So
you think you can think
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Think
again. My inner-self has this quest – are we thinking in the
right way? I continue my monologue here with that very big question especially
for moi to kick start the New Year 2008 and the
coming Hijra 1429, hopefully with a paradigm shift ingrained in my head
and a new ‘esprit de corps’ installed.
If we ever notice, Al-Quran in many verses urges us to think,
hear, see or have sense. Many of its examples and parables insist us to ponder
and to think about. It’s almost the normal features of the verses ended with invitations
for us to start analyse and ponder over its meanings like - have you think
about it, for those who can think, for those who understand, Oh! you that
understand, etc.
Al-Quran obliges us to think and it is a command from Allah. By thinking,
evaluating and reasoning the ayats, we can intensify
our faith, answer our raison d'être and strengthen our taqwa. By thinking
of the prevalent questions are also the essence of the glory of
the past Muslim scientists and scholars in the fields of science and technology
such as Ibn Khaldun, Al-Kwarizmi, Ibn Battuta,
Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, etc. They rose to the glory by thinking of the many
questions stated in the Quran – about this universe, about the magnificent
creation of Allah, why is this, why is that, how was this created, how
was that, how can we use this and that, etc, etc… They reasoned everything
and made discoveries. They strived to find scientific explanation behind all
while science and logic never replace their faith.
Now, lets look these few selected verses. I prefer to cite the Tafsir in my
mother tongue as I found the meanings more profound and more ‘touchy’ as
compared with my twisted London’s tongue. Before that, Achtung!
I want to remind any soul over there that I have not done any Islamic study and
my interpretation might be wrong. Most of my thinking were done at the
many abandon lombong (tin mines) at my place
here in Manjoi. I warn you! I have to make this
precautionary statement, I know. If you are interested to know the real details
please refer to the authoritative Tafsir available aplenty on the net.
You can do so by typing the equivalent surah name and the ayat numbers. There
are overwhelming information more than you can handle. And you can be totally
drowned in the ocean of blablabla (Hey! Why I am
thinking that I am writing for Time magazine, anyway this article is made
solely for my soul self prescription…).
Sesungguhnya pada
kejadian langit
dan bumi dan pada pertukaran
malam dan siang, ada tanda-tanda (kekuasaan, kebijaksanaan dan keluasan rahmat Allah) bagi orang-orang yang berakal.
What do you
think?
I reserve this last verse for moi…
Patutkah kamu
menyuruh manusia supaya berbuat kebaikan sedang kamu lupa akan
diri kamu sendiri; padahal kamu semua membaca
Kitab Allah, tidakkah kamu
berakal?
(Surah Al- Baqarah. Ayat 44)
All these reflections and thoughts will be meaningless unless I
start them off with my self imposing questions such as where I am heading for,
what I am doing here, what are my contributions, etc, etc. I know these questions
will haunt me for answers as I read again and again this writings as
I am the most frequent visitor of my own blog… Btw, self questioning is what
actually drives the excellence of a person and what differentiates between a
thinking man from a non-thinking animal. I pray (and please doa me too) to be in the best of iman and aqal
for the years ahead…ameen
wallahualam
(Surah Ali Imran, Ayat 190)
This ayat is
one of the many that oblige us to ponder the creation of this world. Every
creation of Allah is a sign and evidence of His Existence, His Oneness and His
Might. I remarked that in Al-Quran many verses call us to observe, to reflect
and to study the various ‘signs’. And very often the signs in offer are very
much related to our living world, our nature, our environment, our habitat.
Those signs are indeed very close, very near and sometimes very obvious to us.
I want to
relate now in this could be confusing essay with my ‘passion’ that I developed
not long time ago – aqua planted. I am ‘playing god’ with my
experimental 4 feet aquarium. I discovered many things in developing this
hobby. It is not easy to create the natural aquatic habitat for my
little creature called fish. I tried my best to imitate the nature and failed
many times. Pardonnez-moi les poissons….
And I learned valuable lessons. It is impossible to have a sustainable tank
(what?!). There is the nature equilibrium that I unable to create: The
CO2 cycle for the plants (as the natural respiration from fish is not enough).
The O2 in particularly at night as the plants inhale O2 during their grazer,
mid range dwellers, algae eaters. The fish population dynamic for reproduction,
the predator-prey relationship, the foodweb cycle,
etc, etc, etc, etc… They all conjured up to me finally that in the real world
there must be only one invisible force that take care all of the so
called world chores. Through my experience, multiple ‘Lord’ (i.e. my wife, my
son) can make the tank equation off balance and end up destroying the ecosystem
when they tampered with my settings. By the way, if there every single god as
claimed by each and every existing religion in this world today, to the trend
of ridiculing and condemning each other, be rest assured, there must already a
‘war’ up there! There must be only one and only one supremacy power to govern
this world. No power sharing.
Al-Quran ini) sebuah Kitab yang Kami turunkan kepadamu
(dan umatmu wahai Muhammad), Kitab yang banyak
faedah-faedah dan manfaatnya, untuk mereka memahami dengan teliti kandungan ayat-ayatnya dan untuk orang-orang
yang berakal sempurna
beringat mengambil iktibar.
(Surah Sad, Ayat 29)
Dan demi sesungguhnya! Kami telah berulang-ulang
kali menyebarkan hujah-hujah
di antara manusia melalui Al-Quran supaya
mereka berfikir (mengenalku serta bersyukur); dalam pada itu kebanyakan
manusia tidak mahu melainkan berlaku kufur.
(Surah Al-Furqan, Ayat 50)
Yang berusaha mendengar
perkataan-perkataan yang sampai
kepadanya lalu mereka memilih dan menurut akan yang sebaik-baiknya (pada segi hukum
agama); mereka itulah orang-orang yang diberi hidayat petunjuk oleh Allah dan mereka itulah orang-orang
yang berakal sempurna.
(Surah Az-Zumar, Ayat18)
The sahaba read only one book – Al-Quran. They modelled
their lives after the Quran. They attained the highest pinnacle of moral
development and achieved remarkable levels of knowledge. They set the foundation
to the Islamic Renaissance or Islamic Golden Age, with Al-Quran as their main
source of inspirations. It is this heavenly book that made them outstanding
individuals in the history until to date.
Al-Quran has a mystical power that people constantly discovering
miracles in it. Scientists are conducting research on the Quranic information
and structure. Based on the Al-Quran’s emphasis on thinking and learning, the
past eminent Muslim scientists penned some of the best and most eloquent
praises of science that ever written. They became the unrivaled intellectual
for philosophy, medicine, education and championed many other branches of
knowledge.
Au contraire, we people of today proudly stated in our profiles that we
read tones of books ranging from J.K. Rowling of
Harry Potter fantasy series to the many other unknown famous authors. As
student, we spent part of our life studiously read and peruse volumes of books
glutted with complicated theories, formulas, concepts and fundamentals. We surf
zillion hours on the internet for piles and piles of information. Worst, we
nonchalantly derive our ideas from newspapers.
We are not cultivating our inspirations at the right place. The one book
that has compelled, generated and triggered gazillion of initiatives and
efforts. We bother not to read the book that is authored by our Creator. The
book of Allah, the life manual, to understand its philosophy, teachings and
instructions.
Katakanlah (wahai
Muhammad): Tidak sama
yang buruk dengan yang baik, walaupun banyaknya yang buruk itu menarik hatimu.
Oleh itu bertakwalah kepada Allah wahai orang-orang yang berakal fikiran, supaya kamu berjaya.
(Surah Al-Maaidah, Ayat100)
Dan tidak (dinamakan) kehidupan dunia melainkan permainan
yang sia-sia dan hiburan yang melalaikan
dan demi sesungguhnya negeri akhirat itu lebih
baik bagi orang-orang yang bertakwa. Oleh itu, tidakkah
kamu mahu berfikir?
(Surah Al-An'am Ayat 32)
sekian terima kasih
Posted by Joi Manjoi at 12:54
AM
http://joifrommanjoi.blogspot.com/2008/01/so-you-think-you-can-think.html
