A good 'adab'

I happen to be in Balikpapan, Kalimantan Timur last Chinese New Year and saw a good adab in a mosque there.

A few days I was there, I went to this mosque in front of the hotel only once for Fajr and after the prayer, zikir and all, everybody stand up for 'salam'.

In most mosques in Malaysia, the act of salam, while prominence is given to the imam, is still done in a random manner. Such as, if one is a bit far from the imam, one would 'bersalam' with those nearer first before going to the imam.

However there, at least in that mosque, everybody would que to salam with the imam first and those who did their salam, would stay put next to the imam and thus create a circle so that in the end, everybody would salam with everybody else. And while doing that, salawat would be recited out loud.

It was such a lovely setting that I would not doubt creates a much more brotherhood atmoshpere.

While I do not know the Malaysian scene in general, I know that the same adab is practiced by some here.

Bangkok II

One thing I guess that the Thais are different from other ASEAN nations is that they do and show their respect for their king. It was the king’s birthday when I was there last year and everywhere you could see the king’s pictures. A few cab drivers I talked to invariably loved their king whereas not all like the prime minister.

In front of the hotel entrance, they placed a big size photo of the king, perhaps A2 size, and they decorate around the area. Next to the entrance, there’s one convenience shop and once, I saw a man getting there and before he went to the shop, he placed his hands together and showed his respect to the king in front of his photo.

And this is our lives. Not all men are created equal. That’s one thing I find it difficult to reconcile with ‘democracy’. Democracy gives all eligible men and women equal amount of power, i.e vote. Be honest here, not everybody is bright and cheerful. Some are not too clever and can be manipulated easily. The liberals would say, if we don’t give equal rights to everyone, then who’s to decide what is right or wrong. It can’t be placed in a few hands. And as I said before, even if the right is placed in everybody’s hand, it won’t be fine and dandy.

Though I’m not inclining towards return to Kingship, I just hope that the world would be a better place. And I guess I have to start with me. Allah Hu, Allah Haq.

A tale of two Doa

I'm a bad, bad man. Last Eid-ul Adha, while the imam was saying the doa after the khutbah, I was thinking about another doa that I just heard on a mawlid vcd.

You see, the Eid doa was in my kampung in Kelantan and the other doa, I supposed was in Yemen since Habib Umar was in the mawlid.

If I remember correctly, the Eid doa was like this, among others:

"... Ya Allah, destroy our enemies and failed their plans against us ..."

While Habib Umar's was:

"... Ya Allah, bring those who are astray back to the right path ..."

Of course, this is not a judgement on one person against the other. By any accounts, I'm nothing at all compared to the Eid Imam.

The thing is, given two choices, with whose company do we rather be. And whose guidance would have more lasting impact on our soul. I believe the answer is as clear as daylight.

Though it might be difficult to find such a person among us, I'm sure our good Lord grant to those who asked. Knocked, and the door shall be open.

And here's one advice by Habib Umar:
http://www.guidancemedia.co.uk/mustaffa/articles/seminaladvice.pdf