintenance it's something very important. 

Before we go into the definitions of these units, we should know who's setting the standards for these units. There are three important organizations that are responsible for maintaining the standards, one of them is International Bureau of Weights and Measures. This organization along with the other two work hand in hand internationally to maintain and revise the standard definition for the SI units. They meet once in a few years with their delegates to discuss things regarding the standards. The bureau has another important role which is to maintain accurate worldwide time. A bit WOW isn't it? The reference is called the Coordinated Universal Time(UTC), somehow has the same function as often-used GMT(Greenwich Mean Time). UTC is more carefully calculated and defined, and it is governed by scientific community.

And the bureau also keeps the international prototype of kilogram. This prototype is very carefully protected and secured. Of course, it sets the defining kilogram for the whole world!

One thing you should know that these guys in the organizations are aiming to set the standard based on constants, not physical thing which will change in time. Constants like speed of light or charge of electron.


So what do we REALLY mean by second, meter....?

Ok. We'll go through one by one. As you read, you'll realize that these definitions do depend on one another.

1. Meter - The meter is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second. You might also realize that if you rearrange this definition, it's the speed of light!

2. Second - The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom. Previously, they defined a second as 1/(24 x 60 x 60) of the day. It's obvious right why they revise the definition?

3. Kilogram - Previously, it was defined as the mass of one litre of water. Now, it is the unit of mass; it is equal to the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram. What is the international prototype? Click

4. Ampere - The ampere is that constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 meter apart in vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2 x 10-7 newton per meter of length. Got it? If you don't understand, just know that when current flows through a conductor, it generates a field(circular most of the time).  When two magnetic fields meet, they are either pushed or pulled.

5. Kelvin - The kelvin, unit of thermodynamic temperature, is the fraction 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water. Emm..what is triple point then? Interestingly, triple point is the temperature and pressure at which a substance coexists as all three phases of matter; gas, liquid, solid. Simply, it's a condition where for example H2O will exist as ice, water, and gas at the same time.

6. Mole - 1. The mole is the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilogram of carbon 12; its symbol is "mol."  2. When the mole is used, the elementary entities must be specified and may be atoms, molecules, ions, electrons, other particles, or specified groups of such particles.

7. Candela - The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 x 1012 hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian. Don't worry, I don't understand it well myself. Self-effort please haha..

The definitions I listed are the exact definitions. Not a word changed.

Ongoing revision..
I don't know about other units, but from what I know, kilogram is going to be revised again and the process of introducing the new more stable prototype is on its way. I'll post the video at the bottom of the post.

Four standards of measurement
There are four standards as for now. The first one is the international standard, which is maintained by the bureau I mentioned above. The second one is primary standard, also known as national standard. This standard is preserved and maintained by each respective country. So Malaysian standard might as well different compared to Thailand standard, in very minute difference. It's an error though. The third one is secondary standard. Secondary standard is also known as industrial standard, usually maintained by large factories. Lastly, working standard. A standard that is used by most laboratories and researchers and many more.

These standards will try to maintain their standards as accurate and precise as possible with the international standard.

So, next time, in your daily conversation, you will finally begin to grasp fundamentally what a meter or a second means. Ha.

Our standard.. A sad reality
When my lecturer covered the above subchapter regarding standards of measurement, it really made me think, what sets our standard as a Muslim? In the university where I studied, you can even see girls with tudung labuh and guys with kopiah laughing so hard together on the same desk and eating together. I mean, what the heck?

I was moved when I posted about the death of Syeikh Said Ramadan al Buti, a friend commented. He said, although Syeikh Said was a syeikh, still when a female student came to him, you can see obviously he was shy because of the female student. Masya Allah. May Allah bless him.

Perasaan malu tidak mendatangkan apa-apa kecuali kebaikan - mafhum hadith.

We are an expert when it comes to talk about Islam. We can answer anything, refute anything, prove anything. But when it comes to akhlaq, we are the same with others. Our standard today has gone awry. Especially when it comes to ikhtilat and politics. I see even when it comes to watching movies, when some of them see erotic scenes or sexy poses, they just laugh and make a joke out of it.

I'm in an effort to re-adjust my standard. May Allah ease. May blessings of Allah come with my effort. Amin.

Salam.

p/s - Miss Anis Diyana rewarded me two times. Dulu masa nak beli pen drive, nak guna voucher tapi tak jadi, sebab voucher kena guna minimum Rm50. Masa itu memang sangat-sangat perlu pen drive. Terdesak. Pasrah lah masuk kelas miss. Alhamdulillah, dapat highest mark(rezeki Allah) dalam test, dapat satu pen drive 8GB. Second time, masa nak belanja makan adik-adik usrah. Masa itu memang kering, tapi nak belanja juga. Again, Allah blessed me, dapat highest mark lagi sekali dan kali ini miss bagi duit Rm40. Miss asalnya ajak makan sekali dengan student highest kelas lain, which happened to be girls. I rejected politely and miss gave me the money which I used all of them to treat my adik-adik usrah. Alhamdulillah. Allah memang ar Razzaq! :)

Video and reference
http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/current.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bureau_of_Weights_and_Measures
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The Final Countdown - A tribute to the martyrs

Last year, I watched a series of interesting documentaries, Moon Machines at Discovery Channel. Although I was dissappointed Astro did not provide subtitle for the series, which made me watched the series with high volume plus extra 'noise' from my two little brothers, the series did provide valuable insights and information.

There was one episode that hooked me really deep with the scientific community at NASA and other space centres. In which I think, it was a sentiment shared worldwide. A sad and respectful remembrance from scientific communities and individuals, to the 7 martyrs that had lost their lives on 28 January 1986. I did tweet on that day, retweeting Obama's speech. But I did not have the time to finish my post, so I postponed it.

An episode that took my heart, and sent me speechless. It was my first time knowing that, and I was so sad by the fact. When I saw the craft exploded, I was like "Allah" covering my mouth with hand and another hand placed on my chest.

Space Shuttle Challenger's smoke plume after the in-flight breakup that killed all seven crew members [Wikipedia].

The disaster happened 73 seconds after the lift-off, when the spacecraft exploded leading to the deaths of its crews. You can read more here. Seven nice crews, some with families, died in the explosion.

STS-51-L crew: (front row) Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair; (back row) Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik.

Seven crews. Rest in Peace. Their sacrifices had made space exploration more meaningful than ever.

Although I am not a member of their community, nor I am an official scientist by title, I share the same spirit and sentiment with them. And of that, I raise my hand to my forehead -  a crisp salute to all of them.

Watch This, a journey from start to the end. A tribute for them. T_T

Pluralist in Action

Assalamu'alaikum.

Pluralism. A philosophy that I've taken quite interested in. Because I think it's beautiful, and I think it's a transitional step to become a better person. Because from what I've seen and engaged, people with real pluralism in mind, they are really nice persons. These people - they act upon their belief. They are a bit like Muslims, where almost every step they take and things they do, they revolve around their principles. We may not realize it, but Islam is a very-very comprehensive and meticulous religion. Open up your Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Google, Safary or anything - and compare other religions with ours for good. You will be surprised by how our two main sources are preserved, and applied in our daily lives. Everything we do in our lives is an act of following the way of life of the greatest human on Earth - Prophet Muhammad. Peace and blessings be upon him.

But we are different in terms of faith. From one aspect, we feel relieved, calm, firm and assured by our faith because our physical proof which is the Quran is undeniably preserved and authentic - no doubt about it. And our creed comes with such a beautiful logic. It is like a nice person comes to our house, knocks politely, we feel safe, we like him and we invite him in. There's not an iota of doubt inviting him in. The same goes to our creed. Surah al Ikhlas in the Quran describes very well about our creed - that our God, Allah is the One and Only God. No father and son, independent, and nothing like Him. It follows the logic very well. It is our instinct to feel relief as we meet our purpose of life. We don't have vital conflicts to deal with - such as which one is greater? Jesus, the Father, or Holy Ghost? Nor we have any conflicting and contradicting premises between our scripture and our described creed such as Christians do. They have very much to deal, because the issues are fundamental - Original Sins, The Calling Eli Eli Lamma Sabatchani, who are the Sons of God, is there any other Alpha and Omega other than Jesus,  who are the real writers of important gospels and letters, does Christian's faith today is the real faith of Jesus or is it Pauline Christian, what about other sects that are dismissed especially during Council Of Nicea and many more. We can take another religions but it will be a very long list. While we Muslims, only have to deal with issues regarding misconceptions. So, it is a relief. Plus, we have a strong historical evidence and records following our stands, principles, and vital points of Islam.

Pluralists instead of referring to real physical records, evidences, and scriptures - they believe that truth lies everywhere. It is an entirely different context than we religious people (Read : Muslims, Christians, Hindus) usually believe. We believe that absolute truth is within our religion. Especially in Islam. We strongly believe that absolute truth is within Islam, and as for me, YES, I am confident that absolute truth lies in my religion. Is there any truth in any other religion? How can Muslims regard there is no truth in any other religion? Yes. We believe there have been some truths in other religion, as we believe Allah has sent thousands of messengers and prophets before Muhammad - two of them are Moses and Jesus(peace be upon them) which play a huge role in Judaism and Christianity. There is also possibility that Buddha and Hindu also originally a religion of Allah. But, as time passes by, we believe the essences are corrupted. And as Muhammad the last messenger of Allah, we believe it is a continuation and a completion of religion of Allah. Muhammad came and confirmed previous messages of previous prophets. We believe Muhammad did not create a new religion, but continued a legacy. In Quran for example, the proof that we believe there was a religion of God but carried different names - [2:62], Christians(Nasara), Jews(Yahudi - Haadu), Sabi'ins are example of it. The essence that should be in each of these old religions are belief in Allah, belief in the Day of Judgement, and the importance of good deeds. So if we take a verse from Chandogya Upanishad [6:1:2] "Ekam Evadvitiyam" which means "He is One without a Second" - yes, it is possible that once Hindu was also a religion of Allah. It is a normal perspective from any other religions that the absolute truth lies in theirs.

Islam, the last religion of Allah
Islam, is the last religion of Allah. A religion that will prevail to the end of time. The definition of Islam itself is sufficient to describe what does it really mean. Islam is not only a millah(religion) but it is the deen of Allah. Deen means 'way of life'. The word 'Islam' can be derived from three root words, 1. Aslama(to surrender) 2. Salima(pure, authentic) 3. Salam(peace). So, Islam means, "A way of life by submitting oneself to Allah in a pure and authentic way to attain inner peace and blessings". Why must I add 'pure and authentic' in the definition? To show you one of the differences between Islam and other religions. In Islam, everything we do have its sources. We worship Allah, the way Allah wants us to worship Him. Everything, is according to His wishes.

Pluralists believe that the truth may come from other religion as well - and none of these religions contain all the truth. They believe that everything in this world is inter-connected. Their main pillars are universal values - peace, human right, love, justice and many more. They acted on these values, and you can see that they are not biased to certain sides or groups. When you engage with them, you will learn to respect them. Because of how much efforts they have put to stand and act on what they believe. And I dare to say, although there is no actual pillar or reference to this belief, they hold it really firm. Truth can come from anyone, anywhere. In short, every religion is the same. Same in the context that it does not only bring people to the truth, but to the extent that details of each religion are not as important as the purpose of the religion itself. Contradictions are normal. When I first know about this philosophy, I was thinking, how can you live with all those contradictions in yourself? I mean, because they regard religions are all the same - and when they choose they want to live as a Muslim, they also think it's okay to wear cross or pray in a Gudwara to Satnam because nothing changes. Whoever God you worship, you will arrive to the truth. I myself don't understand how is this even possible. Such contradiction is unbearable.

Pluralism in Physics
But later, I come to understand the situation as I read a book "Isms and Oologies" by 'I don't remember who'.  The example is as follows. In physics, there are two 'contradicting' situations. Newtonian Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics. In Newtonian Mechanics, everything can be predicted and calculated. You can know an object will travel to where, its speed and arrive when - you just need enough information. But in Quantum Mechanics as Michio Kaku describes, 'nothing is certain'. It's a probabilistic world. You can never be sure, NEVER. For instance, you can only know either the momentum of an electron or its position. You can never know both. Never. Regardless how advanced the technology is, you will never know. It's the uncertainty principle.  For example, a specific electron can be at two places at one time. That's the quantum world. It behaves that way. Another example, if you shoot an electron at a big hill, there's a chance that the exact electron will create a tunnel through the hill and be at the other side of the hill. When we bring this example to macroscopic level, it is impossible. Earth cannot be at two places at a particular time. When we throw a ball to a thick hard wall, there's no way the ball could make a hole to that wall and be on the other side and the wall return hole-less. You got the idea? Quantum Mechanics is usually used to deal with things at microscopic level ie electrons and protons, while Newtonian Mechanics is used to deal with things at macroscopic level ie planets and stars. Today's scientists use both to deal with different problems - although in real life it's contradicting, but they use both to solve problems from both worlds. That's what we call pluralist. Still, in this scientific community, there are other people who believe in the theory of eveything - a theory that describes literally everything. They believe one day, the 'truth' they want will be found in the theory of eveything. While pluralist is okay with contradictions, this kind of people (monism) believes that absolute truth is contained in one entity. This kind of people is really much alike with us religious people. They are in search for ToE and they are not satisfied until they are able to explain why are Quantum Mechanics and other mechanics are so different etc. Except for each of us Muslims, Christians, and Jews believes that the absolute truth was already found and is within our own religion. (Read : QM as for now can also be applied to some aspects at macroscopic level)

Ada Shrodinger's cat di situ. Haha

He's a magnificent pluralist
He is very nice. He smiles, treats people nicely, and an ardent advocate of peace. When you talk to him, you will come to know that he is a man of principle. As for now, he often posts at an FB group - a group with various people with various faiths and religions; United Religions Initiative. Here is the example of his posts in the group.
1.
They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away from the ego-cage of 'I,' 'me,' and 'mine' to be united with the Lord. Attain to this, and pass from death to immortality." (Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 2.71)

"Torah abides only with him who regards himself as nothing." (Judaism. Talmud, Sota 21b)

"O son of Man! If you love Me, turn away from yourself; and if you seek My pleasure, regard not your own; that you may die in Me and I may eternally live in you." (Baha'i' Faith. Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah, Arabic 7)

"The Man of the Way wins no fame,
The highest virtue wins no gain,
The Great Man has no self." (Taoism. Chuang Tzu 17)

"If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." (Christianity. Mark 8.34-36)

"In the evening do not expect [to live till] morning, and in the morning do not expect evening. Prepare as lone as you are in good health for sickness, and so long as you are alive for death." (Islam. Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 40)

"He who has no thought of 'I' and 'mine' whatever toward his mind and body, he who grieves not for that which he has nott, he is, indeed, called a bhikku." (Buddhism. Dhammpada 367)

INNERWORK self-reflection for the week: "What does my faith/belief say about the Ego and Self-Denial?


2.‎"Every sacrifice is a boat to heaven." (Hinduism. Satapatha Brahmana 4.2.5.10)

"Lo! We have given you abundance; so pray to your Lord, and sacrifice." (Islam. Qur'an 108.1-2)

"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (Christianity. John 15.13)

"One must have the courage to face life as it is. to go through sorrows and always sacrifice oneself for the sake of others." (African Tradition. Kenyan-Kipsigis saying)

"A bodhisattva resolves, 'I should accept all sufferings for the sake of sentient beings, and enable them to escape from the abyss of immeasurable woes of birth and death... Why? Because I have set my mind on enlightenment in order to liberate all sentient beings; I do not seek the unexcelled way for my own sake.'" (Buddhism. Garland Sutra)

"Let all your deeds be done for the sake of Heaven." (Judaism. Mishnah, Abot 2.17)

Inner Work self-reflection & self-awareness guide for the week:
"WHAT SACRIFICE HAVE I MADE FOR THE OTHER? WHAT SACRIFICE HAS ANOTHER MADE FOR ME?"

To our Muslim brothers and sisters: Bayramiz Eidil Adha Mubarak Olsun!

To me, a person with this kind of paradigm is nice and kind. He takes good values from every faith, and appreciates it very well. This kind of person, you will have a hard time to start comparing which one is better, your religion or his ideology. You know why, unlike other religions, this philosophy ACCEPTS truth might come from anyone. So they are the kind of people who is very open-minded. For example, when you face people from another religion, it's easier(Read : not EASY) as you can start comparing, and they have 'something' to defend - something fixed - the religion itself. You know what are their weak spots, and you know how exactly they will react. But with pluralists, it's kind of like this "Yeah.. each person has its own opinions" without getting anywhere close to being challenged or provoked at all. And his life revolves around his values. One of the good things that I learned from him, is he really wishes he could stop 'religious-motivated violence'. As he views religion as something beautiful, he wants people to stop using religion as an excuse to do violence. Until now, I do not know, how to really deal with it. Care to give any ideas? The only thing that we Muslims have, is the real assurance of the Oneness of Allah, greatest example of Muhammad, and the outstanding Quran - which lead us to believe we are on the right track. And I know, they only rely on the beauties of their values.

He really is a nice person, and I pray to Allah so that one day, Allah will bless him His hidayah. Amin..

[Declaration of Global Ethics]
Their declaration.

Conclusion
There has been a major confusion to Muslims about how to regard this philosophy. Pluralism, is a philosophy that puts every religion as equal and each religion will bring you to the truth. We believe that Islam is the only way to the truth. We are taught by Prophet Muhammad, to respect another religion and faith, to treat people as nice and kind as possible even though they are people from different faiths, and to live Islam as our way of life. "Lakum diinukum waliya diin" Surah Al Kaafirun. They have their own ways of lives, we have our way of life too. We don't need to be the same as them. Pluralism instead is about lowering your 'fences' to let people in and accept them. Acceptance is the key word. Because the way they see, these fences and differences are the contributing factors to religious-motivated violence. We Muslims have no urgency to lower our fences or dissolve our limitations and prohibitions, because our beloved Prophet had taught us, that he also can live peacefully with the Jews at Madinah without 'lowering any fences'. It's the akhlaq of the prophet that we need to constantly embrace.

Freedom and Justice Party

You can also have a look at a new party in Egypt, Freedom and Justice Party - their vice president is a Coptic Christian. People say that this party is very closely related to Muslim Brotherhood, Al Ikhwan Al Muslimun - but IM says the party operates separately. :) Even a proponent of Daulah Islamiah can have a Coptic as their vice. Still, before the first meeting the Muslim members went to the mosque to pray together. What a view! Video


* This is a post ignited by my amazement towards my friend, a pluralist - May Allah bless him Hidayah! Amin.

Picturesque 3 - Of B-2 Spirit and MQ-9 Reaper

Assalamu'alaikum.

In our life, when we seem to be drifting away from our cause of life, Allah reminds us. Sometimes, with a very simple reminder. It's not delusional, your heart can verify it for you. Only you know when the reminder comes. It happened to me, when I was watching 'Skyline'. An epic scene took over my heart for a while. A very deep reminder. Wake up! Before the real story starts, let me tell you a little bit about something. As an Ikhwah had reminded me, we need to know everything about something, and something about everything.

B-2 Spirit

This unique and 'stealth' plane is a bomber. She is known as 'Stealth Bomber'. The bomber's stealth comes from a combination of reduced acoustic, infrared, visual and radar signatures, making it difficult for opposition defenses to detect, track and engage the aircraft. She can penetrate even the densest anti-aircraft defenses and in the same time deploy a large numbers of bombs - conventional and nuclear - to destroy the most defended targets, Biiznillah. Why? She moves at maximum 972 km/h in air and in the same time she can make herself technically invisible to radars and detectors. If Marine Sniper leads the foot army, Abram tank leads the vehicle, this elegant bird conquers the sky. 

Her engines are buried in her wings. Source

She has 52 meter wingspan to protect her sophisticated radar absorbent materials and coatings. Source

She can carry 80 bombs of conventional or 16's of nuke. Source

How I wish this technology be in the right hand. It's so sad to see this beautiful bird kills more citizens than soldiers :(

MQ-9 Reaper

This aircraft is a UAV. Unmanned Air Vehicle. She is more known as Predator. This drone has no pilot in the plane. You can control this drone from a station. This drone is very-very useful. She carries the duty of surveillance, intelligence, and eliminating targets air and ground. This small drone brings with her during flights few powerful sensors including thermal imaging and can stay for 14 hours in the air with full munitions, and 42 hours without. This drone can be a very persistent and dangerous hunter as it can fire air-to-air deadly missiles, and also air-to-ground missiles - plus this drone eliminates most human errors as the controller of the drone can be changed at the Ground Control Station.

If a pilot didn't pass the sight test, he can be in this squad. :) Source

The most expensive aircraft toy ever made. Toy means without the missile. Source

He who shoots and run, lives to shoot another day. Source

And sadly still, this drone isn't yet in the right hand, and right now, they are killing hundreds and thousands of people with this thing. So sad :(

So, the climax. Aha.. While I was watching, this scene, that I'm about to show you, somehow I felt that I want to be the pilot one day. The unknown one. Am I fantasizing? Oh yes.. But, I want to be like that pilot. I want, and I want. And I pray to Allah, hope I will be given the opportunity. The reminder? That's just between me and Allah la.. :) Sit back and watch. And pray for me. Thanks! 

Light and Life [Part 3]

Assalamu'alaikum

Bismillah.

*Starting from this section - the sharing is mostly derived from a program named Friendly Comparative Religion (Phase 1), a seminar "Does God Exist?" and reading of a book "The Elegant Universe" and also from few discussions and readings. Any misinformation or inaccuracy is highly appreciated to be corrected.

Insya Allah, in this part I will try to relate some of light's characteristics with Allah's attribute and how Quran is proven to be an unbeatable ancient book with a long line of continuous scientific accuracy. Not a single inaccuracy so far and will never be. We acknowledge that Allah is capable to bless some of His power to His creations - such as love of a mother, caring of a father, wisdom of a leader and many more. Starting from this section, I'll try to build a logical correlation that eventually will lead us to the fortification of our Iman. Insya Allah. As this knowledge had done this to me, I hope it will also do the same to you.

________________________________________________________

Of Light and Its Curious Self-Introduction to the World

[Source] Hai!

Photons. These small packets of energy decorate electromagnetic waves. Various spectra. Before 17th century, most scientists thought light travels at any distance at no time at all. Before, it is the public view that light was emanated from our eyes. Like the laser ray of Cyclops of X-Men, or the Psybeam of Alakazam. Later, they thought light as a type of waves, and should be traveling in a medium. Thus, they postulated a medium called ether. See how light make itself known to the world. And it's just about its speed only.. Subhanallah.

Galileo Galilei -1667
Until 1667 Galileo succeeded in postulating with scientific proof the speed of light. Galileo was known for his brilliant scientific approach. His method was quite clear. He and his assistant used lamps. Can be covered and uncovered. With two lamps far from each other with calculated distance, Galileo uncovered the lamp on his side. When his assistant saw the light, he uncovered his lamp. By measuring the elapsed time and distance - in which speed is equal to distance traveled over time, he concluded that the light was 10 times faster than the sound at least. His conclusion: "If not instantaneous, it is extraordinarily rapid".

Ole Roemer - 1675
While observing Jupiter's moon, he realized that the moons' orbits appeared differently relative to the distance of Earth and Jupiter. If Earth was closer, the moons' orbits appeared to speed up, and vice versa. He thought, there was no way that the orbital velocity of the moons varied because the distance between Earth and Jupiter, the change must be because of the extra time taken by light - led him to induce a calculation including Jupiter's distance and accepted diameter of Earth that time to calculate the speed of light = 200,000 Km/sec.

James Bradley - 1728
This English physicist used stellar aberration to estimate the speed of light. How? Stellar aberration is the ratio of the speed that the earth orbits the sun to the speed of light. You see the light tonight -that point. Tomorrow - oopss already there, sort of. Change in apparent position of the stars due to the motion of Earth around the Sun. He knew the speed of Earth, he knew the angle of aberration - he calculated and this was what he got. 301,000 Km/s. Cool..

Hippolyte Louis Fizeau - 1849
I don't really understand his method. French. He used a rapidly rotating toothed wheel and a mirror 5 miles away. He shone a light between those teeth and measured the time the light reflected back in the tooth. With varying the speed of the wheel, he calculated the speed of light 313,000 Km/s.

Leon Foucault - 1862
French also, he used the same method as Fizeau, but he calculated more accurately. He included the difference of angle between the point where the light started to shine and the point it hit back. He got 299,796 Km/sec.

[Source] Who wins?

Today, the well-accepted speed of light is 299762.458 Km/sec. In the vacuum. So, what does Quran say about this? I mean. The speed of light - is a very important thing for us. For me, and human history I guess. Since we live, light is the first thing we see. And light had involved very deeply in human affairs spiritually, physically, psychologically, and biologically. Well, Alhamdulillah, my personal search went a bit well. Allah led me to some readings and discussions. Weee...

299762.485 Km/sec = c. That is the speed of light. There is something special about light. It's speed is constant, even relatively. For example - if I'm moving towards you 2 m/s, and you are stationary, you'll see that I'm moving 2 m/s towards you. And if I'm moving 4m/s but you move away from me 1m/s, you'll see me moving towards you 3m/s. But, light acts a little bit different. If you stay stationary, you'll have light moving to you with velocity c. If you move about 290000km/s, weirdly light will move relatively with the same c towards you. Suppose to be normal, light should appear to move around 1000km/sec towards you, just as the first example of me and you, but that is light. It is unique and special.

“The velocity c of light in vacuum is the same in all inertial frames of reference in all directions and depend neither on the velocity of the source nor on the velocity of the observer” Second Postulate of Special Relativity Theory, Einstein

Known, light is the fastest moving thing in this world, so far. But, there are some info which may interest you.
1. There is one more theoretical particle, known as tachyon which has the ability to move through warped dimension of space and time. Like star wars - the 'jump'. It moves faster than light, theoretically still.
2. In the early universe, the explosion and expansion also move faster than light.
3. Light only born around 400,000 years after the Big Bang. Nice shot heh?

So [Allah] decreed them as seven heavens (one above the other) in two days and revealed to each heaven its orders. And We [Allah] adorned the lowest heaven with lights, and protection. Such is the decree of the Exalted; the Knowledgeable. Quran, 41: 12

Light has been given the privilege to decorate our sky..  :)

*****************************

I have got some ideas lately. Just now, I'm reading, alone. Suddenly Jeng Jeng Jeng, I don't know if it was my granny's or foreign guests from Batu Caves. Haha. So, I got the ideas, to smooth my opinion in this matter. What matter? You know, I have read "The Lost Symbol" written by Dan Brown. I just think that perhaps the one he described in the book as soul, isn't soul at all. Quran said that soul is a matter of Allah, and I take it seriously. Days after I read the book, weeks though, I think and try to have other alternatives instead of believing that they actually managed to weigh a soul. There are so many mysteries in this world, why Allah chose soul as his affair? There must be some reasons. You can't weigh soul. Perhaps I deliberately close my eyes to science, as some people would call, but my faith in Quran is stronger. I've seen science facts been distorted. But, I'm not saying that this fact has been distorted. It's just, maybe the thing they weighed to the extent of using almost 200 hundreds ill-to-death persons isn't soul. I think it's something else. What is it?

[Source]

And whosoever turns away blindly from the remembrance of the Most Gracious (Allâh) (i.e. this Qur'ân and worship of Allâh), We appoint for him Shaitân (Satan devil) to be a Qarîn (an intimate companion) to him. Quran, 43:36

Every individual among the sons of Adam has a jinn who has been appointed to be his constant companion (qarin). Ibn Mas`ud reports that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) says: ‘There is not one of you who does not have a jinn appointed to be his constant companion.’ They said, ‘And you too, O Messenger of Allah?’ He said, ‘Me too, but Allah has helped me and he has submitted, so that he only helps me to do good.’” (Reported by Muslim) Source

So, what do you say? Haha.. Let us leave the soul matter to Allah, not to 'touch' anything. By the way, Dan Brown has been a bit careless lately. With the Apotheosis concept, and the pluralism of Freemasonry brotherhood, better be more careful. It sounds pretty obvious though. With some stress in noetic science. Hm. Wallahu A'lam. Anyone who has another alternative, tell me. Still, I don't want to believe the thing they weighed was the soul, I would rather believe it was qarin, a Djinn. Weight losses after the subjects died, were weight of Qarin leaving the bodies. I would like to believe that. No way I'm going to believe they actually manage to weigh a soul. Although this thing filled my mind few weeks. Heh. After all, it is just my opinion only.

Promoting nuclear physics

By Michael Banks
If you asked the general public what comes to mind when you say “nuclear physics”, you might hear about “nuclear power” or “atomic bombs”. However, you might not get a reply saying how research into nuclear physics allows us to destroy cancer cells more effectively or improves security and safety by designing better methods to detect dirty bombs or radioactive waste.

To help promote the benefits of research into nuclear physics and to shake off some of the old stereotypes the subject has, the Institute of Physics today launched a new report, Nuclear Physics and Technology - Inside the Atom, outlining how basic research into nuclear physics is being used in a variety of applications from medical physics to fusion research.


The report comes at a difficult time for the subject in the UK. Nuclear physicists were up in arms after deep budget cuts to the subject were handed out in late December as the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) announced the country would pull out of a number of nuclear physics projects, mostly at laboratories abroad, to help balance its budget for 2011.
Basic research into nuclear physics was firmly in the cross-hairs as the STFC announced the UK would pull out of the AGATA and PANDA experiments at the GSI heavy-ion lab in Darmstadt and also at ALICE at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The only experiment in nuclear physics that is still to be funded is NUSTAR at GSI. 
 
Many nuclear physicists have lamented the state of the subject in the UK, which they say is now funded much less than in other countries such as Germany or Japan. Nuclear physicist Guenther Roser from the University of Glasgow called the UK’s spending on nuclear physics “appallingly low” and that “the balance is not right” compared with how much the UK spends on particle physics (mostly in subscriptions to CERN) or astronomy.

John Womersley, director of science programmes at the STFC, who spoke at the launch of the report noted that nuclear physics had been “severely affected” by the cuts but warned that physics as a whole will have to “make better arguments” in terms of its impact on society to get enough funding “just to stay still”.

I caught up with William Gelletly from the University of Surrey, who chaired the launch of the report, to ask him what could be done to reverse the trend of low funding for nuclear physics. He said that the community has to get the message across that nuclear physics underpins a lot of different areas, be it in helping to train nuclear physicists or helping medical physicist use the latest proton therapy machines.”You need nuclear physicists to teach the next batch of nuclear engineers,” says Gelletly. “At Surrey, we train over 100 MSc students in nuclear physics across four different courses, of which about half are UK students.”

So what can be done to reverse the decline? Gelletly says that making the government aware how important nuclear physics is would be a good start. He advises that a review of the subject - undertaken not by nuclear physicists but by “independent” experts - should be set up to show the government how important the subject is to the country.

The applications of nuclear physics were perhaps brought home most effectively by Gelletly’s Surrey colleague Jim Al-Khalili. In a wide-ranging talk on nuclear physics he also told the audience that his wife is currently undergoing a three week course of radiotherapy battling against breast cancer. He said that techniques in proton and carbon therapy - developed by nuclear physicists - have allowed for all the energy of the ion beam to be deposited in a very small area thus not damaging the remaining healthy tissue meaning it is more effective than chemotherapy.

Indeed, with the report mentioning that at least 1 in 6 of the UK population will require radiotherapy at some part of their lives, it is hard to think of a more powerful reason why the UK should do more to fund nuclear physics.

Source

So, I can do better if I marry a doctor(?)

The Particle Physics Song

Salam.

While I was a bit down, worrying how bad I have done in my Further Mathematics Pure Test 2, a friend, Syazwan Azhar, a good friend came to cheer me up with this video.

So, as this video had caused me to laugh the moment the first frame animated until the last frame froze, I hope it do bring you the joy too.

I have known a few who have some 'love' in Physics - so, I wish to dedicate this video to them. You know, even at the starting point, I knew this would have been a very tough journey. Full of numbers. You can't help missing your real practical things. Up to this point, I have been studying some intangible and untouchable laws - not like chemistry and bio where you can really view what operate behind them, Physics a bit different.

While Pure Math and Further Pure are really doing their work - keep students 'high', Economics is worse than Form 5 Additional Math as it's graphs are more hideous than Add Maths'. Trigono functions' graphs are better :)

So, to Asyraf Roslan (Manchester will-be graduate), Syazwan Azhar (U.S will-be graduate), Thaaqhib (Future ustaz-physicist), Farhan DQ-UIA and Syazwan Shah who is sadly now pursuing his medical degree at Egypt, and for all who love this beautiful creation of Allah, accept my 'cenderahati'. May it motivate us to pursue the night of Lailatul Qadr.

This video is about particle physics, one of the branches in Physics. Their mission is to understand this world. Some of the mysteries yet unsolved are -
1) Matter has their very partner called anti-matter. Every particle. Like electron with positron. The only differences are their charges and spins. So, when these two particles collide, they will annihilate and convert into pure energy 100% efficiency. So, physicists are in the adventure to find where did the anti-matter go? Some postulate if they find an efficient way(s) in anti-matter issue, they might solve the energy crisis. Nuclear explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki - the efficiency is only nearly 1%. Matter annihilates with anti-matter 100%.
2) Why is our gravity so weak? What causes gravity? Mere presence of mass causes space and time to warp, that's gravity, but what causes it? Some postulate graviton as the particle.
3) The existence of another dimensions. Masya Allah.
4) Dark matter and dark energy. You know, the whole universe, what we can see only make up 4% of this whole universe. The 4% is the stars, galaxy, planets, nebulae, and all the things you can see. The rest is dark......(pasang muzik Puaka Niyang Rapik)


....and many more to be known! ^.^

Haha.. One good thing about CERN worth sharing. Despite the greatest technology the have on Earth, and they created the Internet accidentally, they use bicycle in CERN! So 'go green' isn't it?

For those who wants to know what is CERN, this video explains what they do. Acap shared this! Oh..good friends I have around me. Alhamdulillah..