Dominant women VS Dormant women

One fine day, as I was thinking to myself, a kinda awkward question came to me which is:

"Do I prefer dominant women or dormant women? Kalau ditakdirkan Allah bakal isteri aku seorang yang Queen Control ataupun seorang yang lebih berjaya atau lebih popular daripada aku, will I, as a man be able to take it?"

It is without a doubt that dominant women are appearing everywhere nowadays. Bilangan kaum Hawa yang memegang jawatan on the managerial level ie directors, managers semakin bertambah dan bertapak in any kind of societies in this world. Heck, I've met more females in those managerial positions as opposed to the male counterparts. It has also been narrated in one of the famous hadith as follows:

Anas ibn Malik said, ” I shall tell you a hadith which I heard from the Messenger of Allah (May Allah shower peace and blessings upon him), and which no one will tell you after me. I heard him say “Among the signs of the Hour will be disappearance of knowledge and the appearance of ignorance. Adultery will be prevalent and the drinking of wine will be common. The number of men will decrease and the number of women will increase until there will be fifty women to be looked after by one man.”"

This hadith was reported in the two Shahihs from the hadith of Abd Rabbihi.

It is without a doubt that 'normal' males cannot accept the fact that their female counterparts are more successful than they are. I've asked a few males friends of mine as to whether they can accept these kinds of women. And not surprisingly, almost all of them cannot accept the fact that their future wives are those of the dominant types. But let's face it, being the current world in which the world in dominated by the number of females, tons of them are capable of supporting themselves, without having to rely on men, let alone to share their lives with them.

Or it could also be in a situation that can be considered much worse off, where the men are basically under the Queen Control regime. The men do not have a say in any kind of major decisions made in regards to family matters or being restricted to their respective partners, which could lead to further complications such as the men not being able to be 'free'.

Or it could be the most simple situation whereby the female partners are generally much better off in terms of position, salaries, or even up to a certain point their popularity as compared to their men partners. Whereby in this situation, the 'normal' men feeling inferior to their female counterparts and thus seek ways to imply their authorities in the relationship, where in normal circumstances, the men will invoke their polygamous rights (hak berpoligami) into the picture, EVEN though they understand very well that they do not have the capability to bear the responsibility that came along with the power to invoke the polygamous rights.

With that said, it is a complicated matter that can be of concern especially in this kind of climate whereby the world is slowly but surely dominated by females. One might even say that this kind of thought will only come from those without enough self confidence to see their partners NOT as superior, BUT as equals. Well, that might be true, but we have to keep in mind that these ARE humans we are talking about.

Well, of course, in the perfect world, if I were to have a more successful wife in my life, I would definitely view it positively, in the sense that I would be happy that someone dependable is on my side. Also as long as she does understand the duties and what can and cannot be done within the scope of being a wife. After all, I myself like smart and outspoken girls as opposed to passive and dormant girls.

The men will definitely have to try to improve on their situation, attitude so to speak, and have more confidence in making decisions to gain the respect of their female partners. And the same goes for women, naturally as women, they have something within themselves to be lead by men. Yes, call me sexist or whatever, but that's how it goes.

But of course, I'm a man that is still subject to criticism. WaAllhua'lam.

Only time will tell on the practicality of Dinar

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/wkn20-2/Article/

So what was it that Kelantan was trying to do by reintroducing the gold dinar into the state's financial system?

The northeastern state of Kelantan surprised everybody last week when it announced all systems go for its gold dinar and silver dirham initiative. It took a bit of time before the federal government digested what Kelantan was doing and even then, response from Putrajaya and the central bank in Kuala Lumpur were generally guarded.

So what was it that Kelantan was trying to do by reintroducing the gold dinar into the state's financial system?

Of course it would be easy to think it was all political play. Kelantan is, after all, held by the opposition party, Pas. Analysts say by putting the gold dinar into the state's financial system, Kelantan managed to thumb its nose towards the federal government and scored what could well be precious political points.

Others, however, said that it was not all political and that Kelantan was not doing anything new. It was reintroducing a payment system practised in the Islamic world more than a thousand years ago.

They said based on the increased doubts cast on the valuation of currency after the 1998 crisis, what Kelantan did made some sense. Today's paper money, in actual fact, has no value other than the paper it is printed on, plus perhaps other costs incurred in producing and circulating them.

Enter one of the five tenets of Islam, the zakat, which some currency experts think was the single largest push factor that strengthened Kelantan's resolve to reintroduce the gold dinar into its financial system. In Islam's early years, zakat could only be paid with tangible merchandise. It cannot be paid with any instrument which denotes a promise to pay or a debt.

In the early days, metal objects were first introduced as money, which later emerged as coins. Value of the coins were attached to the value of metals they were made of. Some of the earliest known paper money can be traced to China and with its introduction, money, which was earlier backed by a commodity, became just representative money. It means what the money is made of no longer matters but the currency was backed by a governmen or a bank's promise to exchange it for a certain amount of silver or gold. For instance, the old British pound bill or pound sterling was exchangeable for a pound of sterling silver. And for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the majority of currencies were based on representative money through the use of the gold standard.

Later, the gold standard was done away with, replaced by what is known as fiat money. Fiat is the Latin word for "let it be done". Money is given value by a government fiat or decree and enforceable legal tender laws were made. By law, the refusal of "legal tender" money in favour of some other forms of payments became illegal.

Herein lies the doubt over use of paper money for payment of zakat as the important tenet of Islam cannot be settled with just a promise to pay in which money in its current form is. There were views that if zakat was to be paid with paper money alone, only the value of the paper as merchandise can be accepted which means the value printed on the paper currency is irrelevant. Some currency experts said much of what Kelantan was premised on its efforts to once and for all put away doubts surrounding accuracy of the zakat payment.

The Kelantan state government said they have further plans as regards to the gold dinar but it was too early to be elaborated upon. What is certain however, is that the state cannot go to the extent of doing away with use of the national currency, the ringgit, because only the ringgit issued by Bank Negara Malaysia is recognised as legal tender.

As for the practicality of what Kelantan is doing, only time will tell. It will surely have to construct a comprehensive system to handle all the gold and silver in circulation, even if it is only within the state. And as for Bank Negara, the sole issuer of currency in Malaysia, it has not come up with a firm stand on the issue as yet. Many were asking why Bank Negara have remained relatively quiet on the issue. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that there is just no issue at all here, at least for now.

Quote of the month

"In a football match, it's the eleven best players that will win by the end of the day, not the best eleven players."

p/s: Ada siapa berani mahu tafsir ini quote? Huhu

Highlights of the month

Finally some updates from me. Jst thought I'd share with u some of the highlights of the month that I thought was interesting and significant (to me at least). So here are some of them:

1. Reaching the equation: gambling w/o license=haram but licensed gambling=halal

Self explanatory. The first thing that came in my mind when I heard the news was "What The Fish!".

2. The invasion of non-muslim in Islamic Finance

Well, I have long known that Islamic Finance is becoming more popular these days, especially after the global meltdown following the collapse of several big names of corporations and banks. I was in the MPH bookstore's finance section in Midvalley the other day, then came one English guy to that section who was looking at the Islamic Finance shelves, and to my surprise, he picked up one book entitled the "Introduction to Islamic Finance".

3. Having a knack in tax

I've always known that I have a knack in tax. I've been helping both my mom and dad to do their e-filing (the deadline for individual tax assessment will be 30th of April every year, in case you didn't know) since last year. I've managed to save my mom a total of approximately RM500 in previous year. However, this year, I've managed to get a refund for my mom for a total of RM3,000+ this year. Hmm, maybe I should start to open up a service for e-filing next year for the public. Of course, with incentive and commissions.

4. Setting out to the wrong place and wrong time

I was reading a few blogs of my friends in school, about how they went out to adventure in all kinds of places, while I'm stuck here in Malaysia. Well, guess what, I had my own adventure a few weeks ago, I had set foot inside a BAR to attend the so-called Annual General Meeting for ICAEW Malaysia. Of course, there were tons of people drinking "mineral waters" inside there. Luckily, I didn't saw any "Muslims" inside there. Just for the record, I didn't hang out long enough to see through the meeting until the end, being a mosque was near enough and the Azan Maghrib was "berkumandang". I instantly left the meeting.

WaAllahua'lam.

Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar Asqalani

(credit to afiq faiz for the nice pic. Go to this link for more of them)


Tanya sahaja mana2 ahli hadith, tentu mereka akan kenal siapa dia Al-Imam Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar Asqalani. Ibn Hajar Asqalani merupakan antara kalangan ulama' besar yang ana mempunyai sense of "lingering affection", antara ulama' kesayangan ana sama seperti ulama' seperti Syeikhul Islam Ahmad Ibn Taimiyah, golongan muhaddith Al-Mutaqaddimun, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Imam Syafie dan Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi.

Bahkan, ana rasa tidak keterlaluan sekiranya ana mengatakan barang siapa antara umat Islam yang tidak pernah mendengar akan nama Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar Asqalani, mereka sepatutnya berasa malu dan sedih.

Brief biography of the Imam

The full name of the famous Imam Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar Asqalani is Abul-Fadl Shihabuddin Ahmad bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Ahmad Al-Kinani As-Syafie. He was born on the 10th of Sya'ban, 773 H. in Egypt,where he grew up as well. He memorized the Quran at the age of nine years. He also memorized Al-Hawi, the book of Mukhtasar of Ibn Al-Hajib, and other books. He admired the knowledge of Hadith and began to acquire it from the great Syeikh Syeikhs in Hijaz, Sham, and Egypt and stayed with Az-Zain Al-Iraqi for ten years. He also studied under Al-Baqini, Ibn Al-Mulaqqin and others. Many eminent syeikhs of his time approved his knowledge and allowed him to give religious verdicts and teach.

He had learned the two sources (Quran and Hadith) from Al-Izz bin Jama'a, the language from Al-Majd Al-Fairuzzabadi,the Arabic from Al-Amari, literature and poetry from Al-Badr Al-Mushtaki and writing from a group of professors. He also recited some parts of the Quran in all the seven styles of recitation before At-Tanukhi.

He occupied himself with the promotion of the knowledge of Hadith, so he dwelt in its study, teaching, writing and giving Fatwa. He also taught Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh and preached at many places like Azhar, Jami Al-Amr and others. He also dictated to his students from his memory. Many highly educated people and distinguished scholars traveled to him to acquire from his vast knowledge.

Ibn Hajar Asqalani authoured more than 150 books.-most of them being in the studies of Hadith-which flourished during his lifetime. His most famous one being Fath Al-Bari-the commentary of Sahih Al-Bukhari,which he started in the beginning of 817 H. after finishing its introductory part in 813 H., and completed the whole commentary in Rajab 842 H. After the completion of the commentary, he had a gathering attended by Muslim dignitaries and spent 500 dinar on it. Then some kings requested it and paid 300 dinar.

As concerns his personality, he was humble, tolerant, patient and enduring. He was also described as being steadfast, prudent, ascetic, selfless, generous, charitable and a person who prayed and fast voluntarily. On the other hand, he was said to be used to making light jokes and telling of humorous anecdotes (stories). He also had good manners in dealing with all the Imams, of the earlier generations and later generations, and with all those who sat with him, whether old and young.

Ibn Hajar died after the Isya' prayer on Saturday, 8th Zul-Hijjah, 852 H. May Allah reward him generously.

(taken and summarized from the Bulugh Al-Maram, the Author's biography, published by Darus-Salam, Riyadh Saudi Arabia , September 2002)


Pengalaman Saya Bersama Fath Al-Bari

Bagi saya, kitab ini merupakan kitab yang paling bagus dari segi tahqiq dan perbahasannya. Saya mempelajarinya selama bertahun-tahun. Bila saya membaca kitab ini, saya akan lupa segala sesuatu yang ada di sekeliling saya. Saya seakan sedang berbicara dengan Ibnu Hajar terus. Saya merasakan bahawa dia sedang berdiskusi dengan saya tentang apa saja, sama ada mengkritik hadith, penjelasan makna hadith, komentar tentang hadith, perbandingan antara perawi, ilmu-ilmu hadith, sejarah dan peristiwa, biografi, masalah tafsir, mahupun juga masalah kebahasaan.

Kadang kala dia berbicara mengenai ilmu nahu dan saraf, kadang-kadang pula dia bercerita tentang para ulama' bahasa seperti Al-Khalil, Sibawaihi, Al-Kisa'i, Az-Zujaj, bahkan juga para ulama' fiqh. Tidak sampai di situ, ternyata dia juga berbicara tentang sastera, sama ada prosa mahupun puisi. Oh Tuhan, sungguh luar biasa hebatnya Fath al-Bari !

[Pengalaman Dr 'Aidh Abdullah al-Qarni sebagaimana ditulis beliau dalam bukunya 'Asyiq / dinukil dari edisi terjemahan atas judul : Aku, Buku dan Cinta]

Tambahan seputar kitab Fathul Bari :

Al-Hafiz Ibnu Hajar Asqalani menulis kitab “Fathul Bari Syarah Shohih al-Bukhori” selama 25 tahun lebih (!!). Beliau memulai pada awal tahun 817 H dan selesai pada awal bulan Rojab tahun 842 H.
Al-Hafiz Ibnu Hajar yang pernah berguru dengan ulama besar seperti Ibnul Mulaqqin dan al-Iraqi (al-Iraqi lah yang pertama menggelari beliau dengan gelar ‘al-Hafiz’), menempuh metode menakjubkan dalam mengarang kitab Fathul Bari. Awalnya melalui imla’ (lisan) selama 5 tahun, kemudian beberapa muridnya yang cerdas berkumpul dan mengusulkan agar syarah tersebut dibukukan. Ibnu Hajar kemudian menyetujui usulan muridnya dan beliau menulis dengan tangannya sendiri sedikit demi sedikit, sehingga kitabnya telah dikoreksi dan diteliti secara jeli.

Tatkala kitab syarah al-Bukhori tersebut selesai, al-Hafiz Ibnu Hajar mengadakan walimah besar-besaran pada 8 Sya’ban 842 H. Dalam acara tersebut dibacakanlah bab akhir dari Fathul Bari, dan walimah itu dihadiri oleh para pejabat, para ulama’, penuntut ilmu, dan kaum muslimin yang tak terhitung banyaknya. Seorang muridnya, Al Biqo’i (w 885 H) bercerita : “Sampai-sampai aku mengira tidak ada seorang tokohpun di Mesir yang tidak hadir pada walimah tersebut. Hari itu adalah hari istimewa, belum ada yang sepertinya pada jaman itu. Pada walimah tersebut dilantunkan syair-syair indah berisi pujian kepada penulis dan kitabnya”.

Keunggulan Fathul Bari diakui oleh Imam asy-Syaukani (w 1250 H), ketika mengomentari kitab Fathul Bari asy-Syaukani mengutip hadis yang terkenal : “La hijrah ba’dal Fath”, hadis tersebut diungkapkan beliau sebagai kalimat diplomasi, yang maksudnya tidak ada kitab syarah Shahih Bukhori yang dapat melebihi keunggulan dan kebaikan yang sebaik Fathul Bari. Sementara Ibnu Khaldun dalam kitab Mukadimmah-nya mengatakan bahwa tugas mensyarah Shahih Bukhori adalah ‘hutang umat Islam’. Perkataan tersebut diucapkan Ibnu Khaldun sebelum Ibnu Hajar menyusun Fathul Bari (Ibnu Khaldun wafat tahun 808 H, Ibnu Hajar mulai menulis Fathul Bari tahun 817 H), maka dengan kitab Fathul Bari dapat dikatakan bahwa Ibnu Hajar telah melunasi hutang umat Islam.

Semoga Allah Ta’ala merahmati al-Hafiz Ibnu Hajar Asqolani, menerima amalan yang dilakukannya, dan membalas dengan surga Firdaus-Nya..


(Diringkas dari majalah Al-Furqon edisi 10/8 tahun 1430 H, dengan beberapa tambahan dari penulis).

Again, May Allah bless the soul of this great Imam. WaAllahua'lam.

Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair 2010

Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair 2010-click here for more info.

If you were to know me very well, I was born to be "kedekut", however, there are two things in my life as of this moment that I don't mind spending a lot of money on them. The first one would be games, and the second one would be books (it can even go to hundreds, no kidding)

For some reason, I like reading a lot. And since I do have income right now, my expenses spent on buying books have gone significantly higher as compared to when I was in high school.

Heck, I didn't even finished most of the books I bought yet. (Baru beli Al-Kabair karangan Imam Az-Zahabi bulan lepas. Pun tak habis gak lg). Greedy? You can say that. But to me, what is a few hundreds when you can have the access to the words of wisdoms of these great Imams. Well, part of the reason could be due to the fact that I hardly had the time to finish the reading and some other committments as well. I just wished that I can go on a vacation to maybe some great island- eg: Redang "cough" (sape nk organise? haha),alone reading my books, that'll be heaven for me.

Anyways, I'll be looking forward to this event. Hope all of you will be as hyped as me. Save up your money, and don't be afraid to spend it on books, cause by the end of the day, you'll be surprised by the amount of returns and gains you will get from these books.

WaAllahua'lam.