Visiting Tok Temong, 05/05/12

Last Saturday on 5/5/12 a friend invited me for ziyarah to maqam almarhum Raja Ashman and he said it's a good etiquette to visit maqam Tok Temong first. I don't really know the reason for it so I just go with the flow. 


But I know Shaykh Nazim visited this place before and from some other readings, I read that she (Tok Temong) played an important part in Perak history. So here are some photos of the maqam.


The video of this place is here 


So who is this Tok Temong? Well, read the following text which is taken from here http://sultan.perak.gov.my/bahasa/toktemong.htm


Tok Temong (Keramat Tok Temong)
Mengikut buku sejarah 'Hulu Perak Dalam Sejarah' dan 'Sejarah Perak', tiada beberapa lama selepas Tun Saban meninggalkan Kampar (Sumatra) untuk kembali ke Tanah Melayu, beliau telah berhijrah ke Beredong Budi di Hulu Petani, kemudian berpindah pula ke Belum di Hulu Perak di mana beliau telah membuka sebuah kampung bernama Relap Reli. Tun Saban menjadi ketua di Belum dan seterusnya mangangkat seorang daripada adik perempuan beliau yang bernama Tun Perabu menjadi Ketua di tempat bernama Temong dan beliau dikenali dengan gelaran Tok Temong.


Ketika Tun Saban sampai di Perak, negeri ini belum beraja lagi. Kebanyakan penduduk-penduduknya terdiri daripada pedagang-pedagang dari Melaka, Selangor, Siak, Kampar dan Jambi. Di antara penduduk-penduduk ini ada seorang perempuan bernama Tok Masuka yang berasal dari Daik yang memelihara seorang bangsa Temusai bernama Nakhoda Kassim. Apabila Tok Masuka kembali ke rahmatullah, beliau berwasiat dan meminta tempat beliau digantikan dengan seorang Raja yang barasal dari anak cucu Sang Sapurba supaya zuriat Raja-raja yang turun dari Bukit Si-Gantung tiada terputus di Tanah Melayu. Tun Saban dan Nakhoda Kassim pun berangkat ke Kampar mengadap Sultan Mahmud Shah memohon supaya seorang putera Baginda menjadi Sultan Perak.

Sultan Mahmud Shah telah meminta puteranya yang bernama Raja Mudzaffar menjadi Sultan Perak dan pada tahun 1528. Baginda telah ditabalkan menjadi Sultan Perak yang pertama. Semasa pertabalan, Tok Temong telah membawa persembahan sejenis tangkal azimat bernama MASTIKA EMBUN. MASTIKA EMBUN ini telah dijadikan salah satu Alat Kebesaran di-Raja Perak dan diguna dalam Istiadat Pertabalan di-Raja Perak.

Tok Temong telah datang menghadiri Istiadat Pertabalan Sultan Mudzaffar Shah dengan Tun Saban. Sebagai membalas persembahan Tok Temong, Sultan telah mengurniakan sebuah Puan bujur (bekas sireh) kepada Tok Temong, tetapi telah dikembalikan oleh Tok Temong. Tok Temong hanya berkehendakkan satu ikrar (janji) daripada Sultan, iaitu Baginda serta anak cucu Baginda hendaklah memerintah di sebelah kanan mudik Sungai Perak dan Tok Temong serta anak cucu beliau memerintah di sebelah kiri mundik Sungai Perak.

Dari itu didapati kota-kota Istana dan makam Sultan-sultan Perak di zaman dahulu terletak di sebelah kanan mudik Sungai Perak sehingga pemerintahan Almarhum Sultan Idris Murshidul 'adzam Shah yang mula-mula membuat kota Istana dan makan di sebelah kiri mudik Sungai Perak.

TOK TEMONG (KERAMAT TOK TEMONG)
Tok Temong telah meninggal dunia di Kampung Temong dan dimakamkan di Temong. Makamnya digelar Keramat Tok Temong dan diziarahi oleh tiap-tiap Sultan Perak selepas Baginda ditabalkan.


Makamnya terletak di kampung Temong Ulu, Mukim Chegar Galah di daerah Kuala Kangsar, iaitu kira-kira 11 km ke utara, di antara Jalan Kota Lama ke Kati, berhampiran Jambatan Iskandar.

----- end text ----

The maqam is next to the Perak river and the pic below show the steps to the river.

Below is a map to this place, if you come from Kuala Kangsar town, you will need to turn right into a small kampung road some 50 or 100 meters from Masjid As-Syakirin. It's a small dirt road kind of, so if you are a first timer, you may want to ask some people.

View Maqam Tok Temong in a larger map

Raja Ashman & Naqshbandi Sufi Order (2)

Here are a few more pics related to Naqshbandi Sufi Order, particularly of the Shaykh Nazim's lineage since there are many salsilah's around.

Pardon me coz I'm a bit lazy to search around. So I just post here whatever I find and they are mostly pics of Shaykh Hisham, son-in-law to Shaykh Nazim and one of his khalifah.

Here's a pic of Shaykh Hisham giving khutbah in Istiqlal, Indonesia's largest mosque on July 11, 2003.

I meant to say that, not everybody can be invited to give khutbah at such a place. Not unless you are a sound scholar.

More info can be found here.

Here's a pic of Shaykh Hisham attending a conference of Islamic scholars in February, 2004 in Jakarta.













I don't know when these two pics below were taken; my guess is mid 2000 in South Thailand where Shaykh Hisham visited a few 'pondoks' there. Look at the respect given to Shaykh Hisham, the mudir lined up his students to receive him.

In my folly and in my youth, I used to think that these 'tok guru' pondoks are a bit backwards. But time has shown me otherwise. Some of them may not be as world savvy as others due to their locality. But no one can deny their knowledge and integrity. Their impeccable character.

And these pics are proof how they treat people like Shaykh Hisham ... with respect and honor.

And this respect and honor are not given to just anybody. Not unless they are on the right path in our faith. Just look at how these pondok students line up to receive Shaykh Hisham.

Hence, despite the fatwa in previous page, I kind of like to be with these people. May the good Lord always support them :).

Raja Ashman & Naqshbandi Sufi Order (1)

It has been around 3 weeks now since Raja Ashman passed away, but tears still flow freely whenever we are reminded of him. What a man that he was ... and still is. 


It is said that 'death' is the moment of truth. And in his death, we are given glimpses of how he was. Sheikh Mehmet Adil, son of Shaykh Nazim, said in one of his talk they have known Shaykh Raja for about 25,26 years and he said that you can't find a person like him any more nowadays. He said maybe 500 or 1000 years ago we find people like him, giving example of that celebrated mystic Ibrahim ibn Adham in 8th century who as a prince, renounces his throne and walk in the path of spirituality. He also said Shaykh Raja, how in his humility, treats everybody, regardless who they are, with honour and respect. In such a way that even us, common people, is not able to follow his example.


The star broke the news here.


Anyway, I'm writing because since the news came about, some friends message me about our country's fatwa that Shaykh Nazim's sufi group is 'haram'. You could read their links here:
1. http://www.e-fatwa.gov.my/fatwa-negeri/tariqat-naqsyabandiah-al-aliyyah-syeikh-nazim-al-haqqani-0
2. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alFikrah/message/14616


I am not disputing the fatwa. I am too ignorant to talk anything regarding our faith. But I will try to give some examples; how people who knows about their faith, interacts with Shaykh Nazim or his murids.


One example I'll put here is a youtube of Habib Ali visiting Shaykh Nazim recently. In case you don't know who Habib Ali is, just view this short video here to sense the kind of person he is.

I am the kind of person who is attracted to people who gives cool advise, people who are less judgmental on others. And we can guess the kind of person Habib Ali is by his words. You want to be in his presence. The experience is indescribable and priceless.

For now, here's one video of Habib Ali visiting Shaykh Nazim (if not mistaken, during Ramadan, 2010):

See the affection they have for each other; the respect Habib Ali gave to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim. The Habib even took bai'ah, as a form of blessings, from Mawlana.


Every great men have their own detractors. In our age, where a person can hide his ignorance behind a keyboard .... well, leave them be. We are people of shahadah, we have been taught that the Creator is One, Unique. And men are not infallible like the prophet. But as far as we are concerned, these two are rare breed indeed.


I hope to show later on some more pics & videos .... until then, may we be under the shades of these beautiful people.

Adventure in Buying Auction Property - Epilogue

draft:

I wrote about my experience in buying a flat at auction at links below:

http://bucit.blogspot.com/2011/08/adventure-in-buying-auction-property.html
http://bucit.blogspot.com/2011/08/adventure-in-buying-auction-property_12.html
http://bucit.blogspot.com/2011/08/adventure-in-buying-auction-property_14.html

And since then:
1. I've paid for the maintenance fee and claimed some of it from the bank.
2. Lawyer completed the 'Deed of Assignment'.
3. Check the MPSJ Cukai Pintu on 1/02/12 and turns out to be RM1,188.00. I'm broke now so not sure when I'll go pay them.
4. Check around and most say that MPSJ won't claim the money from previous owner. I guess I will have to pay eventually since PoS already states only maintenance fee up to 10% of reserve price will paid by bank. All others are on me.
5. The expenses so far I put on Google Docs; click there to see it. I'm not doing it to brag, after all, the amount is not much anyway. But as a guide to others.

Anyway, all in all ... good experience for me and not sure if I can afford anymore property investment in future.

Allah knows and to Him we return. Sometimes Shaykh Nazim in his suhba/advise makes fun of people who loves dunya too much, always counting their zeros in bank accounts and forgets their permanent abode the akhirah. I pray we are always with the good folks and on the straight path.

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al Haqqani

Chinese New Year in Satun, Thailand

Normally every Chinese New Year we would go for a beach holiday somewhere but maybe coz we just went for one in Ko Lanta in Nov 2011, we didn't plan for anything this time around.

But since we were in Penang, we thought of a day trip to Satun. After all, we always go thru the town on our way to Pak Bara. And it will be a good opportunity to check out Tammalang pier, which I heard has boats to Ko Lipe & Langkawi.

We already know how to cross the Wang Kelian border via these posts:

http://bucit.blogspot.com/2010/12/exploring-satun-140910.html
http://bucit.blogspot.com/2011/03/crossing-wang-kelian-border-2nd.html

Our plan was to go to Tesco with another travel buddy Che Rose & Family but that didn't turn out as planned. Oh well, it would have been more fun with Che Rose around.

I had wanted to have lunch from reading a post here http://dahasry.blogspot.com/2011/10/lunch-and-shopping-in-satun-thailand.html but we were a bit early so continued to pier.

Cikli at Tammalang Pier, Satun

Sorry we didn't take the front of pier pic. Building & facilities wise, this place is much better than Pak Bara. There's a food court, clean toilets & surau here with the usual travel agents. But I think there's more tourists at Pak Bara compare to here; don't know why.

I was quoted RM65 for one way trip to Ko Lipe, which I think roughly the same price at Pak Bara. And to Langkawi was RM30. I think.

On our way back, we stop at Satun market at these co-ordinates http://maps.google.com/maps?q=6.613131,100.060772 . Lucky I asked around at the border crossing for this place. We kind of like going to markets whenever we travel. It sort of gives you the feeling of being local and show you their actual culture or characters. As opposed to the polished shopping mall (or Tesco .. hehehe) which is almost the same everywhere.

Since it was a day trip and border closes at 7 pm Malaysia time, we didn't explore much but here are some pics.

Buying fruits at the market. Cheaper than at border naturally.

Happy campers :)

The market is by the river

Being a Muslim

Shaykh Hisham & Shaykh Nazim

I haven’t written much nowadays. Perhaps with Facebook, I waste quite a time there compare to blogging. But recently I was watching this interview of Shaykh Nazim by a Greek journalist. And I was fascinated by his answer to the question, What happens to good people of Christians or other religions after death?

The link is here http://www.saltanat.org/Blog/tabid/271/PostID/264/It-Was-a-Dream-I-Was-Waiting-For-en.aspx

Shaykh Nazim, may the good Lord prolong his life, replied that on judgment day, the ultimate Judge is Him. He is the Creator and we are all creations. Not even prophets can judge other people.

At the end of the interview, the journalist kissed Mawlana’s hand and Mawlana said O my grandson and kissed his head. I almost cried watching that scene. Shaykh Nazim may not be much to some people, even to me, I have never met him. 

But I’ve been to some majlis of Shaykh Nazim’s murids, namely Shaykh Hisham & Shaykh Adnan when they came to Malaysia. I didn’t join them 100% but some functions I was lucky to attend.

Looking at their faces, they have certain attraction to them. Watching their kindness and humility up close makes you feel proud to be a Muslim. Their perseverance in spreading advise and love for our prophet is to me, legendary.

Back to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, such kindness and moderation when dealing with people amazes me. Even when the journalist asked about Ben Laden, he did not speak directly about Ben Laden but said he was against killing of innocent human beings.

This kind of gentleness, reminded of another story told by Shaykh Hamza Hanson of the US. I can’t remember which youtube file it was but he was telling a story how a convert asked Shaykh Yaqoubi how to deal with a gay relative. And Shaykh Yaqoubi replied being a kuffar is worse. To my understading, a kuffar here means somebody who not only opposes truth when it comes to them, but also against it and covers it with falsehood.

Hopefully we can follow their footsteps eh J.

Adventure in Buying Auction Property - Part 3/3 (The Financing)

After getting the stamped Proclamation of Sale (not sure if this is the right term), I have 3 months to get the loan and pay the bank. I thought it will be easy enough to get financing and so I started work on the flat first.

The 3 days Haris said will finish the work turn into a few more and wiring also took a while coz Raja was doing it part time. But it's alright since it also took me a while to settle Syabas & TNB. Went to Syabas early but they said there's no meter available to install. TNB was easy. All in all, took me a month to settle the renovation and now it's time to look into financing.

Halim the auction guy gave me his contact for law firm and they quoted around RM1,800 for the whole thing. I asked a guy at the bank's law firm if they can take my case but he said it's not possible to represent the bank and me at the same time. So I asked him to suggest his friend which he did and the guy quoted me RM1,500; which is cheaper so I go with this firm.

Next will be to look for financing.

Silly me. I thought it was easy to get one. After all, I cleared up my credit card debts long time ago and don't owe anybody anything anymore. I used to have a bad debt with Celcom way back from 1998 (remember Motorola 8870? hehehe) but I settled that when I moved to Kulim in 2006 coz Digi didn't have good reception there.

Since the auction was by Maybank, it was my first choice and walk in there confidently. But lo and behold, was told that they don't give housing loan for under RM50k. My heart stopped for a minute there and after a hard front for nice composure, my smile muscles must have ached a lot then, I walked off heavy.

Since I was told that is the general thing among banks, my next choice was personal loan. So off to Bank Rakyat I went. Again, no luck. My current employer is not in the panel list :). Final choice is the normal banks personal financing which has around 8% interest rate.

Suddenly buying this flat is not attractive anymore. Called around and the lowest I think was Bank Islam at 6%.

So went home, talked to the wife, look at our savings. Called my mom. Rejected. Plus, they don't have that much anyway. Check our savings again.

Turn out we need only RM10k from outsider. Obvious choice was my sister in law. She's a nice person but strict. Lucky she has some savings then.

So we settled the bank financing at the expense of our own savings.

With a total cost around RM40k (I forgot the lawyer fee in previous post), I think it will take us around 9 years to get that money back (simple math, no inflation and stuff). By that time I will be around 50 years old and not knowing how my income will be after 55, at least the rental will be some cushion.

Retirement planning. The reason I'm doing this and knowing my own character that, liquid cash is not that safe with me. Though I hope that, whatever we do, we don't forget the King of Kings, Sustainer of the worlds, whatever He wills will come .... and for us, for His mercy to be greater than His judgement. Forgive me and Bless them O Lord.

Pic from Google