Journey To Cape Town

Ismail Wolff ( father Sidi Abdur Rahman Wolff)

I left London for Cape Town and the Moussem of Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir As-Sufi in October 2010 in the hope of finding out about my past.

My mother and father converted to Islam with Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi before the first zawiya in Bristol Gardens was established, but they left the community in the mid-1980s, when I was about seven years old. Since then I had had little contact with people from those early years. But in the months leading up to the moussem I had begun reconnecting with a past that I had for so long ignored, but never forgotten. Heading to Cape Town was, I thought, a chance for me to speak to people who knew my parents from times gone by, to hear stories and recollections of a place and time that no longer existed. And while, in many ways I did achieve that, the journey also offered me a chance to experience something still very much alive.

This was my first ever moussem and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Having only recently come back into contact with the community it was all very new to me. The nights of dhikr were hypnotic. The voices, the faces, the light, I was swept up by it all. But I see now that the dhikr opened the door for what was to come.

The Moussem

I arrive for the first night of dhikr early. I make wudu and take some time to sit in the tranquil courtyard downstairs at the mosque, enjoying the peacefulness and solitude and the sound of the water flowing in the fountain. The day’s journey may have been simple, but in my moment of peace I contemplate the longer voyage that has brought me here. I go upstairs to pray Maghrib and afterwards, sit in the mosque and wait for the night.

As the night sky darkens and Isha approaches, the room gradually starts filling up, and the pace of people coming in quickens; the number of people doubles in the last 15 minutes leading up to the Isha prayer, perhaps 300 or more men and women now fill the mosque. The dhikr is powerful, beautiful, intoxicating. Any attempt, by me, to describe it in words would, I fear, not do it justice. I lose myself in the Wird and Qasidas. The sounds and the night of dhikr culminate in the hadra. It is organic. The hadras resonate strong in my mind from childhood. I remember clearly the feeling of the bass of rhythmic voices and breathing vibrating in my child’s chest.

But the moussem is not only dhikr. It is this gathering of brothers that opens a new window into the community for me. Who are all these people that have travelled from all over the globe to be here? I am just one story in hundreds that make up this narrative, but we recognise each other. I have spent a lot of time in solitude in this life, but I see here that in brotherhood there is something special. We are supposed to live in community. All together in the Jumu’a Mosque; there is a community of solitaries, and we achieve our solitude in community.

After the dhikr I make contact with the fuqara I was hoping to meet, people that knew my parents well, people that knew me. My intention was to do some research into the early days of the community and I hoped I could spend some one-on-one time with those who had been with the Shaykh since the early days in Morocco and London and the United States – those who had sat with Shaykh Muhammad Ibn al-Habib, Radhiallahu Anhu. As I introduce myself to people like Hajj Issa Bryce, Hajj Idris Mears and Hajj Abdullah Luongo, to name but a few, they react with kindness and curiosity. They all immediately ask about my parents, as would be expected, for they all knew each other well. It is in these exchanges that I realise I am not just there as myself, with my own intentions.

I am struck by the variety and beauty of the fuqara. From all corners of the world people have come and been united through dhikr. It isn’t just the spectacle of the “exotic”, the jalabas and turbans, it is what is underneath that grabs my attention. The light in people’s faces is clear. I feel humbled to be there – at times I wonder if I really belong. But I revel in the social nature of the event – speaking to people from Russia, from Indonesia, America, Spain, Germany, Italy, England, Scotland, South Africa – the list goes on.

After we have all eaten, I introduce myself to the Amir of Cape Town, Hajj Orhan, and ask him if he knows of a bed I can sleep in for the night. I tell him I am happy to sleep in the mosque if that is an option but he says no, “send him with the Russians”. I am introduced to Ali and Salman and others from the Russian fuqara and we agree to leave together to go to the house in Bo Kaap where they are staying.
But it’s not all new faces. Before leaving I walk over to Hajj Uthman Morrison, who is sitting with his back against a pillar. I thank him for his help in getting me here. He is kind and asks if I have met the people I had hoped to for my research. I say I have. He then asks how I found the dhikr and I say it was fantastic, mashallah. He tells me I am glowing and offers me a kind, warm smile.

As I am heading to leave, standing in the doorway to the mosque talking to Hajj Idris Mears, Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley walks through and stops. “Sidi Ismail, how was it?” he asks me with smiling eyes. “Wonderful,” I reply. I am among the company of the fuqara.

When it comes time to leave, after the sumptuous feast and all the socialising, mingling and endless hugging, the Russians and I set off into the night. The Jumu’a Mosque is in the centre of Cape Town and by now it is well past midnight and Long Street is thronging with drunken people and beggars and the usual clamour of a Saturday night in a big city. I follow the Russians as we glide through the revellers in our jalabas and turbans, seemingly unnoticed. I instantly like the Russians. They are fun and wide-eyed. They are on an adventure too.

We end up at a 24hr eatery opposite the Dallas College on Long Street, all the time Salman, a big, smiling and gentle man, is ensuring I am entertained and at ease. “Russians and English man, Muslims, sitting in coffee shop in Cape Town at 1am listening to Bollywood music – what a wonderful world,” says Salman. I have to agree with him.

Cape Town is, in and of itself, a remarkable city. It’s a multicultural garden set against the stunning backdrop of Table Mountain and the mountainous spine and beaches that stretches out into the Atlantic and Indian oceans. This unquestionably spiritual setting is home to over a million Muslims – and over 20 recognised karamats of Awliya. You can feel why the Shaykh is here, why the community is here.

The next night of dhikr is as sublime as the first. I feel more composed and focussed, less self-conscious. Shaykh Abdalqadir leads tonight’s dhikr and the hadra and there is a sense of importance of occasion. This is the first time I have seen the Shaykh in person. After the hadra the Shaykh addresses us all. He speaks of the importance of brotherhood and it now being a time for action, not talk.

The opening of doors

After the moussem I had planned to stay on a few weeks and speak to a number of the fuqara about the early days of the community. I also hoped to have the chance to meet with the Shaykh. I was granted that opportunity when the Shaykh invited some of the fuqara for lunch at his home in the week after the moussem. It was a Tuesday. The winds had calmed, the clouds had cleared and the air was clean and warm. On that day, the Shaykh was hosting fuqara who had travelled from Germany and the UK. We all sat on blankets laid out on the lawn at Mormaer Mansion, shaded from the sun by a grand marquee. I would say I was nervous about meeting the Shaykh, as I thought I would be, but I wasn’t.

Shaykh Abdalqadir joined us for the lunch and we all enjoyed the conversation and wonderful food – a rice dish topped elegantly with edible rose petals. Sitting on the floor and sharing these plates of food always takes me back to my childhood, when all our meals were eaten this way, whether at home or at the mosque or other people’s houses.

After the lunch was finished, Shaykh Abdalqadir took time to sit with each group and speak with each person one-by-one. Our table was last. I introduced myself and the Shaykh immediately remembered my father and asked about him and my grandparents, for they had a mutual friend in the celebrated but controversial psychoanalyst Ronald Laing.

“As Rasulullah, salallahu alaihi wasallam, said, the child is the hidden secret of the father, and you are the outcome of what is true in him, so that is very good, that is very good news,” Shaykh Abdalqadir says to me, smiling. I was here to find out about my father and my past, but by travelling outward I was indeed finding out about the “inward”, the self.

With the Moussem over I was not totally sure what I was going to do. My initial plan was to try and spend some time with people like Hajj Issa and Hajj Abdallah, as well as Hajja Zulaikha and Hajja Rabea Redpath and others who had known my parents since Bristol Gardens in the 1970s. I managed to spend time with some of them, and it was a joy to speak about theirs and my parents’ lives; stories of the past, how all of this came to be – the formative years of the community and all those in it. It felt familiar, like meeting old friends, like meeting family. I also had the pleasure of reconnecting with other children that were born into those early years in the community in London and Norwich, especially Shaykh Habib Bewley, who was one of the many that invited me into his home.

The last few weeks were a pleasure. I spent time with many of the fuqara, from England, the US and Spain, as well as many of the young fuqara from South Africa. I found their worldview compelling – the importance placed on establishing the deen, the extraordinary economic and political consciousness. I sensed an astute awareness of the inherent flaws and failures in the global capitalist system and it’s contempt for humanity – a clear insight into a world dictated by weak political systems and the caprice of undulating mass public opinion.

What I sense from the fuqara in Cape Town, especially the younger ones, is a dynamism, a sense of purpose and direction – and always humour, always kindness. These are, I see, men of action, not just of words.

Society has to be able to give us access to our own inwardness, and, as the Shaykh has said, a truly human society cannot be achieved unless the ultimate undertaking of that society is not just its survival, progress or expansion, but rather the realisation of the meaning of man in this lifetime. If we learn from the Qur’an and our elders then we have access to truth, unchanged by time and circumstance.

My original plan was to leave Cape Town by early November, but I ended up postponing my flight back to London twice. There was still something I had to do. I am glad I stayed. I managed to get to know many of the fuqara better, become friends, companions. I was invited into homes, into lives and into ideas. For this recollection here, there is no space for details, but after several weeks of spending time with the fuqara I felt I belonged. I no longer felt like an outsider looking in. As Hajj Abdullah Luongo said to me one evening: “We recognise each other on the path.”

On my penultimate night in Cape Town a dhikr was held at the zawiya by the mosque. If anything, I drank more from this dhikr than I did the moussem – perhaps I was nervous before, when now I was at ease. Whatever the reason, it was a night of beauty. I woke the next morning early, and laughing. That day, a beautiful Sunday with a vast blue sky, the fuqara gathered in Constantia at the tomb of the great wali Shaykh Abdurrahman Matebe Shah, the last of the Malaccan Sultans. We recited Yasin and the Nasiri du‘a. After, everyone mingled and soaked up the great company. It was here I had the pleasure of speaking with Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi again. Towards the end of our conversation the Shaykh tells me that my presence there, as the son of my father, has closed something for him that had not been completed.

We sometimes travel with one intention, but unbeknown to us, our real purpose has already been determined.

I left our conversation, and Cape Town, with much to contemplate.

Part 2 : Moroccan Adventures

So, insha’Allah, the task as a writer or poet is to always put oneself in the midst of what may come, wherever Allah’s manifestation may be happening. Of course, it is happening everywhere, whether we are aware of it nor not, but we want to be in a state of dhikr to recognize it as often and as deeply as possible. This requires a certain training, which, for me, came partly from the time I spent with the muqaddem and shaykh, as well as my earlier Zen Buddhist meditation, and something I became more aware of as I traveled in other parts of the world, and saw what Allah has done with other civilizations, present and past, as Allah ta’ala counsels in the Qur’an.

In the late 1970s, six of us western Sufi Muslims, fuqara of Shaykh ibn al-Habib, traveled throughout northern and south-eastern Algeria in the late 70s, when it was still easier to travel there, and met many awliyya, some wellknown and some more hidden. Every moment you sit with a wali is worth many years of ‘ibada, as it is said, because these men and women of Allah, who have reached a high station with Allah, show us more than words can tell what the grace of Allah and the Prophet, peace be upon him, really is, and how they manifest among us in our present life.

We also spent time living and traveling in Morocco, and attended many mawlids and moussems. In the tomb of Ali al-Jamal in Fez we discovered the book that was translated and published by The Diwan Press as The Meaning of Man. We were told his fuqara, even today, are still coming down to his tomb, which is situated in a low place in Fez, to read from and study his book. We photographed each hand-written page and later transcribed it and translated it into
English, a first-time event of great importance. We also journeyed to Shaykh Ibn Mashish’s mountaintop tomb in Larache, raheemullah, and did dhikr and prayer among the wild cork trees, prostrating in sajdah on the flat cork-floored crest above the canyons as if flying among clouds.

In a way of nourishing the heart and soul, all of these experiences have invested my poetry in a way that I really can’t even explain, and it may not be obviously evident. To this date, I have not written an account about the trip to Shaykh ibn al-Mashish’s tomb, because I’m not a scholar-historian nor memoirist, but a writer of poems. If you remain an open field, from the creative, poetic point of view, Allah works through you however He wills.

Back in the beginning when I was first a Muslim, the poets that I knew and loved, in San Francisco and California at that time, were mostly Buddhist, and they wrote poetry out of their Buddhism, both philosophically and through their love and interest in nature and our natural “enlightened” consciousness. Their poetry is often meditative, recognizing the essence of stillness, and above all, recognizing the goal of the end of mankind’s suffering, which is spiritual wisdom.

At the time, when I thought about my poetic intentions, I said to myself, “This is what I want to do, insha’Allah, for Islam, for Sufism, I want to be a voice that isn’t specifically only speaking to Muslims,” because this time in our history is the era of the Prophet Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa salam, where Islam is the deen of Allah. We “Muslims” in particular have to remember that the Prophet came for every human being, and it will be so until the end of time — we must speak to everyone. At the inception of my being Muslim and Sufi, I wanted to create a body of work that reminds people, and myself, about Allah, praying and hoping that every poem I write is a dhikr for me, and insha’Allah, also a dhikr for other people. Because as Allah says in Qur’an, “When you forget, remember!” which is an ayat of tremendous mercy. When we go through a moment of unconsciousness, or torpor, ghafla (forgetfulness), then we turn and remember, we remember Allah and His beloved Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa salam, we remember who we are and the path of life we are on, and the heart ticks back into a wider consciousness.

Abdal Hayy Daniel Moore's Journey

GRATITUDE TO MOROCCO

I would also like to express an enormous gratitude to the people of Morocco, who have always shown us the deepest generosity. At first, filled with longing and excitement to be a part of a tariqat in Morocco, I went to Meknes to the zawiyya of our shaykh thinking it would be a kind of perfect Utopia, and it was perfect, but not in the way we think. It was perfect the way the world is perfect. And at the same time, the intention, the niyyat, of everyone, even the imperfect ones, like us, like me, was to be in a circle of dhikr, and to find the Presence, the Hadrat of Allah. There is something deeply imbedded in the heart of the Moroccan people that is very beautiful and essential, full of iman, having available to it the various steps toward real knowledge of God, and as a citizen of the world with spiritual thirst, for that I am deeply grateful. When our little community of European Muslims passed through the market streets, in our djalabas and turbans, purchased in Tangiers before we went south into the Moroccan heartland, people would stop and weep to see obviously Muslim westerners respectful of Moroccan culture, instead of as with the earlier influx of Europeans who came as hippies in the 60s, and who seemed only to indulge in some of the less Islamic aspects of Moroccan culture.

Although I was born in Oakland, in the North American state of California, I consider Meknes, Morocco, my real birthplace, where I met Shaykh ibn al-Habib, raheemullah, wali of Allah, Qutub shaykh of the time, and where I also lived for a time that had the taste of eternity in it, in his zawiyya with his disciples. It was there I saw the old men (and some of the women as well, most especially his wives) of his spiritual community who had been with him for decades, who were now like trees, forests of trees — I was living in a forest of ‘ilm and ma’rifa. Among all the variety of people we encountered there we found these giant trees, like towering redwoods. That was the world of our shaykh’s domains. So when my wife and I visited Meknes a few years ago, in early 2000, I suddenly felt at home again.

HAJJ IN 1972
I was with a group of us living in the zawiyya during the last Ramadan of Shaykh ibn al-Habib’s life, and I went on Hajj in 1972, with Shaykh Dr. Abdal-Qadir, Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley, Abdal-Aziz Redpath and the great photographer, Peter Abdal-Adheem Sanders. It was a truly momentous Hajj for us. We were meant to meet the shaykh in Jeddah. We had asked permission in Meknes at that Ramadan to go on Hajj and he had said, “Meet me in Jeddah.” But we arrived in Jeddah and he wasn’t there. So we went on to Mecca, and still didn’t see him. Then the sheriff of his zawiyya, Sidi Moulay Sheriff, came running up to us, greeted us very happily, asked how we were, how our travels were, and if we were satisfied with our accommodations (which we were not, our mutawwif had not really taken care of us). He then went and found us a good place to stay, took us to a place to eat, for we were all very hungry, and after all that, which must have taken over an hour or so, took Abdalhaqq Bewley off to speak to him privately.
When Abdalhaqq came back he had tears streaming down his cheeks. Shaykh ibn al-Habib, raheemullah, wouldn’t meet us in Mecca, for he had died on his way from Meknes by automobile, in Blida, Algeria. So our Hajj was one of deep grief as well as the deep experience of the Hajj itself, and was therefore a doubly difficult journey, and continued to be so when we returned to England to tell the community there the very sad news. But I’ve always felt, and this has been a constant in my own spiritual life as a living example of true ‘adab, that the way in which this faqir greeted us, carrying such a terrific burden of news, was so extraordinary, in that he didn’t run up to us saying, “The shaykh is dead! The shaykh is dead!” But in fact, he made sure we were comfortable, and fed, and then spoke the right words to Abdalhaqq privately.

We found in all our journeys to Morocco and our visits with the people, that with the natural beauty of the country itself, with its lavender valleys and rolling green hills, and its variegated and rich culture, among the people there’s an innocence and a deep wisdom, there’s a depth, a beauty in the people, and certainly in the profound tradition of Sufism and Islam that is so much a part of Morocco, in all of its manifestations. And the tradition is still very much alive that makes available, through the living scholars and shuyukh and awliyya, the Path to Allah, The Ultimate Reality, through correctly and sincerely receiving the proper initiation and ‘idhn, from a real shaykh of m’arifa, of whom there are many great and magnificent living exemplars today.

May Islam and Sufism continue to grow and thrive among all humankind everywhere, with Morocco again at its peak of a golden age of Sufism and true Islamic teachings, and constant nourishment for all those who go with a hunger for true spiritual experience and deep-rooted foundational learning.

Amen.

Debt and the Prostitution of America

(We just read Tun Dr.Mahathir comment on USD 4.0 Trillion Derivatives Trade Per Day. How the world did not care much. How our intellect and action gone kaput ? Why lower interest rates in US will rob the poor in other countries ? The crash day will come and be prepared,like the Flood in Nabi Nuh's time).


Submitted by Cris Sheridan on 30 Sep 2010 (Financial Sense)
"The borrower is a slave to the lender." Proverbs 22:7

Our entire nation is largely indebted to a single private corporation! Yes, that's right, the Federal Reserve—a privately held bank that is closing in on being the 2nd largest holder of US debt. At the rate its going, the Fed may actually be the largest holder in the space of a few months. This is not a good sign.

"The monopoly of a single bank is certainly an evil." —Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, 1802. ME 10:323

Many people are aware that America is the largest debtor nation in the world. What they don't understand is that this means the US must depend upon borrowing other people's money in exchange for a service. Sounds like prostitution doesn't it? You see, although the selling and servicing of debt is a common practice among many nations, the nature of this type of contract was rewritten on a global scale when America went from being the world’s greatest lender to the world's largest borrower. The consequences of such led, by necessity, to a bill of divorce under the presidency of Richard Nixon where foreign powers were cheated from their previously agreed to dowry. This severing of gold from the issuance of debt and currency now allows America to merely exchange debt for more and more debt. Unfortunately, what was once a contract of fair exchange is now a continual debasement. The world's most desired bride has now become a harlot.

There is a huge reason why foreign nations continue to slum it up at the Treasury auction every year and pay America for her services—they are drunk with our money! They cannot sober up because she has inflated and multiplied her favors all over the world. Madam America is fighting hard to keep her clientele happy, but her assets are becoming visibly stretched. The American taxpayer cannot afford to pay the bill. Therefore, she has no choice but to inflate or die!

Many are bewildered by the huge increase in gold's value over the past decade. To them, it is an anomaly; something that can't be explained in terms of modern finance. They are deceived; unable to see outside their unyielding faith in paper money because it is issued in God's name—"In God We Trust"—or because they believe that nations, and not just companies, are too big to fail. History proves otherwise...and God does not look favorably upon blasphemy.

I do not believe this system will end soon. Though America has been elevated to a precarious position atop an unwieldy beast, her services are still loved more than she is hated. Eventually, however, one will outstrip the other...turning what has been, so far, from a consensual agreement into a forced act. Until then, America will continue to become a slave to both the Federal Reserve and foreign nations—prostituting her wealth by selling her body to the highest bidder. The question is, will there be a final day of reckoning?

Aqida, Amal and Jamaat

Preface:
As an individual, we lost the political power. As citizen, we become slave of the state. As consumer, we are swamped by material goods. As we accept paper money, we enslaved by banks and usurious system. As one take up arm, one is defeated militariry and branded as terrorist. How do we begin to take Allah deen and commands ?. This article show the pointers....)

In the present world situation it is important that we, the Muslim nation, both protect and propagate the Deen. On the face of it, admittedly, it appears confusing. We have been landed with a secret society of terrorists in a secretly funded and executed guerrilla war. There is a hidden leadership with a hidden agenda, and one highly dubious, iconic ‘Old Man of the Mountains’. While pretending to be Islamic, they slaughter Muslims. Yet at the same time that they pose as ‘extremist’ Muslims, they have a zero ideological position. The founding terrorist groups of 19th century Russia had Proudhon, Bakunin and Marx. The Chinese revolutionaries had Mao’s Little Red Book. Yet when they call on us to rise up and destroy, they do not tell us what they are calling us to establish.

Since Deen is not founded on ideology but on ‘aqida and ‘amal and jama’at, how can we, the Muslim masses, fall behind them when they have no jama’at, we cannot approve of their ‘amal, and we know nothing of whatever ‘aqida they may claim? Added to this is that while terrorism and anarchism have an ideological base, Deen has a ruhani base which traces social equity back to the right-acting individual. ‘Birr’ is a term both of Fiqh and Tasawwuf. Qadi Iyad’s ‘Tartib al-Mudarak’ was written to demonstrate that, properly speaking, the Shari‘at is not founded on canon principles, but in reality is founded on right-guided and right-acting individuals. In other words, without a just Qadi there can be no just society. The existence of the zahid fuqaha is the evidentiary necessity of a Muslim society.

Our present difficulty does not lie with these people, but in the bitter fact that kafir media and indeed state authorities in some cases have taken this as a licence to persecute the Muslims and in a massive anti-Da’wa have used these grisly events to stand as a denunciation of Islam itself.

In order to steady our own ship of state, which at present has no commanding officer on the bridge, just as, in our metaphor, in a similar situation the sailors without a captain would simply go back to the basic rules of sailing in order to survive, so we must return to the basic essentials of our Deen in order to steady the boat and give a safe passage. Our compass, the Book of Allah, gives us clear guidance. So important to the Deen is it, that we repeat it in at least five Salat in a day.

The first benefit we gather from this modest glance at our Fatiha is that this affair is a Divine matter that can never be reduced to the dialectics and vengeance of a chaotic insurrection led by an embittered secret society which is now no longer secret, for Allah has laid bare their identity through His ruling of the universe from within the universe, devoid of interventions yet held in constant dynamic by His generous answering of the prayers of the muminun.

Now it is clear that in effect there is no such thing as Al‑Qaeda, and this was confirmed to us by the foolish Saudi ambassador to Britain when, in a TV interview, he mentioned their name 20 times. It had to mean they were not what he said, but something else, and what that something else turns out to be is the embittered second and third generation wave of wahhabis turning against their two old enemies, the Saudi tribe and the great Jama’at beyond their desert sands who not only worship Allah but also love the Rasul, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Allah is “the King of the Day of Judgment,” that is, ‘King’ in the Riwayat of Warsh, which as our scholars confirm was the Reading of the Salaf communities. This reminds us daily that the Judgment which matters, when that Judgment comes, is neither on nations nor on ideologies. The Judgment is on the person, that person who had been appointed in this world as the representative of the King Himself. What is at issue, that is, what matters, is what the individual makes of his life. What sum of actions does he bring to the Reckoning? So, paramount to everything is the central reality that we come before Allah to face Him alone, or, as in His generosity He grants that we may stand before Him as couples, but the meaning of the Day of Judgment is that the ultimate reality is what we do with our lives.

This, we must note, is also why we disagree with the Shi’a. Because it means that taking a sect is no protection, that making Takia is no protection, that practising Mu’ta is no protection. The One who is the King is also Ar‑Rahim. What we bring to Allah that may rescue us are those deeds which in His Book He has reminded us are those actions pleasing to Him, and they are all actions of mercy and generosity, and their motor-force which has realised them is Taqwa.

In the central ayat of the Fatiha comes the position of the slave. Our ‘ulema have pointed out that the first part of Fatiha is about Allah, the middle portion is about the slave, and the last portion is about the slave’s journey to Him. The middle ayat is the ayat of absolute dependence, and our dependence is on Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds.

Awakening on Chechen Freedom and Islam

(Message from Chairman Zakayev (Chechenpress.UK)

My respected compatriots, we need today to understand that it is up to us to change the situation in which we find ourselves. We are believers, and the Almighty tells us in His Q’uran, “Truly, Allah does not change the condition of any people unless they themselves make the decision to change.” (13:11).

But in order for us to change ourselves and embark on the correct path, we have first to acknowledge our mistakes and repent of them. No matter how disadvantageous this may be for us on a political level, there is no doubt that we must do it.

The mistakes we have made and continue to make are what has allowed Putin to proclaim to the whole world that the four-centuries long war which we have been waging for our freedom is a conflict “between Chechens”. In 1996 Chechnya amazed the world by gaining a military victory over Russia, but because of our mistakes Russia has been able to turn that against our nation. Their most important weapon was their own agents from Islamic states whom they infiltrated into our country. These people, using financial resources they brought with them, claimed to be spreading “pure Islam”, and succeeded in setting active participants of the war against President Maskhadov, a leader chosen in a general election by the entire Chechen people.

Infamous acts carried out under the guise of proclaiming Islamic values and Sharia law are particularly sinful. These preachers of “pure Islam” carried out abductions, robberies and acts of violence. They instigated a war against the very Chechen traditions which had won our nation great admiration throughout the world. Respect of the young for the old, a particularly respectful attitude towards women, hospitality, the safeguarding of the life and dignity of guests – all these traditions which are at the heart of Chechens’ national identity were contemptuously cast aside and trampled underfoot by these zealots of “religious purity”.

The enemies of all that is Chechen came to occupy high positions in the institutions of the Chechen state authority. It was these people who gave Russia a welcome pretext for unleashing the Second Chechen War. When that war began, some of these individuals, wearing epaulettes as Russian officers, actively joined forces with the Russian aggressors, while others hastily left Chechnya and are now giving Chechen soldiers a bad reputation throughout the world. Lending credence to every claim by Russian propagandists that the Chechen Resistance is “part of international terrorism”, these people have become consistent helpmates of Putin in international politics.
Among the greatest villainies of these helpers of Putin, who live outside Chechnya, is the fact that during the presidency of Dokka Umarov they tried to strip the Chechen state of its legal foundation. Despite their occupation of Chechnya and the establishment of a puppet regime, the Russian leaders are well aware that they are far from victory while the legal foundation of the independent state re-established by the Chechen nation remains.

They are also fully aware that they cannot remove this legal basis while the institutions of our state authority remain intact. In an attempt to remove the obstacle Russia, through the arm of its intelligence services, has murdered three Chechen presidents. It has not, however, managed to destroy the institutions of the Chechen state.

Accordingly, a decision was taken in Moscow to deprive the Chechen state of its legal basis through the agency of Dokka Umarov, who was under the influence of agents of the Russian intelligence services. This was something Russia urgently needed because it was intending to recognise the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia after America and the European Union recognised the independence of Kosovo. Before that happened, the Kremlin wanted the topic of Chechen independence removed from the international agenda.

Having failed to destroy the Chechen people’s aspirations for independence by military force and terror, Putin’s helpmates had Dokka Umarov proclaim the abolition of the Chechen state. It was after this that Russia annexed Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia, first recognising their sovereign independence. When international public opinion faced Putin with the question, “Why do the Chechens not have a right to create their own state like the Abkhazians and South Ossetians?” Udugov’s people had Supian Abdullayev reply, “The aim of the Chechen fighters is not to construct a Chechen state but a caliphate from sea to sea and, moreover, we are at war not only with Russia, but also with America, Britain, and Israel.”

Although we succeeded in putting a stop to this nonsense, protecting the legal basis of Chechen statehood, these declarations did do us immense harm, sowing dissension and divisions between Chechens, among our fighters, and depriving us of mutual trust. For any nation this is a severe blow, especially for a nation fighting a hard, unequal battle for its freedom. Divisions weaken the nation, and it is essential that we should strive to overcome this sickness. Its causes lie in a loss of mutual trust and in the fact that traitors and cowards have emerged among our people from among those no longer able to endure Russian barbarity.

The truth, however, is that those who have openly lined up under the Russian flag to assist the occupiers in realising their aims are less dangerous than those who claim to be on our side on the march to freedom but whose overt and covert intrigues sow dissension in our ranks and prevent us from regaining our strength. They say what matters most in politics is not who said what, but who benefitted from what was said. Although Muslim sermons are never far from their lips, everything that they do redounds to the benefit of our enemies.

If we pay less attention to what particular people and groups are saying and instead analyse who is benefitting from their actions, we will see clearly whose side they are on in the continuing struggle. That will help us to re-build trust within our ranks and spare our people the mutual suspicion which weakens it.

The Web of Debt: Ellen Brown USA

Our money system is not what we have been led to believe. The creation of money has been "privatized," or taken over by private money lenders.

Thomas Jefferson called them “bold and bankrupt adventurers just pretending to have money.” Except for coins, all of our money is now created as loans advanced by private banking institutions — including the privately-owned Federal Reserve. Banks create the principal but not the interest to service their loans. To find the interest, new loans must continually be taken out, expanding the money supply, inflating prices — and robbing you of the value of your money.

Not only is virtually the entire money supply created privately by banks, but a mere handful of very big banks is responsible for a massive investment scheme known as "derivatives," which now tallies in at hundreds of trillions of dollars.

The banking system has been contrived so that these big banks always get bailed out by the taxpayers from their risky ventures, but the scheme has reached its mathematical limits. There isn't enough money in the entire global economy to bail out the banks from a massive derivatives default today.

Web of Debt unravels the deceptions in our money scheme and presents a crystal clear picture of the financial abyss towards which we are heading. Then it explores a workable alternative, one that was tested in colonial America and is grounded in the best of American economic thought, including the writings of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. If you care about financial security, your own or the nation's, you should read this book.

Learning To Sight New Moon of Ramadhan

(A large number of Muslims in N. America started Ramadan fasting on August 11, 2010, not because Ramadan moon was seen but because ISNA fixed the date weeks ago.

Do you know ISNA has abandoned the Qur’an’s command, and Prophet (SAW) Sunnah to start Ramadan by moon-sighting. ISNA Fiqh Council bid’ah of forcing Saudi dates on the Muslims in N. America has blinded the Muslims to the fact that the Muslims always started Ramadan and prayed Eidain after sighting a Hilal. See below how Saudis violate the Quran and the Sunnah.)when they declare 10 Sept as first Shawal
or 9 Sept as 30th of Ramadhan!


Here an excellent article to refute the Saudi/ISNA claims :

A crescent moon’s first sighting depends on several interrelated factors. (For details see “Earliest Visibility Criteria” section.
Moon’s Age:

For a crescent moon to be visible its age should be around 24 hours, although the youngest sighted moon was only 14+ hours old. Often moon’s age may be 30+ hours but you cannot see it because its angle from the sun (elongation) and altitude (above the horizon) do not reach a minimum (12+10 degrees) visibility threshold.

Angle (Elongation):

For a naked-eye sighting the moon’s angle from the sun at sunset should be approx. 12 degrees.

Altitude:

Moon’s altitude at the sunset should be 10 degrees or more for a casual observer.

(Higher elongation may sometimes compensate lower (8+ degrees) altitude.
Moonset After Sunset:

You cannot see a faint crescent moon within the first ten minutes after the sunset when the time lag between the moonset and the sunset is less than 42 minutes. Usually a 29 days old moon will be visible 20-30 minutes after the sunset and a 30 days old moon will be seen after 10-12 minutes after the sunset.

Visibility Curve:

A crescent moon may first become visible from as far east as New Zealand or as far north as Japan, but it may not be seen in Saudi Arabia hours later. Moon’s visibility extends within a parabola and it takes 48+ hours to cover most of the globe.

Words of Caution:

Experienced professional moon-watchers may SEE a crescent moon at a little lower visibility threshold after meticulous preparation when the horizon is exceptionally clear. A good example was Sha’ban 1426 (Sep. 2005) moon from Arizona:

Sunset (at sea level) = 18:49
Moonset (at sea level) = 19:30

Age at 18:39 pm = 31 hr. 50 min.
Moon lag time = 41 minutes

Relative Altitude = 8.45 degrees
Elongation from sun = 13.77degrees

Crescent width = 26 arcseconds Illumination = 1.44 percent

Casual Muslim Observers:

However, casual Muslim observers all over the world claim seeing moons that are “Impossible”. Naïve “experts” and Ulema accept their claim only because they are “Adil”. The results are disastrous. Eid al-Fitr on the last day of Ramadan, Eid al-Adha on 9thD. Hijja and Ramadan on 28 Shaban.

If the earliest sighting is not by a large group and not confirmed from places located west of the first claim the “Shahadah” should be rejected as doubtful.

(This year, Malaysia begin fasting 2 days early than Morocco (Friday) eg. Wednesday due to wrong ideas/experts. The sunna is look for new visible moon on the horizon after maturity age/conditions, not to look for new moon too young too be seen or mot birth of new moon according to falak/computer calculation !)

Behind The Accidental Border : Patani

Book Review By Zhang Ming

The insurgency in Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla, collectively defined as the Patani Region, is the most misunderstood conflict in the world today. In relative terms, the toll on human lives over the past half decade is surpassed only by the Iraqi and Afghan conflicts.

But unlike those well-reported hotspots, very little is known about the Patani insurgency – its root causes; the identity and objectives of the main players; the historical context; the role and legitimacy of the Thai state; the sentiment of the populace – and this multifaceted ignorance sustains the ongoing socio-political tragedy. The insurgency has been vividly painted by many as a religious conflict perpetrated by misguided “Thai Muslims,” effectively calibrating all discourses towards a Pan-Islamist terrorism agenda.

This is further embellished by tales of economic backwardness due to lack of educational and vocational opportunities. The combination of religious zealotry and abject poverty are supposed to be the main catalysts of the insurgency and this narrative has largely shaped world perception, with policy initiatives geared towards economic development, scholastic reforms and inculcation of “moderate” Islamic teachings among the Patani people. These programmes come and go but the insurgency rages on with heightened intensity and brutality in a region also known cryptically as the Thai Deep South. Why is this the case? Who are the real stakeholders? What would be the end game? And could we resolve this conflict without a firm understanding of its root causes?

Together we shall seek the answers. This book will provide a definitive analysis of the insurgency in a region that was a prominent Malay Sultanate for a half-millennium but now tethered precariously to the southern underbelly of the Thai nation. Necessary attention will be given to its historical dimension and current regional geopolitical context and realities.

This may dilute the conventional narrative meticulously crafted by others, and the revelations may be unpalatable to some. But without the historical truth and a firm grasp of the real issues, a just, meaningful and permanent solution could never be conceived. The detailed processes and methodologies of the Pattani Peace Initiative presented in this book would hopefully form the building blocks for sustainable peace, justice and reconciliation for the Patani Region.

Famous awliya and ulamak from Patani Darus Salam:

Sheikh Daud Patani-author of Kanzun Minan Syarah Hikam Abu Madyan
Sheikh Ahmad Zain alPatani - Faridatul Faraid
Sheikh Ismail Patani etc

Control of Money Supply Is The Key of US Power

Currency Wars is a very popular book in China. It’s author, Bing Debkang, has tapped into a rich vein of nationalism and suspicion about the West, especially the role of US investment banks and global jewish bankers.

His book was part of Beijing IFS special project, which is entirely futuristic, is that group of investment bankers of khazar elites have dictated the course of world history since the Napoleonic wars, are the gatekeepers to the US presidency, and - should they be allowed into the Chinese economy - would bring the current benign social order crashing down to serve their own evil interests. The US had created a USD 13 Trillions Debt in 2010 by issuing more bonds, securities, derivates and credits through the FED and megabanks.

We discussed this book with a Japanese and Korean researcher who works in the financial sector and he said that its popularity was an interesting social phenomenon. But the author was so obviously a crazy conspiracy theorist that his work had no influence at all in policy or finance circles.

Central bankers and Finance graduates might be able to see through the smoke and mirrors, but the book had a major influence on public opinion, and a follow up - imaginatively entitled ‘Currency Wars II’ - has just hit the book stores. If you dont understand just read the comments by Warren Buffer and G.Soros- the manipulators of Asian currencies crisis in 1998s.

This is R.Fekkel translation of the main points from a chapter in the first Currency Wars, focusing on the potential evils of allowing foreign investment banks into the Chinese economy, and the benefits of returning to gold as the basis of the international financial system:

‘Control of money supply is key to control of the economy. You might think that foreign banks have no way of influencing the money supply in China, that the People’s Bank of China controls the supply of money. In fact, by issuing loans, banks influence the money supply. Let foreign banks into China, and they would deliberately manipulate the money supply, using excess supply to cause inflation, and restricting supply to cause deflation, crippling the economy, as they have done to destabilize foreign countries throughout history. Remember how the British wage an opium war to China and establish the capitalistic Hong Kong port?

The US is already using its influence to disrupt China’s money supply. By manipulating its trade deficit with China, the US can increase the money supply in China, and that can lead to bubbles in the property sector and equity markets. China’s Central Bank can only control the problem by selling bonds to soak up the additions to the money supply, but this increases the national debt. Today China hold about USD 2 Trillions of US bonds or debts ! What if it just devalued 10% by tommorrow, next week or month ? A lost of USD 200 billions !

These are the currency wars, and as long as the US dollar is the main international currency, China has no way to fight back. Only when gold again becomes the basis of the international currency system can we have an independent, fair, and harmonious financial system.’

Of course, there is a kernel of truth in all this. Hedge funds, many of them US hedge funds, were instrumental in destabilising Asian economies in the Asian Financial Crisis. China’s trade surplus, combined with the fixed exchange rate, does cause problems for the People’s Bank of China. The role of the US dollar in the international financial system is beneficial to the US and harmful to its creditors. Many muslim nations already thinking of using the gold dinar currency to safeguard against the fiat paper money instability and crash like Iceland, Greece and Euroland soon.

But the way all of these facts is put together is not completely wrong. It’s not foreign banks who are creating a problem in China’s money supply, it is all the mega banks interlinked together with prime rates, credit creation and printing presses controlled by Governments. And a US dollar based international financial system might have its flaws, but the world moved away from the gold standard for a reason - because it tied money supply to the availability of a scarce commodity - and a return is not on anyone apart if you are smart enough. The gold prices had jumped 300% in the last 5 years ! Gold is the ultimate fortress for our financial tsunanmi !

Happy reading and decoding between the enemy lines and eyelashes -Sun Tzu.

Impostor And Disconnection

Abbas Firman (former amir of jakarta) creator of DinarFirst and Islamic Mint Nusantara is an impostor.

There is no power except by Allah. Victory belongs to Allah. By this knowledge as my only authority I started a movement to return the Dinar and the Dirham as the currency of the Muslim Ummah and the Shariah currency valid to pay and receive Zakat.

Allah is my witness that our work has been from the start a work fisabilillah: we have worked for the sake of Him and His pleasure only; we have not compromise with His Shariah which remains a non-negotiable matter and with this intention in our hearts we have started what a victorious fight back against Riba and his servants. In this fight Allah is our Commander. And Allah knows best.

We have in the last 20 years of work occasionally encountered individuals which came to us at first with apparent sincerity in our cause fisabilillah, pledge alliance to our authority but later separated from us, often to engage in outrageous scams which we dissapproved of. One of this men is Abbas Firman.

Abbas Firman, representing DinarFirst and Islamic Mint Nusantara, came to us with the apparent intention of helping our cause and we consequently welcomed him and educated him on what the Dinar and Muamalat are. He knew nothing before he met us. In the last few months Abbas Firman broke his alliance to us and started a path of his own. His companies separated and continue to separate from our Wakala Induk Nusantara and Jawara that follow World Islamic Mint and WITO standards in Indonesia. Adding insult to injury, his "copy coins" are sold at different prices that our standard prices (at times higher and at times lower), creating confusion amongst some users in Indonesia. This behavior of his is not working for the Dinar but against the Dinar.

In addition, against my consent, Mr Firman has used my name and my work in Indonesia spreading the ideas of the Dinar in order to promote his "private venture". While he is free to do whatever he likes as a private individual we strongly object to the use of our names, our terminology and ideas, and our logos and designs misguiding people into belief that his coins are the same as ours. We have also heard that he is claiming to have the authority of our Shaykh, Shaykh Abdalqadir As-Sufi to do what he does. As Khalifa of the Shaykh I deny this statement as being utterly false.

Abbas Firman does not belong to our movement.

THEREFORE It must be known to all WHOM IT MAY CONCERN that WE, WITO, WAKALA INDUK NUSANTARA, THE WIM NETWORK, E-DINAR, Amir Pak Zaim Saidi, Shaykh Abdalqadir As-Sufi and Umar Vadillo totally DISASSOCIATE FROM THE ACTIVITIES OF ABBAS FIRMAN.

We stand before Allah for what we say. May Allah forgive us for our shortcomings and we turn to Him in Tawba. Amin.

@Umar Vadillo
Founder of WIM and WITO
posted from Jakarta

Those Who Tasted Really Know

Someone gave the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) honey, he asked Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) what is was, he said, “Honey, O’ Messenger of Allah.” He asked Umar ibn Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) , he said, “Honey, O’ Messenger of Allah.”

Then he asked Ali ibn Abu Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), who tasted some and said, “Its honey, O’ Messenger of Allah.”

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon be him) said, “The one who tastes, knows.”

Nota: Tidak lengkap sekiranya para pencinta sufi gagal menangkap apa disebalik metafora teh China dijamukan oleh Shaykh Yusuf Hamadhani. Beliau juga adalah guru sufiyya kepada Imam Junayd jika tak salah.

The Sufi Story of Chinese Tea – Who Lost The Marifa ?

In Ancient times, Tea was unknown beyond China. Rumors of its Existence had reached other Lands, and those who Heard of it tried to Find out what it was in Accordance with their Desires or Imaginations….The King of India/Bukhara sent an Envoy to China, who returned with a Gift of Tea from the Emperor. But the envoy had seen peasants drink tea, and decided that it was unfit for his royal master; he suspected that the Emperor was trying to deceive them by substituting some lesser substance for the celestial drink.

A philosopher of Anja gathered what information he could find, and determined that tea must be rare, unique and mysterious, for it was known as an herb, a beverage, green, black, at times bitter, at other times sweet. In West and East, people tested every herb and liquid they could find. Many were poisoned; all were disappointed. The tea plant had never been brought to their lands, so no one could find it. Still they continued the search.

The people of Mazhab knew of tea — a small bag of it was carried in their religious processions as a talisman. But no one thought or knew how to taste it. When a wise man told them to pour boiling water over it, he was hanged as an enemy of their religion, for who else but an enemy would suggest destroying their magic? Before he died, he told his secret to a few, who then managed to get some tea and drink it secretly. When someone noticed and asked what they were doing, they answered that it was a simple medicine.

It was this Way throughout the world. Some had seen the Bush, but did not Recognize it; others had tasted Tea, but thought it Common, certainly not a Drink of Legend. Still others Possessed and Worshipped It. Beyond China only a Few drank it, and only in Secrecy.

A man of understanding spoke to the tea merchants and tea drinkers. “The one who Tastes, Knows. The one who tastes not, knows not. Don’t Speak of a Heavenly Beverage; Offer it at your Banquets and Say Nothing. Those who like it will Ask for More; those who don’t aren’t fit to drink it.

Close the Shop of Debate and Mystery. Open The Tea House of Experience.”

Tea was soon carried on every caravan on the Silk Road. Pausing to rest, merchants made tea and offered it to their guests and companions, whether they knew the legends or not. This was how chaikhanas came to be established from Peking to Bukhara and Samarkand. ….And Those Who Tasted, Knew.

“ At first only the Powerful and those who Pretended to Possess Wisdom sought the Tea of Ambrosia, then protested, “But this is only Dried Leaves!”

or “Why do you boil Water when all I want is the Celestial Drink?” or yet again, “Prove to me what this is. It looks like Mud, not Gold!” .

When the Truth was Widespread, and when Tea was given to All who would Taste, only Fools asked such Questions. And it is still that Way ( of Tea –Sufi- Tao )”

- Master Khawja Yusuf al-Hamadhani

The Private Life Project

(Preface -for those too lazy to surf, seek and enter my Bamboo Forest...)

By His Grace i write. I remembered our master did talked about the human condition in these days. On how we have become the 'private life' with concerns that consumes the whole of our life such as 'life-long career', 'bank loans' which are all dunya-based they are individualistic in a limited and materialistic sense.

There are those who have even more grandeur designs such as imbuing those career paths with so called charitable activity such as building institutions that justify world aid and looking at the human condition as 'humanistic' and 'fatalistic' rather than adamic or in the true karmic created condition of success at the
final akhira.

Many do have such words still lying in the books and those books in some bookshelves and so i will dispense academising further as some charlattan journalist would - to mix words between ..the real people and fiction..

What i here take upon responsibly in my posting to this newsgroup is that i just received an SMS from SK.. and we should honour such a man
of our age. We should place ourselves at his feet and take instruction from him.

All i have done in my life, and u know what i have done so far, is nothing, just nothing compared to someone who has done great but in the right direction. And these last years i began to learn on what is the right direction.

Indeed i have found no other shaykh or teacher who speaks of this concentric circles so subtly and sharply that we cannot have zikir in the inner circle when our outer realm of muamalah is filth besides filth.

And that this shaykh has gone forth and brought so many into Islam is so overwhelming for me who also having come to this path by Allah's Grace. But how do i place my condition after that act of taslim ? Do i return to the human condition that i find myself before? I did try to bring my people into islam. I hardly brought any except my own children. And they arent even chinese.

Back to nasihat from what i am able. I wish to say well or not at all. I wish to say here on how i observe of a man who has left his world. Who has gone on a journey. Who has acted not by his wish for he has none anymore.

When this man was here last month, i took as often as i have done before since i first encountered him about 6 years now. I will make the pilgrimage to wherever he is and wait in case he passes my way. Whenever possible he would tell me what i do not know.

Latest i have a chance to sit for some hours with him and he told me how the teacher suddenly ask him to leave for Indonesia. He said he tried to evade, giving excuses, that he just came back from a journey and hardly able to be settled, his clothes are with the dry cleaner. With the dry cleaner? The Shaykh showed a queer look. He told me that indeed that was the most idiotic reason that has ever come in between a murid and his master. And the look from the master brought those thoughts into his mind.

The teacher has an instruction. He asks you to leave at once. He asks you to leave for a land most far. He asks you to return to this journey of the nafs. Nay , its a journey of the sharia. Nay, its the journey to Allah.

He left the dry cleaner and took the journey. He went without inkling of the cost. He landed with Amir Abbas of Jakarta whom i know himself to be broke. Abbas issued out a call for funds. Some came running to assist. I did not. I also classify myself equally if not more broke that time.

But what this journey brought? He then told me how he has stayed for 3 months and that he can see thousands if not millions coming to the sharia and to the muamalah of madinah. ....(in the coming years).

( courtesy@red1 written in 2007 )

...continue in part 2

Unite Me With The Salihun

My Lord, give me right judgement and unite me with the Salihun;
and make me highly esteemed among the later peoples;
and make me one of the inheritors of the Garden of Delight;
and forgive my father - he was one of the misguided;
and do not disgrace me on the Day they are raised up,
the Day when neither wealth nor sons will be of any use –
except to those who come to Allah
with sound and flawless hearts.’

Wang Emas (Gold Coins) Di Negara Kuffar

Saudara jangan bimbang.

Kepingan atau duit Dinar-dinar emas dan driham perak yang dijual di Malaysia sekarang adalah sah disisi Undang-Undang.

Bank Negara juga ada mengedar dan menjual duit emas mengingati hari/peristiwa bersejarah Malaysia, keputeraan atau pertabalan Raja/Sultan. Bank-bank besar juga diluluskan untuk menjual duit emas dan bulion emas.

Ini satu petanda baraka usaha dan kebangkitan umat menerajui muamalah dan tijarah yang dihalalkan Allah dalam KitabNya.

Berikut ini dibuktikan penempaan(minting), pengedaran dan penjualan duit emas/perak adalah sah disisi undang-undang antarabangsa !

1. Amerika Syarikat/USA - Eagle Gold Coins
2. South Africa - Kruger rand Gold Coins (since 1967)
3. Canada - Maple Leaf Gold Coins
4. Taiwan - Prosperity Gold Coins
5. China - Panda Gold Coins
6. Mexico - Gold Libertad
7. Austria - Philharmonic Coins (2007)
8. Swiss - Vernelli Coins
9. Russia - Chervonets Coins


Manakala di Malaysia sejak tahun 1990 telah beredar dan dijual anika versi Dinar emas and Dirham perak tanpa sekatan Kerajaan seperti berikut:

a. Dinar emas dari Scotland and Granada, Sepanyol.
b. Dinar emas WITO dari Dubai
c. Dinar emas dari Islamic Mint Nusantara/PT Logam Mulia.
d. Dinar emas versi Royal Mint Malaysia.
e. Dinar emas Kelantan
f. Dinar emas oleh Public Dinar Sdn Bhd (milik China)dari P.Pinang
g. Dinar emas IGD (kini telah tutup and bangkrap)
f. Dinar emas oleh Dinar& Dirham International (Meer Khan/telah tutup)
g. Dinar mas/dirham perak dari Wakala Induk Nusantara (WIN).

Diantara peristiwa penting dan bersejarah penggunaan dan muamalat dinar dirham di Malaysia dan antarabangsa adalah seperti berikut :

a. Seniman M.Nasir guna 10 dinar sebagai Mas Kahwin dgn Maria Musa serta ramai lagi.
b. Kerajaan Kelantan beri hadiah 1/4 dinar kepada pasangan kahwin anak negeri.
c. Kerajaan Negeri tertentu bersedia terima zakat dinar.
d. Dinar mas sempena hari keputeraan Sultan Kedah dan Sultan Kelantan.
e. Mantan PM dr.Mahathir setuju sokong penggunaan dinar diarena OIC/dunia.
f. Turki, Moroko dan Dubai sudah menerima dinar dirham dipasar-pasar.
g. Dinar EMU(European Muslim Union)sedang diperluaskan di Jerman dan Switzerland.
h. Dinar dirham sudah ada 2 pelopor di Indonesia (WIN dan IMN). Telah beredar di Jawa, Sumatera, Riau, Makasar dan Kalimantan.

The Reality of Gold As Money and Freedom

Preface:
This brilliant essay taken from enlightened kuffar-The Privateer Gold Pages (USA)- are in accord with Islamic view. It showed the false economic, banking, financial global system are controlled by the usurious elites. For details read- Coup De Banque, The Return of Islamic Gold Dinar, The Web of Debt, The Death of Money..etc.

The Case For Gold

It will come as no surprise to you for us to state that Gold is money. Why? because it fulfills, to an extent unmatched by any other physical commodity (Silver comes closest), all the pre-requisites of a money. It was rare and prized long before the concept of "money" was ever discovered. It has many other unique uses, and always has had. But for nearly three thousand years (since the first Gold coins were struck in Lydia in 700 BC) Gold's primary utility has been recognized as a MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE.

The history of Gold as money in modern coin form spans 2630 years, from 700 BC to about 1930 AD. The history of nothing but paper and base metal and silver coin in circulation spans about 40 years from 1930 to 1970. And the history of paper and base metal coin as "money", with no connection to Gold (or silver) anywhere on earth also spans a period now approaching 40 years - from 1970 to date.

To be more precise, silver coinage in circulation as money vanished from the world between 1963 and 1965. And on August 15, 1971, the world entered the first era in its history in which no circulating paper anywhere was redeemable in Gold by anyone. On that date, U.S. President Richard Nixon "closed the Gold window". This broke the last official tie between Gold and a circulating currency - which also happened to be the world's "Reserve Currency" - the currency held by all other nations as the reserve behind their own currencies.

The result has been the world financial system of our "modern" era - the "floating currency" system.

Gold And Freedom

The founder of Communist China, Mao Tse Tung, is quoted as having said that: "Power grows out of the barrel of a gun". Actually, it doesn't. Political power grows out of the ability to interfere in the voluntary interaction between individuals. In a society in any stage of advanced development, the way to do that has always been to gain control of what the society or nation uses as its money.

"There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."

John Maynard Keynes - The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919)

Keynes was obviously a much more subtle thinker than Mao. A gun is not a simple product. The ability to produce guns only comes in the later stages of the development of an advanced economy. But money is a pre-requisite of that development starting at all. As has already been stated on these pages, without a functioning money, progress towards an advanced economy is impossible.

Now, it is impossible to "debauch" Gold itself. But debauching money is not difficult at all. Both the Greeks and the Romans "clipped" their Gold and silver coinage - they began to mix more and more base metals with the Gold and Silver in their coins. Marco Polo brought to the West the first stories of paper money, introduced by Kublai Khan and made from the bark of the mulberry tree. Bankers, who were originally Goldsmiths who stored Gold for other people and charged a fee for their services, began to issue paper "receipts" for the Gold. As these receipts became more widely acceptable in exchange, the idea of "paper money" was introduced. Of course, the bankers couldn't resist. They began to issue more "receipts" than they had Gold with which to redeem them. And one of the first things that these bankers did with this "excess paper" was to lend it to Monarchs, and to early governments.

The Development Of Central Banks

The world's first major Central Bank (the Swedish Central Bank is actually older) was the Bank of England, established as a joint stock company (similar to the East India Company) in 1694. The bank was formed for the express purpose of making a loan in the amount of 1.2 million Pounds to William III, who had been running up huge bills in his Continental wars. The next major Central Bank was the Bank of France, established by Napoleon in 1800. With the exception of the short-lived "Bank of the United States", the U.S. did not have a Central Bank until the formation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.

The Central Banks actually had two purposes. In Europe, they were established to lend to Monarchs (which is one of the main reasons why they were anathema to the Founding Fathers in the U.S.). The other reason, which only evolved over time, was to bail out private bankers when they were caught out in issuing more paper than they had backing in Gold. It was the Bank of England which bailed out the Aristocracy in England after the 1720 paper adventure of the South Sea Bubble.

But the turning point for banking in general, and Central Banks in particular, came in England in 1844. This was the passage of "Peel's Bank Act", the culmination of a long debate between what was called "The Banking School" and "The Currency School". The "Banking School" held, as did the advocates of the Federal Reserve some 70 years later, that there was a need for an "elastic currency", a paper money that could be expanded to "meet the needs of business". The "Currency School", echoing Adam Smith and the U.S. Founding Fathers, abhorred this idea. They held that Banks should NOT be able to issue paper in excess of the Gold held by the banks of issue. Under Peel's Bank Act", the Currency School actually won the debate.

The problem was that there was a fatal flaw in the theory of the Currency school, which became embedded in Peel's Bank Act. The Bank Act failed to take into consideration the simple fact that not all paper circulating as money did so in the form of bank notes. There was also paper issued in the form of cheques, and this form of paper escaped the strictures of the Act. Banks in general, and Central Banks in particular, have been dining out on this mistake ever since.
The Transition - The Nineteenth Century

Up until the Napoleonic era in Europe, the major purpose of debauching the currency was to finance the adventures of the Monarch. Maintaining courts was costly, but supportable. What became unsupportable was the cost of wars. Most of the historical financial collapses prior to Napoleon can be traced home to the expenses of war. The other point to be made here is that "paper money" did not circulate amongst the mass of the people at all, and that few "ordinary people" had ever possessed a gold coin in their lives.

The Nineteenth century was a century of peace and genuine economic growth. This was the century which transformed the life of the "ordinary people". In Britain, the most advanced economy of the 19th century, the life of an ordinary person in 1800 was in many respects markedly inferior to what life had been like under the Romans 1600 years earlier. By 1900, luxuries that neither the Romans nor even the Royal Family of 1800 could have imagined were taken for granted.

All of this was the result of the world's only era of truly free international finance and trade, in which Gold progressively became the world's money. Both of these developments grew naturally out of a century of political freedom. As a corollary, there were no major wars between 1815 and 1914. The world was transformed to a degree which it never had been before, and never will be again. Why "never again"? Because the 19th century was also the end of the "frontier era". By 1900, there were no more blank spaces on the globe. Another such "frontier era" is certainly possible in future, but it will have to take place on another planet. There are no frontiers left on earth.

This closing of physical horizons led to a shrinking of mental horizons, and the result was one of the great tragedies of human history. This statement began to be heard: "The problem of production has been solved, it is now time to work on the problem of distribution". As all ideas do, this one became a physical reality, in Germany in the 1870s, when Otto von Bismark invented the modern welfare state.
The Century Of The Welfare State

"This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against Gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the hidden confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism towards the Gold Standard."

Alan Greenspan - Gold and Economic Freedom (1966)

No nation ever goes to war relying only on its taxing power to raise the necessary means to pay for it. The cost of the war is always disguised by debauching the currency. But in times past, there have been many instances when the debt incurred to fight the war has actually been either substantially or completely paid off afterwards. The U.S. did this after their Civil War (1861-65) - the "Greenbacks" issued to fight the ware were redeemed in full - and in Gold - in 1879.

The provision of a welfare state, with cradle to grave "security" regardless of the productiveness of those made "secure", is not financed through taxation. What is, partially, financed through taxation is the gigantic bureaucracy necessary to administer such a state. The actual provision of "security" is made, in its entirety, through borrowing, facilitated through the operations of Central Banks and national Treasuries or Ministries of Finance. The original (and only valid) definition of inflation is an increase in the stock of money. Only comparatively recently has the definition come to be a rise in the general price level. The reason for the change in definition is obvious, it conceals the mechanism through which the welfare state is maintained.

It is the rise of the welfare state in the century just ended which has made politically "necessary" the complete separation of Gold and what circulates as "money" today. This is the process that has led to the total destruction of money. Money is NOT wealth, it is a medium by which wealth can be exchanged between consenting adults. If an adult does not consent, then money cannot produce an exchange. Nothing can produce an exchange if the potential parties to it do not consent. But an expropriation can be produced, by a government with sufficient power. To obtain that power, money must be controlled by government. Today, it is.

And because the money you use is totally controlled by your government, dear reader, so are you. That is the case for Gold as money.

New Gold Dinar of Nusantara In The East

Umar Vadillo:

...and finally.... The Dinar and the Dirham of the Sultanate of Kelantan (Malaysia), under the new standards of WIM, will arrive tomorrow. THIS IS THE OPENING. Oh Allah, forgive us, we return to You in Tawba.

Greetings to all of you, my friends. From tomorrow everything will change. No other Dinar minted since we started in 1992 has the Light that is contained in these new Dinars, except perhaps the very first we did in Granada. These ones are charged with meaning: new features, new dimensions, larger range, larger penetration. ...and when the Light ... See More comes the darkness disappears: users of the Dinar will become aware of what is present yet hidden, the present paper fraud, the easeness of Muamalat. ...and yes, Mimi, for the muminun this is an event that calls for astaghfir and tawba. Indeed, as we read in the Alhambra: Victory belongs to Allah. Blessings to our Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa salaam, and our Teacher, Shaykh Abdalqadir, who cleared the path before us. Saludos a mis andalusis.

Abdalwasi McCormack:

Sidi Umar, over 20 years ago, in the little village of Bacharach on the Rhine, you told me that you were going to make the ghazwah of the century! Well ... ALLAHU AKBAR! YOU HAVE DONE IT!

May Allah make it the ghazwah of the millenium!
May Allah give you Kawthar!... See More

This is the proof of the people of the 'Aml of the Ahli'l-Madinah! It is proof of the wisdom and guidance of Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi -ad-Darqawi who first sounded the clarion call for jihad against riba, way back in 1982 or earlier. It is also the greatest proof that the Muslims of the world, whether Maliki or Shafi'i can work together to obtain victory.

It also portends that the next Khilafah will rise in Nusantara! May this be just the beginning of a train of such victories for you Umar Pasha because it is also proof that when you so often say "Laa hawla wa la quwwata illaa billaah!" ........ YOU MEAN IT!!!

Oh Allah, bless our Master Muhammad and grant him peace. Oh Allah, forgive us, turn towards us and grant us the favour of serving Ghazi Umar Pasha in his mighty struggle.
Amin!

The Rise and Demise of IGD Gold Dinar

1. IGD (Sdn Bhd) started somewhere in 2003 by Dr.Shamshudeen Yunus (ex-Abrar director) to mint gold dinar in kuala lumpur. Later he collaborated with chinese investors to operate an gold account exchange and forex dealing or accounts in gold. They also control another company named ISLAMIC MINT SDN BHD to do the minting. First, IGD stand for 'Islamic gold dinar', later changed it to 'International gold dinar'.

2. IGD managed to confuse the public by forming an IGD SYARIAH CONTROL COUNCIL using several alim and scholars such as ex-mufti of Perlis, University lecturers, Imam of Bukhari Mosque KL etc.

3. In 9 Feb.2007, IGDX Ltd was registered in Adelaide, Australia to raise 2 million Australian Dollars share to start buying and mining gold activity. It was launched prominently in Kuala Lumpur by the TPM Najib Tun Razak in 14 Feb.2007.

4. IGD claimed to operate a gold refinery in Penang, branch trading in Indonesia, Hong Kong and signing MOU with a Kazakstan mining company.

5. When gold price was good and rising, IGD making hefty profits. Its report a turnover of RM9 million and profit of RM3 million in 2006 (Is this real or bluff ?)

6. A friend went to IGD office in KL Plaza to buy one dinar. After paying, one IGD officer insisted he convert it to Dinar Account. He refused and just bolted away from the office after locked up several minutes. Just with one real Dinar, IGD may opened endless DInar Account with several real buyers if they do not take the real Dinar away ! This is derivative riba business !

7. In 2008, IGD was warned to cease the unlawful financial practices by representatives of World Islamic Trading Organization WITO and excluded from connection with the nusantara amirates.

8. IGDX was delisted on 2 MAC 2009 from Australia Securities exchange ASX bcos of failures to adhere to trading and business rules.(Running away with investors money !) Beware...! Your Dinar Account may be useless, cannot claim paper money !

9. IGD failures was compounded by the rise several competitors in minting the gold dinar in Malaysia such as Kelantan Dinar, Public Dinar, Dinar Dirham International and in Indonesia by PT Logam Mulia, Islamic Mint Nusantara, Wakala Induk Nusantara, etc.

10. The return and circulation islamic gold dinar must done correctly in the name and command of Allah, supervised or connected to leadership and community needs, not
individual interest and vulture profits disregard the riba/usurious practices.

11. 'Those who spend in the Way of Allah, will be rewarded sevenfold or more...' :Quran. Those who take riba will not stand up in the Day of Rising...."

Muhammad Fendi Leong Jihad Berniaga

Mukaddimah:
Madinah Syariah -pasar wakaf untuk umat islam berniaga di kota Medan, Sumatera !
Mengutip Hadis Nabi : Berbahagialah orang asing (ghuraba) ketika manusia buat kerusakan, dia menegakkan sunnah ! Islam itu asing dan kembali jadi asing !

Letaknya di Gedung Millenium Plasa, lantai 1 dan 2, di Jl. Kapten Muslim no III, Medan. Sesuai dengan namanya, toko serba ada ini memang dimaksudkan untuk menerapkan syari'ah dalam berniaga. Semua produknya juga dijamin halal. Aneka buku-buku Islam juga dijual di sini.

Salah satu hal unik dari Madinah Syari'ah adalah adanya kegiatan rutin, setiap Jumat siang, yaitu pengajian yang dihadiri oleh umum, tentu saja kebanyakan adalah pelanggan Madinah Syari'ah sendiri. Bpk Zaim Saidi, Direktur WIN, yang tengah bermuhibah di kota Medan pekan lalu itu pun, dihadirkan dalam pengajian Jumat siang (7 Mei 2010) tersebut. Dihadapan lebih dari 30 peserta, Pak Zaim menjelaskan telah kembali beredarnya Dinar dan Dirham di kota Medan, serta manfaatnya dalam kehidupan sehari-hari.

Peserta pengajian, yang umumnya dari kalangan ibu-ibu, sengat bergembira mendengar telah hadirnya Wakala Baitul Dinar di Medan. Meskipun kebanyakan baru kali ini mendengar penjelasan tentang riba dan hubungannya dengan Dirham dan Dinar, mereka dapat memahaminya dengan baik.

Ceramah Dinar Emas Dirham Perak"Wah, kami ingin segera berhijrah dan keluar dari sistem riba yang telah begitu merasuk dalam kehidupan sehari-hari ini," ujar salah seorang ibu peserta. Toko swalayan Madinah Syari'ah sendiri oleh pemiliknya, Bpk Muhammad Fendi Leong, seorang muallaf dan salah satu pengusaha terkemuka di Sumatra Utara, dimaksudkan sebagai ajang dakwah, bukan bisnis semata. Slogan Madinah Syari'ah adalah "Halal itu Berkah".

Dan, inilah langkah terbaru mereka: memberikan bonus kepada para pelanggannya Dinar emas. Caranya adalah dengan toko swalayan ini memberikan poin belanja bagi pelangganya yang berbelanja di situ pada nilai belanja tertentu. Bila poin belanja yang dikumpulkan telah mencapai 20.000 poin, si pelanggan akan mendapatkan hadiah 1 koin Dinar emas.

Catatan Tambahan:

Macan Yaohan is the local champion in Medan modern retail industry. It has been in the business since 20 years ago.

When Bobby Leong, the third son of Leong family came back from overseas in 1999, Macan Yaohan had only three supermarkets. Bobby felt that the progress had been so slow for Macan Yaohan. "At that time I just thought that we have to expand or die !.." Bobby once told me.

As for today, local as well as global brands of modern retail are already in Medan. With the blessings of his father and supports from his brothers and sister: Fendi (1st son), Hendi (2nd son) and Sanny (the only younger sister), Bobby decided to expand.

Today Macan Yaohan has 9 outlets in Medan. He told me that some branded supermarkets have closed down, each time Macan Yaohan open an outlet close to them.

Today, after MarkPlus Forum gathering yesterday, i visited the Leong family's 10th upcoming outlet. The first (maybe in Indonesia in such a serious one!) Shariah Supermarket..!

To be postioned as a Shariah Supermarket, all employees are Muslims with Muslim dress. A Mushollah equipped with movie projector and big screen is also available for customers and staffs. Many Islamic books are displayed at the Book Section. (They also plan to have a Hermawan Kartajaya Corner overthere..)


All shoppers, Muslims or non Muslims would be blessed by God. Why? Zakat rule 2.5 pct of net profit will go to Charity purposes. The official launch will be on February 9.

The logo includes three Hearts. They symbolize Intellectual, Emotional and Spiritual Hearts...And the Leong Siblings are the reflections of this. Bobby Leong (on the left) is The Strategic Thinker(Intellectual), Sanny Leong(at the Center) is The Customer Service Champion(Emotional) and Muhammad Fendi Leong is The Dai (Spiritual)..

I told them that I am impressed with the concept very much! I also admire their Mission through such business. It would contribute for the "Unity in Diversity" of Indonesia. The Leong family also reflects on how a Chinese Indonesian family is a Pancasila Family. Bobby and Hendi are Buddhist. Sanny is Christian. and Fendi is a Muslim who also preach in several Medan Mosques...God Bless Indonesia from Medan..!

Maulid Rasul, Hol Sh.Abdal Qadir alJilani dan Maulana Rumi

The sufi's book is not ink
and letters; it is nothing
but a heart as white as snow.

I am but a dust on the Prophet's path - Rumi.

Alhamdulillah wa syukrillah. Semalam hamba berpeluang mengikuti majlis tersebut di Masjid Negara, Kuala Lumpur lepas salat Asar. Kira-kira 5,000 orang memenuhi dewan dan melimpah dikoridor dengan 2 screen besar. Antara undangan dan tetamu yang hadir adalah
alim ulama dari Mesir, Arab saudi, Yemen, Indonesia, India, Singapura dan Nusantara.

Salawat Nabi, Qasidah, Zikir dan bacaan Quran didendangkan dengan merdu. Anika bahasa digunakan untuk tetamu asing iaitu Inggeris, Arab, Urdu dan BM. Penganjur Yayasan al-Waritheen juga menjemput YDPAgung Tuanku Mizan untuk maghrib. Satu bait sajak Maulana Rumi juga dibacakan memuji keagungan Rasul sallallahu alaihi wasallam serta alhi keluaraganya yang mulia menyibar nur din islam sejak 1500 tahun lalu.

Naik semangat melihat begitu ramai umat islam, lelaki wanita dan kanak-kanak turut hadir dimajlis antarabangsa ini.Moga-moga penghayatan islam secara syumul dizaman kuffar menindas umat islam menggerakan jihad sebenar iaitu bebas dari dominasi sistem ekonomi riba. Bulan Jun 2010...akan diadakan First World Dinar Conference di PWTC menepati ayat Quran: Allah dan RasulNya mengisytiharkan perang atas riba!
Bermuamalah cara Syariah agar ekonomi kufar tumbang bersama ekonomi riba mereka yang ditegakkan atas hutang, kredit, perbankan dan wang kertas/bon dicetak tanpa sekatan.

Ayuh umat islam bangkitlah dan maju kemedan mujahadah dengan ilmu, ulama dan berjemaah ditimur dan barat. Tegakkan dinar emas dan dirham perak berarti menegakkan tiang rukun zakat yang runtuh dek sistem wang kertas dajjal bermata satu !

Pertembungan Dengan Tasawwuf Dan Wen Bao Xin

(Prakata: Esei ini diambil dari blog Red1 dan peristiwa benar yang berlaku pada sekitar tahun 1979-80 di Petaling Jaya. Tapi sayang, bangunan asal IDP telah diroboh pada 1990an dan digantikan kondo mewah, tercegat dengan PPUM/Hospital Universiti. Wen Bao Xin adalah nama mandarin beliau)


Semasa di Institut Dakwah Perkim (IDP) pada 1980, saya dapat berkenalan dengan Abuzuhri Shin yang baru sahaja tamat IDP itu tetapi sering mengunjungi saya dan berkongsi hasil bacaannya yang agak tinggi-tinggi. Beliau adalah kelulusan Universiti 1st kelas dalam ekonomi (jika tak silap saya) dari Bentong, Pahang dan duduk menumpang pula di rumah Kak Azizah Ibrahim di belakang IDP masa itu.

Beliau rajin menyalin dari sumber bacaan berfalsafah tasauf maupun orientalis serta tokoh masyur Islam yang lain yang beliau boleh pinjam dari perpustakaan Intan kerajaan yang tidak biasa didapati di perpustakaan lain maupun kedai buku. Beliau sering menziarah tokoh-tokoh setempat waktu itu untuk bertukar pendapat dan dengan mengikutinya saya dapat juga manfaat perjalanan ilmiah buat diri saya. Menerusinya saya lebih berkenalan dengan Fadhullah Wilmont, Ustaz Nasuha dari Jeram, dan Koyakutty, editor Readings In Islam yang mendedahkan saya kepada terjemahan hasil kerja Kalim Sidiqui dari UK, Syed Qutb dari Mesir dan The Darqawi Journal dari Norwich.

Saya mula membaca dengan lebih mendalam tentang Shaykh Abdal Qadir As-Sufi, seorang pemeluk Islam dari Scotland dan buku-bukunya seperti Jihad, The Ground Plan yang amat tinggi kaedah pengunaan bahasa Inggerisnya.

Sahabat saya itu amat berminat dengan material tasauf yang saya dapati ada persamaan dengan prinsip Tao dan Zen. Saya juga turut bersamanya ke majlis zikir tariqa Ahmadiah yang ada masa itu di Negeri Sembilan.

Oleh kerana terpengaruh secara mendalam dalam satu ilmu baru yang ada persamaan dengan fahaman yang saya dukung sebelum ini, maka saya banyak mengambil ide-ide dari Shaykh Abdal Qadir dan serapkan dalam perbincangan saya dengan rakan-rakan.

Satu pagi, giliran saya untuk memberikan ceramah kuliah selepas solat subuh dan saya pilih konsep bahawa 'ulama kini adalah musuh Islam' dari buku Jihad - The Ground Plan. Ustaz 'Wan' yang bersama mendengar ceramah saya menegur saya selepas itu dari mana saya dapat bahan tersebut dan apakah saya yakin dengannya. Saya tentu sekali jawab 'ya'.

Selepas itu semasa kelas berjalan saya dipanggil oleh Tan Sri Abdul Jalil Hassan (bekas Dekan Fakulti Islam UKM) untuk masuk pejabatnya. Beliau bertanya saya apa yang saya faham tentang tasauf dan tariqa. Saya pun menjawab sepertimana saya terbaca bahawa "Tariqa itu adalah adab". Beliau pun ajak saya cuba pandang rak buku-buku bahasa Arab yang ada belakangnya, yang penuh dari kiri sehingga kanan, atas sehingga bawah dengan buku-buku dalam bahasa Arab.

"Ah, baca semua ini dulu sebelum nak cakap tentang Tasauf!", ujarnya. "Saya ada ijazah lanjutan dalam Tasauf" (Yakni mengenai Imam Ghazali).

Saya pun termenung tetapi tetap degil bahawa dia adalah dia dan saya adalah saya. Saya sudah mengenal apa itu 'tasauf' sebelum saya masuk Islam lagi. Maka saya angguk je la kerana tidak mahu menimbulkan kontroversi dengannya.

Saya tetap mencintai ilmu dari pelbagai sumbe dan tidak kira mazhab mahupun ideologi. Lagi berbeza lagi saya curious dan ingin go to the bottom of it. Tak kira mengenai ideologi Shia, anti-hadits, bahai, atau political thought seperti Islamic State, Socialism, Marxism, Democracy, Monarchy, Feudalism, Pragmatism dan macam-macam lagi ism yang duk ada.

Tidak jarang juga saya mengadakan debat di kedai kopi maupun kat serambi masjid atau tepi katil dengan pelbagai pihak sehingga jauh malam pun ada. Cuma saya tidak berapa suka jika pihak lain itu cepat emosi atau hilang kawalan dirinya lalu marah-marah demi mempertahankan hujahnya.