Life Lesson #2 – Seek meaning

Photo credit [here]

Being an overseas student demands a great deal of independency. Now you need to do almost everything yourself. And you know what, that includes one thing that your mom always does, cooking.

I am not bad in cooking. It is just that I only familiar with simple stuff such as sup ayam, ayam kicap, ayam kurma etc. One day I decided to cook ayam masak merah which I regard among the hardest dish to made. No worry. All recipes are now just on your fingertip, so I googled it.

Now, it takes some skills and arts.

The main ingredient is the chilli pes. I know I got this. I used to watch my mom did it before. You just need to cut the dry chillies, soak them with some hot water and blend them completely using the blender.

I did all that. To be honest I did not know why you need to soak the chillies with hot water in the first place. I did it because I see others did. So I ended up blending the chillies together with its seeds.

Whaaaaaaaaaat?!

The ayam masak merah turns out to be crazy spicy. Honestly no one wants the chillies seed blended into their ‘sambal’.

……………………

Right, I get a very profound lesson here.

Why did you do something? Is it only because others did it? Or you actually have a good idea of why exactly you do it?

This is a very important question that needs to be answered.

Likewise. I have no idea why people used to soak the dry chillies with hot water. I ended up blended the seed s together when actually the reason you soak it is to eliminate the seeds to get a pure chilli pes.  Without knowing the exact purpose of it I ended up not only screwing the dish but also bring spiciness to others.

……………………

That’s exactly how we need to approach life.

We need to ask why we did certain things in certain ways. Do we just blindly follow others or the pre-established rules that was set before us? Or do we have a clear reason for doing it. We know exactly the purpose and its objective. We actually did it in pure consciousness. That’s to say, we know the meaning behind everything that we do.

We need to ask.

Ask ourselves.

Why?

……………………

So, why did you perform solah?

Why did you fast?

Why did you make zikr?

Why did you chase knowledge?

Why?

Why?

And why?

If we do not know what the purposes, what are the objectives, we are in the brink of being ignorance. Our ibadah is mere physical activities. Actions without the souls.

Praying supposedly to remember yet it just mere remembered as routines.

Like supposedly soaking chillies to remove seeds yet they still get blended away.

……………………

Ask brothers.

Seek the meaning.

Why?

Life lesson #1 - Tawakkal.

Photo credit [here]

I was in this dilemma one day. I had two submissions that day. One is my geography assignment the other my biology pre-lab sheet.

I spent the night before doing the geography assignment. To my surprise it took the whole night to finish that 4 pages assignment. I slept around 2 o’clock that night. 

There was no hope left for me to finish up the pre-lab. I was ready to let go of this one. I opened the course assessment scheme to see how much the pre-lab worth of the total grade (I’m that desperate). It worth only 2%. Oh, I think it is okay to drop that just 2%. Plus, as I’m calculating the circumstances there is no way I could made it on time. You need to draw a graph, calculating stuffs that you don’t know (because it was told to me by a friend that the question is hard), there is definitely no way I can have it done.

I woke up with a different feeling that morning.

I stop and think. I was thinking about the thought that I had last night. I just felt that it just wasn’t right. It is wrong for me to think in that way.

Astaghfirullah.

I convinced myself that I just associating Allah last night. It might sound harsh but for me that is the reality. Nauzubillah!

That morning I realized that my decision to stop pulling my efforts to have the pre-lab done just due to the circumstances that I faced is so wrong. I actually just made a tawakkal to the circumstances. Not to Allah. I started believing that the circumstances actually had the power to withhold me. When none has the power except Allah S.W.T.

I was awakened.

I grabbed the pre-lab sheet and start doing it. I used every single instance that I had. Before the geography tutorial started I spent time to do it until the TA actually started to talk. The tutorial ended early, extra time for me to continue. Next, I need to rush for the biology lecture. The writing continued until the lecturer actually started the class. After the class, I had just one-hour left before my lab. Making it more difficult, I also need to pray zuhr within that one hour.

I sat down on a sitting bench just outside the lecture hall. I need to get it done. I’ve looked to the last question that I had no single clue on how to solve. To my surprise, as I made my third or fourth look, it just came to me on how to actually solve the question. It is actually so easy to do. Subhanallah. I was flabbergasted. I made it done just before the call for zuhr.

I rushed to the prayer room and made the congregation. Then I went for the lab session.

I made it!

……………………

We always belittled so many thoughts in our life.

Often it made us fell short into misery and despairs. We know about rububiyyah and uluhiyyah of God. Most people will find no trouble in rububiyyah of God. But we always failed to fully comprehend the uluhiyyah of God. What is the right of God upon us or everything from us that is made obligation from us for God.

Our sensitivity, priority, mindfulness, hope, fear, tawakkal and many more.

We must be conscious. God conscious. So that we  do not make mistake in associating God in our life.

The 'tauhid' of God is our power. It set us free. Like a bird flying through the limitless of the sky. Wandering without fear. With tauhid, we become strong. None has the power to stop us except that what God has permitted.

……………………

Alhamdulillah on that day I also received back my previous geography assignment  I scored 20/20.

La Haula Wa La Quwwata Illa Billah.

Baju Hijau.

Photo credit [here]

It was the day when I was going to head back to my boarding school. My family and I were waiting for the Transnasional bus at Hentian Jalan Duta. That day I wore ‘baju hijau’ an official MATRI dress code for boarded students. It was written in the hostel charter as compulsory for every boarded student to wear ‘baju hijau’ anytime they want to leave or coming back to the school after the holiday.

But in reality, nobody take the rule seriously. People who wear it are often called ‘skema’, ‘tok bond’, just to list some.

And that day, my younger brother spoke out.

He said, “Why are you wearing this? See around you, nobody really cares about it. Plus, the teacher won’t really check if every single student is wearing the shirt.”

He silenced me.

And then, came that moment.

My mother stood just beside me. She heard what he said. She smiled. And she is no ordinary person.

And what she about to say will change my view over things in my school life.

She said, “You don’t wear the shirt, just because of the rule or just because the teacher said so. What important is the effect of wearing that shirt over your heart. The one who wears it carry a big heart in him. He manages to put it on, despite being different from everybody else because of what he had inside his heart. He is humble, obedient, willing to give up his comforts and he believes that obeying the rule is part of his duty, his amanah as a student. That is what the shirt means to him. The shirt is the sign of the state of his heart.”

So profound.  So profound that it pierced deep into my heart.

She changed my perspective over all the little things.

She gave meaning to it.

The ‘baju hijau’ lesson is really something.

I once heard senior in my school said that every rules are meant to educate (tarbiyyah) us.

Now I understand.

But the lessons are only for the people who see.

And my mom, she made me see. :)

BICARA HIPERNOTIKA.

Ini cerita satu molekul.

Tiap hari,

ke luar membran separa-tembus itu ia memandang.

Ia resah,

kala molekul lain tidak endah,

berenang keriangan.

Di lautan cytoplasma itu mereka bermain,

menyisir para organella.

Sang molekul memandang sepi.

Di sudut nukleinya,

ia seakan mahu memanggil mereka pergi.

Tubuh Tuan Sel yang sudah mula berkontraksi,

tanda mereka sekejap lagi juga akan ditarik pergi.

Sang molekul berkeluh sepi.

Menunggu masa mereka dihanyut pergi.

Saat ikatan tekap-lekap mereka terurai,

sang molekul bersama mereka pergi.

Tuan Sel yang menunggu mati,

Sang molekul yang langsung mengiringi,

Iringi nasib yang  tidak pasti.

Sang molekul ini,

Miliki nuklei pessimisma,

ATP yang tidak mampu di utilisasi,

Ikatan lekap-tekap yang longgar.

Dicelahan liang membran separa-tembus itu,

Engkau dapat melihat,

ia dihanyut pergi.

[Hypertonic refers to a higher concentration or has a greater degree of tone or tension. A cell in a hypertonic solution has a lower concentration of solutes than its surroundings, leading to a decrease of water in the cell. Water will leave the cell by means of osmosis and cause the cell to crenate. Crenation is a crinkling up process.]

The Hunger Games.

Prologue.

When we think about starvation, famine, and hunger, do we all know what actually happen? What’s actually going on in this world? How this could even happen when we claimed humanity is in the age of its science and technology advancements? Do we really out of food? Do we need a bigger earth to feed all people? Do we need to stop and think a way to maintain or reduce the current total human population? What is the solution? What actually happen?

In my academic sphere there is seems a tug of war between the idea of decreasing human population and increasing food production.

There was once, a presenter in my class on a topic ‘Solution on Global Population Growth’ asked for votes to their suggested solutions; reduce the population or increase food production.  The votes really did go on equal sides.

Even there was one who proposed for mass human extermination as the solution. But, of course she was just trying to make a joke.

Inspiration.

Last year, I attended a public lecture by Bro. Hamza Tzortis and he said something that was very profound. He said, “Don’t ever tell me that we don’t have enough foods to feed the people when in one corner of the world thousands of people died because of obesity where on another thousands were dying because of starvation”.

The inspiration also came from my environmental science professor, Monika Havelka when she told us a story of world leaders in a conference. One of the European leaders addresses his desolation towards Bangladesh, one of the countries with high population density.  He said “Your country should stop your population growth which had put a burden on this earth to feed them and sustain the global ecosystem”. Then the Bangladesh representative said, “You know what, my 10 children consume much less than a child of yours. Tell me all of this when you stop buying X-Box and all other stuffs for your kids [when all of you start to consume less]”.

Now, let’s us explore the story. It is the story of women walking hundreds of kilometers to secure food for her children. It is the story of the children in a line for their entire day just to obtain water for their families. It really bothers me.  But, the stories really start to catch my attention when I learn about the sciences behind it.  I explored the issue in the topic of ‘Population Biology and Human Population’ under my environmental sciences studies. I will be talking about the sciences behind the stories. And try to tell you what actually happen.

Food Security.

Food security is the term coined to the problem of ensuring people getting their minimum requirement of foods/nutrients to perform their day to day activities.

So, to ensure food security, there is two basic issues.

Production-related and distribution-related issues.

to be continued...

Membangun Sebuah Ideologi.

Photo credit [here]

Kita dan Realiti.

Hampir 7 bulan saya berada di bumi Kanada. Alhamdulillah, Allah mengizinkan saya untuk melanjutkan pengajian dalam jurusan Molekular Biologi di bawah program sains hayat di Universiti Toronto. Sepanjang pembelajaran disini  berbagai kejutan dan pengalaman baru dialami. Sebagai seorang pelajar jurusan biologi suka saya memperkatakan mengenai topik kali ini dari lensa akademik saya.

Terkejut juga saya apabila sampai dan melihat bagaimana subjek sains biologi diajar disini. Antara kepelikan yang paling utama ialah bagaimana masyarakat akademik disini mengangkat teori evolusi sebagai asas bagi pembelajaran ilmu biologi. Secara konseptualnya ilmu biologi biasanya diasaskan melalu teori sel (Theory of Cell) dimana unit asas bagi setiap organisma hidup ialah sel. Tetapi disini beserta teori sel ini ialah teori evolusi (Theory of Evolution) dimana premis utamanya ialah setiap organisma hidup berkongsi moyang yang sama (common ancestor). Dua konsep ini dianggap asas disini dan subjek evolusi merupakan subjek wajib di tahun pertama bagi semua pelajar jurusan sains hayat.

Namun, tidak semua konsep yang dipelajari didalam subjek evolusi adalah salah dan perlu ditolak. Tidak. Sebagai mereka yang berpelajaran kita perlu adil dalam menilai pendapat orang lain dan menganalisa sesuatu secara tepat. Kebanyakan idea didalam konsep ini merupakan sesuatu yang ‘common sense’ dan mampu dicerna oleh sesiapa sahaja . Tidak dilupakan ada juga yang ‘not making any sense’.

Tetapi bagi saya apa  yang membimbangkan tentang kaedah pengajaran biologi dari sudut pandang evolusi ialah sekularisasi ilmu. Dengan adanya evolusi kononnya terjawablah asal usul sesuatu spesies. Mereka tidak perlukan lagi Tuhan untuk menjelaskan diversifikasi spesies bakteria, arkaea, tumbuhan mahupun haiwan yang wujud di muka bumi ini. Didalam subjek ‘Diversity of Species’ misalnya saya belajar mengenai bermacam jenis organisma dengan berbagai jenis morfologi, berbagai jenis cara makan, berbagai jenis cara membiak dan berbagai jenis adaptasi untuk hidup di persekitaran yang berbagai. Tetapi akhirnya mekanisma evolusi yang mendapat tempat sebagai punca bagi semua diversiti ini. Akhirnya ilmu menjadi kering dan langsung tidak membawa manusia kembali mengangungkan Sang Pencipta. Jadilah ilmu sekadar makanan akal yang tidak dapat membangkitkan ruh.

Proses sekularisasi ini bukan sahaja menjangkiti pendidikan biologi malah pendidikan itu sendiri secara keseluruhannya. Malah bukan sahaja sistem pendidikan tetapi meliputi sistem kekeluargaan, ekonomi, politik dan sebagainya umumnya pada realiti hari ini.

Ideologi dan pendokong.

Sesuatu ideologi tidak akan mampu bangkit malah wujud tanpa ada pendokongnya.

Ini merupakan suatu kenyataan yang saya rasa mampu diterima oleh semua. Sekularisasi dalam pengajaran subjek biologi tadi ialah kerana adanya mereka yang terima, yakin dan mengembangkan ideologi evolusi itu tadi. Misalnya, profesor-profesor disini telah menghabiskan masa muda mereka menelaah, mengkaji, menganalisa untuk menjustifikasi kebenaran ideologi ini. Ideologi ini kemudiaannya dikembangkan dengan diajar kepada pelajar-pelajar mereka. Usaha mereka nampak keberhasilannya melihatkan bagaimana buku-buku teks biologinya kini diolah dengan cara pandang evolusi baik dari sudut terminologi hingga kepada konsep-konsep. Ya, ideologi ini bangkit dengan usaha pendokong-pendokongnya yang meyakini akan kebenarannya dan menganggap sudut pandang ini yang patut diterima oleh masyarakat umum.

Ingin saya perjelaskan lagi, bahawa ilmu itu mungkin sama tetapi pendokongnya akan menentukan halatuju dalam konteks ini ilmu itu. Ingin saya berikan contoh disini bagaimana saya diajar subjek biologi di bangku sekolah menengah dahulu. Kelas kami akan dimulakan dengan bacaan doa. Seringkali ayat-ayat Al-Quran diselitkan didalam pembelajaran kami. Ketika menerangkan konsep embriologi, Al-Quran menjadi sandaran. Malah pernah soalan pertama dalam ujian bulanan kami ialah ayat Al-Quran yang merujuk kepada sesuatu konsep biologi. Akhirnya ilmu yang diperoleh tidak lain tidak bukan membawa kami lebih dekat dengan Sang Pencipta.

Isinya sama. Tapi, cikgu yang berbeza. Pendokong ideologi berbeza. Pendokong berminda evolusi akan menerjemahkan sesuatu dengan cara pandang sekularnya manakala pendokong fikrah Islam akan menerjemahkan sesuatu dengan cara pandang Islam yang akan mendekatkan penerimanya kepada Allah SWT.

Apa Ideologi @ Fikrah Kita.

Begitu juga halnya dengan Islam yang kita sayangi dan yakini ini. Kita terima dan yakin bahawa cara pandang Islam patut diterima dan diimplementasi oleh masyarakat umum. Sebagaimana mereka –mereka yang saya sebutkan tadi terima dan yakin ideologi mereka sebagai yang terbaik dan perlu diimplementasi dalam bidang pendidikan mereka. Jika mereka tiada penerimaan dan keyakinan, pastinya tidak akan ada usaha untuk mengembangkannya.

Inilah hakikatnya yang perlu ada bagi mereka yang menggelar diri mereka sebagai pendokong-pendokong Islam kerana sunnatullah itu sama. Perlu ada keyakinan, keikhlasan, semangat dan usaha untuk menyebarluaskan fikrah atau cara pandang yang anda yakini. Kemandulan dalam usaha penyebaran dan pengembangan ini bererti berlaku kelonggaran pada fikrah yang anda yakini. Kriteria pendokong inilah yang digariskan oleh Imam Hasan Al-Banna sebagai rukun pemuda  :

1. Keimanan

2. Keikhlasan

3. Semangat

4. Usaha/Amal

Teliti dan susurilah sejarah dan anda akan melihat pendokong apa jua ideologi pasti akan mempunyai ciri-ciri ini. Jadi apa cara pandang kita? Apa fikrah atau ideologi yang kita perjuangkan? Bagi para pemuda ketahuilah bahawa kemampuan yang ada pada anda mampu untuk membina dan membangunkan apa jua ideologi. Justeru Imam Banna berpesan:

"Kamu perlu berfikir masak-masak, gandakan usaha, tentukan pendirian, tunaikan segala hak ummah, dengan segala keistimewaan yang kamu miliki"

Buatlah pilihan yang tepat. Allah berfirman:

"Dan ini jalanKu yg lurus, kamu ikutilah ia. Jangan kamu ikut jalan-jalan (yg lain), nanti kamu berpecah dari jalanNya ....." (Al-An'aam:153) 

Penutup

Justeru, ingin saya serukan kepada para pemuda. Diri anda adalah lebih daripada apa yang anda fikirkan tentangnya. Ketahuilah seperti yang saya sebutkan tadi bahawa potensi dan kemampuan yang kita miliki mampu untuk membangunkan apa jua ideologi. Sepertimana professor-profesor saya di usia muda mereka mampu membangunkan ideologi evolusi dan sekularisasi ilmu mereka, begitu jua kita yang pastinya memiliki kemampuan yang sama.

Jikalau anda mencari ideologi untuk didokong, dokongilah Islam. Yakinlah bahawa hanyasanya ideologi (jalan) ini yang diredhai oleh Allah. Sertakan pula dengan keikhlasan. Padukannya dengan semangat. Dan beramallah dengan fikrah itu. Beserta semua ini dan bantuan dari Allah, Inshallah kita mampu melakukan perubahan kearah pembaikan !

Maaf jika saya banyak menyentuh tentang biologi di awal artikel ini. Memang saya ada minat mendalam dalam bidang ini. Terus terang dalam ilmu biologi terlalu banyak misteri yang belum terungkai dan tiada ‘absolute answer’ tentang sesuatu. Semuanya berubah. Jika saya ingin menasihati para evolusionis, saya akan mengungkapkan kata-kata Nabi Musa a.s apabila ditanya Firaun tentang Tuhannya:

"Tuhan kami ialah yang telah memberikan kepada tiap sesuatu kejadiannya, kemudian memberikannya petunjuk.(Taha: 50)"

Alfaqir Ilallah,

SYED ZULFAQAR BIN SYED MOHD KHAIR

Pelajar jurusan Molekular Biologi,

University of Toronto, Kanada.

March to the front !

[ARABIC LYRICS]

والله لن أنسى مسجدنا الأقصى * وقبة الصخرة تبكي من الحسرة

تقول يارباه , ياواهب الحياه * بعونك اللهم , أكتب لنا النصر

وشجرة الزيتون بغصنه الحنون * يبكي على شهداء أرضنا الحرة

يلوعة النفس عليك ياقدس * وأنت في البلوى والعيشة المرة

ياإخوة الاسلام سيروا الى الأمام * بالعزم والاقدام بصحبة القرآن

هيا اهتفوا ياإخوتي *** استقضي يا أمتي *** ياإخوة الاسلام

ياإخوة الاسلام سيروا الى الأمام * بالعزم والاقدام بصحبة القرآن

النور في أيدينا وربنا يحمينا * قرآننا يهدينا في ساحة الايمان

هيا أرفعوا القرآن وحطموا الأوثان * وحرروا الانسان من قبضة الطغيان

هيا اهتفوا ياإخوتي * استقضي يا أمتي * هيا أعيدي بسمتي كسابق الأزمان

[ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

By Allah, I will never forget our Masjidul Aqsa *

And the Dome of the Rock which they are now crying in grief *

O' my Lord, O' the One who granted the life * 

With Your help, write for us the victory *

And the trees of Zaitun with their gently moving branches *

Weeping for the martyrs of our free land *

Hearts are tormented for what beholds you, O' Quds *

And you are in affliction and dignified time *

O' brothers march to the front !*

With determination, courage and Quran as comrade *

Let's shout out loud my brothers! * 

Wake up my ummah ! *

O' all brothers ! *

O' brothers march to the front !* 

With determination, courage and Quran as comrade *

The light is in our hand  and our Lord will defend us *

Our Quran will guide us in the courtyard of Iman* 

Let us uphold the Quran and smashed the idols *

And let us free the people from the grip of the tyrants*

Let's shout out loud my brothers! * 

Wake up my ummah ! *

Let's us return the smile of the past *

 *For humanist: It was estimated that there are 4.6 million Palestinian refugees now camping in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, West Bank and Gaza Strip. They were displaced and denied to return home since 1948. 
 *For Muslims: They are our brothers. And that is enough for me to say about it. You know what the status hold.