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Paradigm of Movement Dakwah

2008-12-09T20:13:00.001-08:00

In the beginning of 20th century, the phenomenon of dakwah focusing on movements emerged. This kind of dakwah is known as “dakwah harakah” (movement dakwah), implemented by Ikhwanul Muslimin in Egypt, Jamaat Islamiah in Pakistan, and Nur Khuluq or Harakah Nuriyah in Turkey, countries in which symbols of Islamic glory had been broken by western colonialism. In its time, dakwah of movement was really a new paradigm. If conventional dakwah in general are “tabligh” (submitting) and partial, then as said by al Qahtahi, dakwah of movement focuses on developing Islamic society systematically from individual improvement (“ishlah al fard”), family improvement (“ishlah al usrah”), society improvement (“ishlah al mujtamaâ”), and government and state improvements (“ishlah ad daulah”).

Characteristics of Movement Dakwah
According to Mustafa Masyhur, “dakwah harakah” is based on three powers at the same time, which are (1) power of aqidah and iman (faith), (2) power of unity and associations of Muslims (“quwwat al wahdah wa at tarabbuth”), and (3) power of jihad (“quwwat al jihad”).

According to Fathi Yakan, there are four very prominent characteristics of “dakwah harakah”, which are: (1) pure and authentic (“dzatiyyah”), which are authentic as calls of God, (2) encouraging advancements (“taqaddumiyah”), which are advancement that still uphold values of morality, (3) universal (“syamilah”), including all aspects of life, integrating three life systems (“manhaj al hayat”) that consist of Din (religion), Dunya (world), and Daulah (state government), (4) Emphasizing supreme religious principles and avoiding mazhab differences.

According to Sayyid Qutub, an activist and architect of dakwah harakah in Egypt, there are three characteristics of dakwah harakah, which are (1) putting more stress on actions than on theories, discourses, and rethorics, just like dakwah of Prophet Muhammad that didn’t build discourses (“la yuqim falsafatan”) but built ummah (“lakin yubni ummah”), (2) allowing usage of physical forces in form of jihad fisabilillah if the situation compels it. Jihad is required to guard dakwah and to defend from physical disturbances that hinder dakwah, (3) using organizations and networks (networking) at national, regional, and international levels. According to Sayyid Qutub, dakwah is not an individual task but instead is a collective obligation of all Muslims. Organizations of dakwah harakah should be open and built based on “aqidah tauhid” and brotherhood of Islam regardless ethnics, races, and skin colors.

Da’is of dakwah harakah
Any movement certainly requires cadres’ support. Cadres of dakwah harakah are da’is, but da’is (Islamic missionaries) here are da’is in paradigm of movement, which are dakwah strugglers (mujahid ad dakwah). Here, a da’i is a fighter and activist of Islamic movement that had equipped himself with certain knowledges, insights, and “ghirrah diniyyah” so that he will be able to be endured in facing scorns, physical tortures, and ready to die as a syahid. Slogan of mujahid dakwah is “Allahu maqshaduna” (Allah is our aim), “al Qurân imamuna” (al Quran is our imam), was sunnah sabiluna (sunnah of the Prophet is our way), and wa al mautu fi sabililah amanuna (die as a syahid is our hope).

Why dakwah harakah is required?
Dakwah harakah isn’t implemented all the time, but only when the situation compels it, which are when (1) dakwah is hindered by physical power, so that there’s no chance to spread Islam (do dakwah) peacefully, (2) no readiness on Muslims, including mental, moral, and power readinessess, (3) usage of physical power on dakwah harakah is an emergency. If the situation becomes conducive again to do dakwah peacefully, then usage of physical power should be stopped.

Problems of Muslims in the various parts on the earth are different, and to make decisions in responding difficult situations in those places deep thinkings and careful ijtihad are required. For Chechnya Muslims which had been overpowered by Soviet Communism, dakwah harakah is a must. Mujahidin dakwah in Chechnya, however, should be ready to be accused as terrorists by Soviet Union (and USA), since differences between strugglers and terrorists are indeed subtle. All of our strugglers for independence were also labeled as terrorists and extremist by the Colonialist Dutch. According to Palestinians, Hamas strugglers are mujahidin and Israel are a terrorist, but according to President Bush, Ariel Sharon, the former Israeli prime minister is regarded as a peace figure and former president Arafat is regarded as a terrorist. Similar problems had been faced by other Muslims colleagues in South Philippines, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and other countries. Wallahu alam.

Life Pattern

2008-12-09T20:11:00.000-08:00

In the life of mankind, we can observe various life patterns, in scope of usual groups, ethnics, nations, and ummahs. This variety emerges since life patterns are products of life views. Life view growing and developing from aqidah creates a certain life pattern usually called “shariah”.

Shariah teachings are highly realistic in viewing man life in universal way. Hence, five components of life are introduced, to be referred to in manifesting a quality life (“hayatan thayyibah”) that guarantees honor and benefits of decent life for man.
Five components of life (“al kulliyyat al khoms”) introduced in Islamic shariah are (1) Intact-self of man, including his soul, body, and dignity, (2) His mind, (3) his properties, (4) His nasab/lineage, and (5) His faith/religion.

Safety of those five life components should be protected through legal devices that guarantee their welfare and safety justly.

That is the real form of Islamic law as a manifestation of shariah. Efforts to understand more of shariah are usually handled in Fiqh. Certain matters specifically in connection with politics are discussed in Fiqh as Siyasah. There we can see a study system that introduces us four main fields in describing the five man’s life components mentioned above. In this connection, we should pay attention to following things:

1. Faith to God and efforts to manifest it through rituals of ibadah, these are included in the main and first study of science of Fiqh.

2. Interactions between people, in this connection we will be introduced to studies of “munakahat” and “mualamat”.

3. Social order, in this connection legal enforcement and legal certainty implementation are required. These are in the latest part of study of fiqh.

Reupholding Morality of the Nation

2008-12-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

In the current crossroad of nation and state’s development, reconfirming national commitment is required, through effective communications by the state’s leaders. The national commitment is building a modern nation-state in form of republic, which is the concept of state built for public benefits—welfare is for all citizens without exception—not personal glories of rulers and officers like in monarchy systems.

Idea of building a nation-state had been proposed by founders of this nation since more than a half century ago. As we know together, however, nothing is free in this world, and nothing can be gain without efforts and sacrifices. The brilliant idea of nation-state are not automatically manifested although it had been proposed since Proclamation of Independence 1945, since manifesting it had been provenly very difficult due to lack of required of social and cultural infrastructures. A long trials and errors in the history of this Republic couldn’t be avoided.

Mistakes in history of this nation like those happened in 1965 and 1998 become bitter experiences and contain hikmah (wisdom) if they are learned from and not repeated. If mistakes fail to be lessons and we let them continues, let alone mistakes intentionally done by us since they are seemingly beneficial, then those errors or mistakes wouldn’t contain hikmah; on the contrary those mistakes or errors would be slanders and disasters. Intentional mistakes would be history’s crime.

To those who think that they can get anything without any costs, that they can be rich without efforts, we should remind that those beliefs are a kind of naked egoism, an anti-social life attitude that force others to be victims and cause a great loss on the society. The idea of getting something without any efforts certainly will lead us to immoral ideas, short-cut ideas, and selfish ideas. Glory of a nation is determined by its morality. If a nation’s morality crumbles down, then the nation itself will crumble down too (“innama umamu al akhlaqu ma baqiyat, fa in dzahabat akhlaquhum dzahabu”). This is a “sunnatullah” we can’t bargain; this will happen to any nation regardless religions of their people. As a religious nation, let alone oath of office’s text contain the words “with taqwa”, we should uphold moral of our nation ourselves, since the meaning of taqwa includes integral moral actions, harmonization between words and behaviours, and behaviours’ consistence with commitments.

Don’t think that advancement of the West is without any moral commitment. Thomas Jefferson once said, “Leave money, leave fame, leave science, and leave this earth itself with all of its contents.” Those will be better than we do immoral actions. Don’t ever think that we may do something dishonorable, however small it may be in our eyes”

Whenever we do something, although no one see us, just imagine if all eyes in this world see us, paying attention to what we do. If we cheat in the state’s general affairs, imagine the loss that will be suffered by common people, imagine all people’s eyes see us (direct their sights on us). Just contemplate that various international institutions has placed us into category of one of the lowest countries, worst countries, most messy countries, most uninteresting countries, etc. Can we still proud ourselves as a big nation and a country with the most Muslims majority?

Above all, as a religious nation, whose state is based in belief on One and only God, we know terms “kafir” and “fasiq”. Cheating is a form of fasiq attitude. Fasiq people are people whose behaviours ignore values of etiquette and moral since those values had been subordinated to greediness and lust.

Fridays and Jama’ah

2008-12-03T21:10:00.001-08:00

Friday prayers are done together (collectively by jama’ah/congregation) by people of the same village or environment in a public mosque, every Fridays. What is the meaning of the Friday prayers actually? Allah says that man and genie are created to worship (doing ibadah to) Allah. “Wama khalaqtu al jinna wa al insa illa liya`budun” (Q: 51:56). Making Allah the only one to be worshipped (“la ilaha illa Allah”) is called tauhid, meaning making Allah the only one God. Salat is the most complete ibadat rituals, consisting of movements, readings, and prayers. As one of religious shariahs, salat doesn’t only indicate tauhid but also symbolize the ideal order of man’s society.

Man is created by God from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and is made into nations and tribes, that they may know each other “lita`arafu” (Q: 49:13). Prayers’ order also symbolizes how man society achieves the goals, knowing and benefiting each others. All people in their prayers should face the same kiblat (direction), with the same reading and the same language (Arabic). To build togetherness, it is a shariah that prayers should be done in jama’ah, doing them together led by an imam.

Like in a social leadership, an imam is required to meet three requirements: (1) fluent in his readings, (2) having the most religious knowledges compared to the others, and (3) oldest among the others. These requirements symbolize requirements of a common leader or even a president: (1) able to communicate with his people, (2) achieving relevant scientific standards, (3) senior. If a person is acting as an imam then the makmums behind him should totally obey him, they shouldn’t do something (a movement etc required) in the prayer before the imam doing it and they shouldn’t do it lately. If the imam does a mistake, however, then the makmums may remind him by reading “subhanallah” loudly. If the imam is failed since he had broken wind, for example, then he should immediately resign, replaced by a person exactly behind him.

Similarly, in society order, if a person had been elected to be a leader (president, for example), then the people should respect and obey his/her leadership. If the leader does a mistake, then his people may warn and criticize him, and if the Leader violates his/her oath of office then he/she should resign to avoid social turbulence, not waiting till his/her people dethrone him, since dethroning a leader requires big (economic and social) costs.

Societal order has grades, and so collective shariah (“syari`at berjama’ah”) also has grades. In every household there should be collective prayers, the father becomes the imam and his wife’s and children become his makmums. On five-times prayers there should be congregational prayers (salat jama’ah) in every mosque and mushalla. Once a week a wider community holds Friday prayer in a big mosque, called masjid jami’ (public mosque). Twice a year in a wider area, collective prayers are held in a grand mosque or alun-alun (town square), which are Idul Fitr and Idul Adha prayers. Geographically, it is a shariah that once a year representatives of nations should be together in a same place, doing hajj in Makkah al Mukarramah. Be together; be in jama’ah, since in a jama’ah there is a lot of grace. Wallahu a`lamu bissawab.

Nature and Life

2008-12-03T21:03:00.000-08:00

A man whose mind is well-functioned can recognize himself and his surroundings. People around him and things and occasions he can see and feel create a concept of nature and living in his mind. The concepts later develop toward perfection through a belief or religion held by his people, mainly his parents and through education and teachings given to him later.

At present, man’s knowledge on nature is already well-developed. Science and technology has developed so well, so as if man can conquer this universe through his success in breaking through the outer space and in breaking atoms, if only no heavy earthquake shaking Armenia, heavy typhoon sweeping beaches of America and Japan, heavy floods striking parts of India and other natural disasters and strange diseases such as AIDS, all of which show weaknesses of man’s power and limitations of man’s knowledge. With such an advanced development, however, human life is still as mysterious as previous

This universe whose width is hard to describe and the man that is very prominent among all other creatures in this universe had passed a very long life process so that it can hardly be described by using century as the parameter but instead it is measured by using light year

People that have a high ability to reason using his mind has known the process of life, although they are not able to understand nature of the life itself. In the very wide and still-developing knowledge of man, the interest to understand the beginning and the end (“mabda” and “maad”) is not comparable to the interest and efforts to understand the life process. Therefore, in general man’s knowledge becomes cripple and not intact. Efforts to understand life process during the history had led man to understand exact and accurate laws controlling this universe.

Real description of this knowledge can clearly be seen in physics, chemistry, biology, and astronomy. Those sciences reveal how this nature is created regularly and controlled so accurately through exact laws. Astronomy introduces to us on how regularly stars move through their orbits.

The earth we live on rotates on its axes and circulates on its orbit around the sun during certain periods certainly leading to nights and days coming alternately and seasons changing regularly. All of these mechanisms run accurately and can be calculated mathematically. Natural sciences introduce us laws of physics, chemistry, and biology, such as proportion law, conservation law, movement law, gravitation law, relativity law, Pascal law, genetics law, laws of reproduction and embryology.

Various findings of natural laws as mentioned above give us clear information that all parts of this universe—from smallest particles in atomic nuclei whose smallness can hardly be imagined to galaxies whose largeness and width can’t be imagined—move according to the natural laws controlling them. Furthermore, things that can be observed closely are our bodies. Science reveals that human body consists of 50 millions of cells, length of all of its blood vessels is 100, 000 kms and more than 500 chemical processes happen in our livers.

Human body is more complicated and more amazing than a computer. Functions of body that can’t be seen are more impressing. Without we realize it, our bodies control our temperatures, our blood pressures, digestions, and do a very lot of other tasks. The body controlling centre, the brain, is able to record and store more information than any other devices. Those body organs work automatically beyond our control and knowledge. Blood circulations, lungs, hearts, kidneys, and respirations work routinely and accurately, without any command from human themselves. Even they very probably don’t know how busy body organs do their tasks for their lives.

Latest developments of sciences, marked by the emergence of social sciences, had led to a same conclusion, that man and society are also controlled by accurate and exact laws, like nature outside the man. These sciences reveal that life and behaviours of man are controlled by certain rules beyond the man’s wish, like ecology laws (environment’s influence), instinctive drives, genetic heritages, supernatural powers, and laws of history.

Behind those findings, a new scientific theory called scientific determinism (“al-jabriyah al- ilmiyah”) had emerged, which describe human beings as pawns of fate (things that had been determined before). Stoicism views that man and even the whole universe had been rationally determined by the universal mind (this is a philosophical terms meaning power that is the source that controls the universe). According this theory, man’s task are only understanding and placing himself within the frame of mind.

Exact rules acting as laws regulating all creations and movements in the universe are generally called natural laws. In language of Al Quran, sometimes it is called “sunnatullah” like mentioned in surah al-Fathir: 43 “But no change wilt thou find in sunnatullah; no turning off wilt thou find in sunnatullah”.

In perspective of theology, such a thing is categorized into “qadha” and “qadar” (fate). However, this term (scientific determinism) is more dominant in things having something to do with human behaviours, and often carelessly regarded as identical to concept of Jabariah (theory of determinism).

Nature of Dakwah

2008-12-01T02:03:00.000-08:00

Talking about nature or “hakikat” is talking about something fundamentally. A “dangdut” singer with erotic body movement was singing a song on a stage inviting people to dedicate to God. Was she a “da’i” (Islamic missionary)? The reply is clear, that the singer was singing the lyrics of dakwah, but basically she wasn’t submitting a dakwah. Dakwah is not only words spoken but also a psychological invitation coming from soul of the da’i. We often seen dakwah activities but basically those activities are not necessarily dakwah, in the contrary those may be contra-productive to dakwah itself. Then what is dakwah? The nature of dakwah can be seen from the da’i or from the meanings perceived by the people receiving the dakwah.

1. Dakwah as a “tabligh”. Tabligh means submitting, the person is called “muballigh”. Dakwah as tabligh has a form of a muballigh submitting a dakwah material (preach) to people. Dakwah material may consist of statements, informations, teachings, invitations, or ideas. Tabligh is usually done on a podium in a mosque, a “majelis taklim” (a kind of gathering to gain knowledge), or other place. Dakwah material may consist of statements, informations, teachings, invitations, or ideas.

Focus of attention in tabligh is on submitting, “illa al balagh”. After it, people’s response will not be responsibility of the muballigh. To people, unclear tablighs will merely be sounds, tabligh in form of information will cause understanding, tabligh in form of contemplation will become comprehension, and dakwah in form of ideas will encourage people to think continuously. A muballigh submitting an Islamic material he himself doesn’t really understand is like a soulless cassette. Tabligh’s power exists if the muballigh really becomes the “fail” (subject), becoming the actor feeling responsible to do the tabligh. A lot of muballigh don’t become “fail” but become the “maul” (object). He doesn’t have a program but he’s been programmed by other person. He only works to meet market’s demands, waiting for invitation to do tabligh. A “fail” has clear achievements, but a “maul” has achievements difficult to measure.

2. Dakwah as an invitation. People will be interested to an invitation, if the aims are interesting them. Therefore, da’i should formulate aims to which people can be invited. There are two aims, macro and micro ones. Macro aims is already clear, inviting people to happiness here in the world and in the day after. Da’is and mubalighs in general are not able to formulate micro aims, short-time aims that are easily achieved and interesting.

3. Dakwah as a planting activity. Dakwah also means educating people so they will act in accordance with Islamic values. Educating is planting values to the souls of the people. Values planted in dakwah are faith, honesty, justice, discipline, affection, modesty, and other values of noble akhlaqs. Like in other planting activities, the seeds should be excellent, the land should be fertile, watered, and prevented from pests and it will take a long time for the seeds to grow into beautiful green grass or into fruity and shady high trees. Teachers at schools (and the educational institutions) are da’is giving dakwah in form of planting activities. Certainly not all teachers are da'is. Teachers who are also da'i are teachers who had became educators not merely teachers or teaching people. Teachers only transfer knowledge; meanwhile educator transfers behaviour patterns or culture.

4. Dakwah is an acculturation. Dakwah by Wali Songo (Nine Holy Peoples) in Java is a concrete example of acculturation. Those wali didn’t change various form of Javanese traditions but they changed the contents. Traditions of thanksgivings (“selamatan”) for three days, seven days, and 100 days previously were traditions carried out by Javanese people when members of their families had passed way. Such an event was filled by staying awake the whole night, eating, gambling, and eating drugs. The form was maintained by the walis, the eating was maintained but the wrongdoings were replaced with Islamic things, such as reading sentences of tahlil. The foods were replaced with rice of “tumpeng” indicating tauhid, and everyone coming back from the tahlilan would bring “brekat” (blessing or “berkah”). Thanks to acculturation, Javanese people became Muslims. The weakness was that syncretism couldn’t be avoided.

5. Dakwah is a developing activity. In a macro way, dakwah also means to develop. Developing what? As has been exemplified in history, dakwah also means to develop an Islamic world order (“daulah Islamiyah”), an Islamic nation, or Islamic society or society of Islam, or merely Islamic community. While developing, demolishing the old building sometime is unavoidable, and this often means conflict. Like in an activity of erecting a building, dakwah in form of developing something should pass its stages. First, there should be a design or mock-up for the building to be erected. Second, examination on land use should be done; in this case, local culture should be referred to for erecting a building. The first and second activities are interchangeable, meaning that the concept is may be made first and then the location is seek, or the concept is made based on condition of the “soil”.

Third, experts should be involved from architects to assistant stone workers, and four, availability of building materials. Developing an Islamic country without any proven concept will only cause “mudlarrat” (uselessness), like building a thing without experts and fund. For Indonesian Muslims, the most appropriate method is building Islamic community, Islamic society, or society of Islam, since Indonesia has a culture conducive to such a method, we need only improve the concept, and it can be said that we have the human resources, and the cost will not be too high. Wallahu ‘alam.

Life View of Indonesian Nation

2008-12-01T02:00:00.000-08:00

Cultural variety of Indonesian nation is expressed in the sentence “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” meaning that although Indonesian nation consists of various ethnics, cultures, and languages, essentially Indonesian nation is one as a nation. Conceptionally, cultural variety is a national asset, so that those differences shouldn’t be debated, as long as those differences are in the framework of unity.

Pancasila is often mentioned to be the life view of Indonesian nation. This means that values of silas (moral principles) in Pancasila are indeed explored from the khazanah (treasure) of national culture. Therefore, existence of each people’s life view is guaranteed. Each citizen is guaranteed by Constitution to implement their religion based on their faith and belief. During history of this nation, even Communism was once accommodated in Nasakom axis (Nationalism, Religion, and Communism). Only mistake of PKI using violence in the incident of 30 September Movement caused communism to be forbidden later by the constitution in Indonesia.

Data of national history shows that Islamic aspiration as a way of life never ceases to be involved in ideological struggle, including in the processes of formulating Constitution 1945 and all of those struggles are normal since majority of Indonesian citizens adhere Islam. Therefore, it can’t be denied that Pancasila as a life view of the nation actually contains items of Islamic way of living.
Islam as a way of life can be revealed if we understand matters on LIFE that essentially consists of three matters, which are (a) Life View, (b) Life Pattern, and (c) Life Etiquette.

Life View
Mankind during their history note various life views, both those known as philosophies and ancestor’s teachings, and those known as religion/God’s teachings. In Islam, life view is called “aqidah” (a belief binding man’s spiritual part). Since it binds the spiritual part, then aqidah becomes a guidance. Aqidah of Islam introduces God, universe, and man, including each individual, to man
All people instinctively know themselves, the environment surrounding them, and the universe.

Instinctively people also know God (although in various perceptions) and when their knowledge becomes a belief, this belief will give a certain life view to be life guidance for them. The life view taught by Islam explains to man that Living is something highly noble and highly precious. The life bestowed by God on man is a basic capital to fulfill their functions and to determine their own values and dignities Therefore, messages in Al Quran and hadith give a lot of warnings on man to use the basic capital as careful as possible and not to make it useless, since it is very limited in terms of space and time. Furthermore, it is mentioned that there are two kinds of life, one of them is man’s life on earth, which is highly limited in terms of space and time and, due to the limitations, is not eternal but real so everyone can recognize and feel it.

Basically, this life is pleasurable to man, since earth and nature had been prepared in such a way by Allah to support man’s life. The pleasurable nature later dominates the life view of most of people so they identify with life itself. This view is noted in surah Al Hadid in which it is described that the so-called life of this world is but play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting and multiplying, (in rivalry) among people, riches and children (Q: 57: 20). This is further explained in surah Ali ‘Imran in which it is mentioned than people becomes interested in loving all charming things, among others are women, children, piled golds and silvers, selected vehicles, cattle, and rice fields. All of them are a reality highly familiar to all people and some of them have the chance to enjoy the pleasure.

Basically, all those things shouldn’t be hated or neglected; since all of those things are parts of the enjoyment had been prepared by Allah to support man’s life. But their usage should be in accordance with the guidance and this has something to do with life pattern.
Further, another kind of life introduced in Islam is life in the day after whose quality is higher since it will be unlimited and eternal. All pleasures in the day after will be very perfect. Those lives are not independent from each other; on the contrary, the second life will be continuation and perfection from the first. The day after will be the time and place for the final calculation and determination of permanent values for each person who experiences life in the world. The day after will no longer be the time and place to work and do, but only will be the time and place for receiving results of working and behaviours done while we are living in this earth. Therefore, it is clear that the previous life (in this life) is very important. The opportunity to work and do is only given in the life in this world. Hence, life in this world is really the basic capital for man.

Tips to be used at Work (Business Ethic)

2008-08-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

Among things inherent in man as a representative (khalifah) of Allah are obligation to enforce to the truth (rules of Allah) on the earth and right to manage/use nature as a living facility. From those obligation and right, some rules of living (sunnatullah) follow, that are; (a) To obtain things needed, man has to use an accountable procedure, which is working, (b) Man deserves to obtain (results of) what he has done correctly, (c) Man has to take the risks of what he has done wrongly. If animals only can enjoy facilities in the nature provided by God, then man is demanded to maintain environment against damage and to do efforts (“engineering”) so that those natural facilities are used optimally. Basically, working is a combination of maintaining environment and doing such efforts.

Theologically, universe is a manifestation of Allah’s grace to man, and in this perspective working and doing business aren’t efforts to seek wealth but are efforts to seek rahmah (grace). Value of a property (as a result of working) depends on how much it brings rahmah to the life of its owner. This is called barakah (blessing). Instead of becoming rahmah, a property can change its function into burden and torment unbearable by its owner. Therefore, religion of Islam teaches working or business ethics to man. Business ethics among others consist of:

1. Have a correct intention (niyyat) that working or doing business is aimed at seeking willingness (rida) of Allah. If you’re a trader, have an intention to help consumers obtain his necessities. If you’re doing business in a large scale, have an intention to improve the society’s welfare. If you’re a professional, adhere to professional principles firmly.

2. Create a balance of attention between worldly interests and the-day-after interests

3. Orient/arrange all business/working affairs for long term interests (old days, children, grandchildren, future generation, ibadat/investation for the day after)

4. If you’re faced with difficult choices in making decisions regarding a job or project with wide impacts, then before making decisions, perform salat istikharat, asking for God’s guidance in selecting the best choice.

5. If you’re an employee, be discipline and honest at work, since those will lead you to rida of Allah, insha Allah.

6. If you’re an employer, then you shouldn’t exploit your employees. Instead, give them sufficient wages and pay the wages immediately. Rasulullah ordered us to pay wages to labours before their sweats are getting dried and forbade us to hire labours before there’s a certainty about amount of their wages.

7. If you’re a freelancer, be a diligent/persistent person. Rasulullah once said that working diligently will create a blessing in life (al harakatu barakah).

8. Don’t do business in fields forbidden by God. A forbidden business may cause big and fast benefits, but eventually it will cause misery (at least spiritual/inner misery) since the grace is missing. Likewise, forbidden practices such as briberies, corruptions, manipulations, evil conspirations may make it easier for you to achieve your goals, but those eventually will eliminate blessing (rahmah) and mercy (barakah) of Allah. Such practices are not only sinful but also damaging business system.

9. Fulfill your obligations as an entrepreneur to the right parties, for example regarding labours’ right (wages), the state’s right (tax), God’s right (zakat), community’s right (living environment).

10. Business with barakah is a business benefiting people and giving halal (allowed) benefit.

11. If you’re about to begin a business or project, read the prayer below:
Allahumma ij`al awwala hadza al amro solaha wausatohu falaha wa akhirohu najaha
Meaning: “O Allah, please make beginning of this business a proper thing, the process is an enjoyable process, and the end is a success.”
Rabbi auzi`ni an asykuro ni`mataka allati an`amta `alayya wa `ala wa lidayya wa an a`mala so lihan tardo hu wa adkhilni fi `iba dika as solihin
Meaning: "O my Lord! so order me that I may be grateful for Thy favours, which thou hast bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may work the righteousness that will please Thee: And admit me, by Thy Grace, to the ranks of Thy righteous Servants." (Q: An Naml: 19)

The consequence of working or doing business by mentioning name of Allah is that you should remember Allah in each process of business and working, so that you won’t do things forbidden by Him.

Tasawuf as a Part of Islamic Body of Knowledge

2008-08-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

The term “tasawuf” hadn’t been known in the period of Prophet Muhammad, but substance of tasawuf teachings are taken from behaviours of Prophet Muhammad himself. The word “tasawuf” is estimated to be coming from the word “shafa” meaning “clean” or from the word “suf” meaning “wool”, referring to simple clothes used by ancient Sufis. Islam’s teachings can be divided into Aqidah, Shariah, and Akhlaq, or into Islam, Faith (Iman), and Ihsan. In this perspective, tasawuf is in Akhlaq or Ihsan.

In Islamic Body of Knowledge, philosophy develops rapidly but psychology doesn’t develop. It doesn’t mean that ulamas haven’t been interested to psychological matters. Al Quran and hadith themselves talk a lot about nafs (soul), but psychological experiences of Islamic society are different from those of Western society. Modern Western society have been growing in a disappointment to the Church that oppose modern thinking so that religion (the Church) was later separated from worldly affairs and as a result western civilization and science developed without guidance of religion, and later a secular civilization was formed.

Meanwhile, in history of Islam, science developed along with religion, and Islam’s teachings even encourage its ummah to develop science. Therefore, developments of Muslims’ science and civilization have been under guidance of religion. Even development of Islamic philosophy—although firstly was inspired by Greek thinking—has been still within limits set by Al Quran.

Regarding soul (nafs), for example, in Islamic body of knowledge, science of soul/psychology (ilm an nafs) doesn’t develop as a science examining behaviour as phenomena of soul, but nafs is discussed in the context of a spiritual system having vertical relations with God, since Al Quran and Sunnah directly mention term “nafs” and indirectly mention it through terms such as “qalb”, “aql”, “ruh”, and “bashirah”, all of them, in the perspective of lughawi and because of munasahah with other verses or with Prophet’s hadith, have a lot of meanings so that ulamas have been busy exploring definitions of nafs and its system in the perspective of Al Quran and sunnah. One of sciences discussing “nafs” in Islamic body of knowledge is tasawuf .

Sciences of Man

2008-08-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

Al Quran often reminds man to use his mind to think and to tafakkur, afala tatafakkarun, afala ta`qilun, awala yatadabbarun. Man is indeed a thinking animal (al insanu hayawanun nathiqun). In man, thinking is the fourth process after sensing, perceiving, and memorizing that influences interpretation to a stimulus. While thinking, a man involves sensation, perception, and memory at the same time. In this living, thinking is required to/for (a) to solve problems (problem solving), (b) to make decisions (decision making), and (c) create new things (creativity).
The more knowledge/science one has, the more complex his way of thinking is. Some people only can daydream, some others think but unrealistically, while still some others think realistically. Furthermore, some people always think, some people only think when they need it, and still some others think only occasionally.

Smart people think systematically, for example in a deductive way (taking a particular conclusion from general premises) or on the contrary in an inductive way (taking a generalized conclusion from particular premises/instances). However, there are problems that can’t be solved through general ways of thinking, so in this case a very smart person will usually use a method called creative thinking.

Thinking creative is thinking using a new method, a new concept, a new finding, a new paradigm, and a new art. The importance of creative thinking is not for its novelty but for its relevance to problem solving. Since it’s new and not conventional, creative people are often misunderstood by people in general, they are often regarded as weird or even crazy (thinking crazily). There are five steps in the process of creative thinking: (1) orientation, formulating and identifying problems, (2) preparation, gathering information as much as possible, (3) incubation, taking a rest or sleeping for while—cooling down, (4) illumination, seeking inspirations, and (5) verification, testing and evaluating critically.
Science can be obtained by a man through: (1) his intellectual capacity (mind), through learning process, (2) feeling, through his heart, using it to comprehend reality, (3) direct gift from God, and the science is called “science of ladunni”. For man, science is used to find out truth regarding realities. Considering various methods, it is known that parameter of truth is not one but there are levels of truth: (1) scientific truth, (2) mathematical truth, (3) social truth, (4) philosophical truth, logical truth, and sufistic truth.

According Al Quran, there are following truths: (1) `ilm al yaqin, (2) `ain al yaqin, and (3) haqq al yaqin. The truth of `ilm al yaqin can be tested through scientific theories, the truth of `ain al yaqin can be tested through laboratories and similar means, while truth of haqq al yaqin can only be proved later in the day after. A philosopher can explain the truth, while a sufi can feel the truth. To a sufi, a philosopher says, “I can imagine what you feel.” The sufi replies, “and I can feel what you imagine.” Those are the scopes of man’s sciences.

Role of Muballighs in Responding and Overcoming Islamopobhia

2008-08-10T22:44:00.000-07:00

Role of Muballighs in Responding and Overcoming Islamopobhia
29 April 2008
By : Prof. Dr. Achmad Mubarok, MA
General Lecture submitted in Graduation Ceremony for Students of Muballigh Cadres Education KODI DKI Jaya XIV Generation and Opening Lecture for XV Generation
Jakarta, 24 April 2008

Introduction
Muballighs (preachers) are at the most front dakwah level using irregular communication media with the audience. Therefore, dakwah materials submitted are generally not deep and easily understood. Muballighs popular in the society are not necessarily the ones who have deepest understanding on Islamic sciences, they are often asked to give dakwah due to their ability to communicate popularly. Furthermore, people attending tablighs don’t necessarily want to study Islamic sciences. A lot of them regard tabligh programs as means for having fun after facing rutinities and life difficulties. Therefore, a lot of celebrities-muballighs are liked by people although weight of their speeches is only moderate. Muballigh aren’t important, but it should be realized that muballighs seem to play more role on building dakwah spectaculars than on building religious awareness. Therefore, the merriness of these spectacular tablighs doesn’t indicate growth of ummah quality.

Levels of Dakwah
Dakwah means an effort to influence others (people) so that they have attitudes and behaviours as wanted by the da’is. Intensity of efforts and goals of dakwah can be seen from the da’i levels.

There are at least five levels of da’is in Indonesia now:

1. Muballighs level. They are those who are giving dakwah to the public, without any schedule, with pupils that are changing from time to time, without curriculum and without target. Therefore, charisma of a muballigh highly depends on the muballigh himself. There are muballigh fa’il and muballigh maf’ul. Muballigh fa’il is a muballigh who has a program or special attention, for example, certain society or field. Meanwhile, muballligh maf’ul is a muballigh who doesn’t have a program but waiting to be “programmed” or invited by his public. If muballigh fa’il’s success can be measured in certain ways, then a muballigh maf’ul’s success only can be measured through amount of invitations he had received.

2. Teachers level. A teacher who is aware that he/she is a da’i actually is a da’i who gives dakwah to audience (mad’u) with measured goals. Therefore, if a teacher is success in carrying out his tasks of dakwah, he will really able to make his mad’u (pupils) to be the persons he wants.

3. Professionals level. A professional’s character is working in accordance with his education, having access to decision makings, and having wage standards. For example, doctor, engineer and architect. If a professional has a dakwah spirit then he will be a da’i with power and his actions will cause a positive perception on Islam.

4. Political level. PKS (Justice and Welfare Party), for example, openly call themselves a dakwah party. It means that PKS gives dakwah politically. Political parties usually manipulate people’s interest to achieve power. If a party can do politics (involve themselves in politics) in a clean way then the dakwah will be highly effective. If the power has been achieved (their representatives become governors, ministers, or presidents) and they are consistent with their dakwah concepts, then the dakwah will be powerful and the results can be enjoyed by the society economically and socially. Some people give dakwah openly through Islamic Party, while some others give dakwah through parties without religious identity.

Dakwah as a Communication Event
As an event, dakwah is a communication, so that elements of dakwah are same as elements of communication that are da’i, mad’u, material/message, method, and media. The material submitted by muballigh or da’i can be information, invitation, teachings, and even nonsense. Success of communication by a muballigh to his public highly depends on what he communicates. If a muballigh only submit voices, then his dakwah will only be heard by the ears. If a muballigh submit his dakwah in form of thinking then it will be responded using mind, if the dakwah is a voice of his heart, then it will be absorbed by heart.

Characteristics of A Successful Dakwah
As a communication event, dakwah will be regarded as successful if having following characteristics:
1. The messages are understood by people.
2. The dakwah is amusing people.
3. The relations between muballigh and people (that are his mad’us) are increasingly getting better.
4. The dakwah changes the negative attitudes into negative ones toward values submitted in it.
5. The dakwah successfully encourages mad’u to act relevantly.
Islamopobhia’
In Communication Psychology and terms “Intrapersonal communication system” and “interpersonal communication system” are known.

Intrapersonal communication system is a process in which a person receives a stimulus, perceives it, puts it into his memory, thinks about it, and responds it. For people not adhering Islam, Islam is a perception. Majority western people perceive Islam as a religion teaching violence, not obeying Human Rights, and disrespecting women. Perception is mostly influenced by attention. Things that highly draw attention are novelties, movements, contrasts, repetitions. Western mass media repetitively broadcast subjective (and wrong) news from Islamic world without the Islamic world themselves are able to counter them with same media. As a result, negative perceptions on Islam had been built in western people’s minds and even are believed by Muslims having superficial knowledge.

Interpersonal communication system is a process in which a person (or society) builds his image. Building a good image requires a long time through good behaviours done repetitively. Meanwhile, a bad image is immediately built on a person once the person does a bad behaviour.

Apart from negative perception of western people, it should be admitted that sometimes some people among us (da’is and mubalighs) build a self-image as an undignified class. For example, fighting sexual immoral behaviours by coming to prostitution places and shouting takbir, carrying bludgeons, breaking glasses, and wearing white robes. When this act of fighting wrongdoings is broadcasted in western media, then what built will be a bad image of Islam in the eyes of western people. Another example, a muballigh in a tabligh akbar on Ahmadiyyah sometimes ago stated that blood of Ahmadiyyah people is “halal”. When this statement is translated and broadcasted, then perception built in the mind of western people will be that Islam is an intolerant and cruel religion. Likewise, the case of Amrozy cs also built a negative image on Islam. Therefore, we shouldn’t be too emotional when facing Islamopobhia or anti-Islam attitude.

How to respond and overcome Islamophobia?
Perception can only be changed through communication, not through long distance response. The most effective way of overcoming islamopobhia is by proposing Islam as rahmatan lil’alami, grace for the universe. Characteristics of rahmat are (a) full of attention, (b) wanting to give, (c) understanding limitations, and (d) forgiving. Dakwah community should hold dialogs with the West since they who are anti-Islam really don’t know a lot about it and have a bad perception built on Islam. Remember that when Rasulullah had stones thrown away at him by Taif people, he didn’t condemn them, instead he prayed, “Allhummaghfirlahum fainnahum la ya`lamun” (O Allah, forgive them, they were throwing stones at me since they didn’t know that I’m really Your messenger).

After 11 September incident in USA, amount of Muslims there increased 500%. Why? Since after Islam had been publicized as a religion of terror, Americans got interested to find out what Islamic teachings are. Mushafs of Al Quran and Islamic books are always sold-out. After they reading directly Islamic sources and communicating directly with Islamic people, their perception had changed, later they even had sympathy for Islam and were given God’s guidance (hidayah). Allahu Akbar.
Closing

Therefore, PKM students should increase their insights, by reading a lot, listening a lot, and interact with others a lot. Insya Allah, their knowledge, comprehension, flexibility will increase.
Wallahu a`lamu bissawab

Philosophy of Divinity

2008-08-10T22:43:00.000-07:00

Philosophy is a science who tries to find out the truth of everything (al `ilmu fi al maujudat ma hiya al maujudat). What meant by everything is realities and there are three essences of realities: God, man, and nature. Therefore, three main philosophies are philosophy of divinity, philosophy of man, and philosophy of nature. In philosophy of religion, those three aspects are discussed and studied. The science that studies philosophy of divinity is called Science of Kalam, since the frame of the philosophy of divinity is Kalamullah, divine revelation, not mind.

Therefore, arguments in Science of Kalam always propose Al Quran’s verses. What inquired in this science among others what are essences of attributes (characters) of Rabb al ‘alamin, ar Rahman, ar Rahim, al Jabbar, and al Khaliq, what are essences of meanings of Subhanallah (Allah the Most Holy), Allahu Ahad (Allah the Most One), what is meant by Allah resides in arasy, what is meant by the sky, and so on. If laypeople are deemed sufficient to study science of Tauhid, then educated people should study philosophy of tauhid that is Science of Kalam.

Balance between Science, Faith, and Good Deeds in Living

2008-08-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

Balance between Science, Faith, and Good Deeds in Living
28 April 2008
By: Prof. Dr. Achmad Mubarok, MA,
Submitted in Workshop of Supervision with Religious Approach
Held by General Inspectorate of Religious Affairs Department,
Jakarta 6 May 2008

Introduction
Man is a creation who knows meaning. A cow is valued based on quantity of its meat, but a fat person is not necessarily more meaningful than a thin one, a big person is not necessarily more meaningful than a small one, superordinate is not necessarily more meaningful than subordinate. Highness or lowness of meaning is called prestige. A prestigious person is a person whose presence in the stage of life gives meaning, although may be his presence is only for a moment. On the contrary, a person whose presence doesn’t give meaning, although he has a long life or a position held for a long time is not a prestigious person. His presence influences nothing, his absence causes nothing. The concept of meaning is influenced by science, faith, and good deeds. A person with science has his steps guided by theories; steps of a person with faith are guided by belief, while steps of a person with a lot of good deeds are guided by spirit.

Concept of Supervision in Living
Some people feel that they are free unlimitedly in life. They decide what they want and what they do, since they feel than man is the only one who is determining in living. They think that goodness or badness, necessary or not, important or not important, proper or not proper, all is determined by man.

Meanwhile, some people feel that this life has a kind of scenario and that people have to follow the scenario. Otherwise, they will be rebuked by the director and laughed at by the spectators since they do something deviating from the scenario. Where the scenario comes from? Some people think it is the society who makes the scenario, so that a person whose behaviours are deviant will be alienated by the society. Others believe that the scenario comes from above, from the Creator of Living, through holy books, prophets’ teachings, and through conscience in form of universal morals and local wisdom. Deviating from scenario is believed to cause calamity
The questions are: Who feels that he/she is supervised and who is supervising? Who commands people to obey the scenario and who seduces people to deviate? And who reprimands?
Al Quran surah Qaf 16 states:
And certainly We created man, and We know what his mind suggests to him, and We are (watching him and) nearer to him than his life-vein.
From the verse quoted above, there are things should be explained in detail, that are (1) man (2) nafs (3) whisper, (4) God’s supervision
Insan
Al Quran mentions man by referring him “basyar” and “insan”. “Basyar” is the physical man, while “insane” is man as a psychological creature. The word “insan” comes from the word “nasiya yansa” meaning “forgetting”, from word “uns” means “tender or gentle” and from the word “nasa yanusu” means “turbulence/turbulent”. Therefore, insan’s psychological characters is between forget and aware, tender and hate, and between calm and turbulent.
Some people are always aware, calm, full of affection, while there are some people who are forgetful, hateful, and restless. Some other people are calm but hateful and aware of his hate and still many other psychological characters of people. What might interest us is definition of insan: al insane hayaman nathiq, man is a thinking animal. Therefore, the distinguishing factor is the thinking ability. If a person can’t think any longer, then the thing left in him is his animal aspect.

Nafs
Nafs, is the inner side of man, soul. Nafs or soul is a system working systematically with its subsystems; mind, heart, conscience, syahwah, and lust. Mind= problem solving capacity, its duty is to think, its product is logic, it can find truth but can’t determine it. The truth of mind is relative. Mind is man intellectual potency.

Heart is the device to understand reality. Things can’t be understood by mind can be understood by heart.

Heart contains a lot of things, hate, love, courage, fear, restlessness and so on. Heart can be wide, narrow and even closed. Heart dominates the psychological system but it is not consistent, it can be honest and it also can lie.
Nurani (conscience) comes from the word “nur” meaning light. Nurani is God’s light located within the heart, so that it is consistent and can’t compromise with lies. Nurani is always honest. Nurani is like a black box located in the heart. As a light, nurani can’t emanate light if it is closed. Things often close light of nurani are greediness and wrongdoings. A person whose nurani is dead is like a person walking in a dark place, stepping wrongly, taking wrongly, entering wrong places, and putting things wrongly. The Arabic word of dark is zhulm, the person is called zalim (despotic).

Syahwah is a desire to something or in psychology is called motive. God adorned man with syahwah to the opposite sex, proudness of chidren, liking for valuable things, good vehicles, gardens, and cattle. Syahwah is neutral, following it correctly would be an ibadah (religious service), and followng it by ignoring moral and religious values would be a sin.

Lust is the drive to low syahwah. Characteristic of one’s lust is to want to get what one wants by ignoring the results for oneself and for others.
“Whispers”
Man receives stimuli, he perceives them and puts them into his memory, and then he thinks before he acts. All subsystems in his soul give inputs or whispers, for example:
Mind provides logical considerations.
Heart tries to understand any reality to come.
Conscience reminds the consequences if taking wrong steps.
Syahwah urges to make decisions and take actions by which it will gain satisfaction.
Lust whispers to immediately take opportunities in troubles, to be opportunistic, not to become hesitant, not to think deeply, just do it.

Qalb (heart) Management
Man can think, feel, and have wants. His wants are influenced by his way of thinking and feeling, his mind is also influenced by what he wants, his feeling is also influenced by what he thinks and he wants. All psychological devices can be used to choose which one is the best for himself, for the country, for now, for later, or even for his children and grandchildren. However, all of them needs appropriate management, which one should be encouraged, which one should be repressed, which one should be considered, and which one should be followed.
If one tends to follow his mind, then he will tend to be rational, but sometimes “dry”
If one tends to follow his heart, then he will able be calm or restless, depending on his mood.
If one tends to follow his conscience, then it is guaranteed that his choices will be correct and his steps will be appropriate.
If one tends to follow his syahwah, then he will tend to being led to glamourism and hedonism
If one tends to follow his lust, then it is guaranteed that he will go astray and damage himself (and others).

Roles of Science, Faith, and Good Deeds in Supervision
Theoretically, a person with science and faith who often do good deeds surely has a proportional and correct life. However, in practice, smart people sometimes do things incorrectly; his faith is not guaranteed to be stable, but it fluctuates. Sometimes it gets thicker, sometimes thinner. Therefore, sometimes people are failing in supervising themselves. Man is a social being. What a person will become depends with whom he interacts. Just take loot at behaviours of members of house representative and career officials. Sometime how they dress and walk and their tastes are adjusted to “social scenario’.

According to a psychological research, 83% of man behaviour is influenced what he had seen, 11% by what he had heard, and the rest by various stimuli. Therefore, honesty can’t be trusted to heart of each own person. Officials of Religious Affairs Ministry and officials of other ministry socially and psychologically are more and less the same. Preventing deviant behaviours of state officials of any ministry can’t be done only through religious advices (its influence is 11%), here we need a system narrowing possibilities for officials to deviant.

Science (or knowledge) is required not for “heart endurance” but for designing a logical, comprehensive, effective, and efficient supervising system
Faith is required mainly to enable example of clean life by echelon officials, since for paternalistic Indonesian society, example or model is effective and cheap in supervising state officials.

Good deeds should be maximized to create an ethos of giving priority to others (itsar), so that officials will get obsessed to give and not to take. Money from corruption is usually used up for useless things excessively not for good deeds. Devil money will come back to devil.

Built-in Supervision
In the last part of the Al Quran’s verse above it is mentioned that God is closer to man than his life-vein, supervising whispers of the soul. He knows not only what man does and says but He also knows what comes up in man’s heart. This verse’s text is information for man that everything done by man, good or bad, is surely known by God. Nothing can be missed from God’s supervision.

However, information in this verse is received differently by people, depending on their levels of understanding. Some people can only think, while others can also tafakkur and others can also tadabbur.

By thinking we absorb information, but the result is cognitive.

By tafakkur, we can imagine or comprehend the scope of information, the result may be affective.

By tadabbur, we can feel power of the information, so that the results are not merely cognitive and affective, but also psychomotoric.

A person who can do tadabbur to the holy verses of Al Quran already has a built-in supervision system. He never wonders, calculates, or images doing a deviation with of hope of not being caught in the act. A person like this has already been allergic to deviances. I’m sure that in this country those who are supervising and those who are supervised are mostly still at the level of thinking ability. Only a very few who can do tafakkur and only some people who already can do tadabbur. Therefore, only a tight and appropriate system can minimize deviant behaviours of state apparatus, including those of apparatus who are in charge of supervision.
Wallahu a’lam bissawab.

Philosophy of Shariah

2008-08-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

Shariah of syara’ means wide road. Islamic shariah is the infrastructure in form of a road built by Allah (thariqah Ilahiyyah) and provided for mankind so that they will not go astray in their journey and will always in accordance with the living scenario made by Him. With shariah, (a) living signals will be clearly seen, (b) requirements to interact with various parties will be clear. With shariah, then man is given freedom by God to choose his ways, each with their own consequences; halal (allowed) way, haram (forbidden) way, makruh way, wajib (obligatory) way. With shariah, patterns of interactions among parties are regulated; the strong rules the weak, the weak must follow the strong but all in order to achieve common goals. People have to obey their leaders, but leaders essentially are servants of people (sayyid al qaumi khadimuhum). Poor people need income while rich people need manpower; interactions between them are regulated by shariah.

Meanwhile, goals of shariah (Maqashid as Syari’ah) is to protect five aspects (al kulliyat al khams): (1) to protect man’s soul, khifdz an nadfs, (2) to protect mind, khifdz al `aql, (3) to protect religion, khifdz addin, (4) to protect properties, khifdz al `aql, and (5) to protect offspring, khifdz annals. All regulations in Islam shariah are meant to protect those rights: right to live, intellectual right, faith right, property rights, and right of having pure/good offspring, those are called human rights in this present modern time.

Religion: between Form and Substance

2008-08-10T22:35:00.000-07:00

The religion of Islam is meant to guide man to achieve happiness in this world and at the day after, outer and inner happiness, prosperous in this world and enter the heaven at the day after. Religion is indeed set up for people who have inner and outer (lahir dan batin) dimensions, physical and spiritual dimensions, syahwah and nurani dimensions. Therefore, Islam also has a shariah dimension regulating external aspects of people’s living and a value (essence) dimension stressing on substance of religious’ teachings.

Laypeople almost always busy with external shariah, active in doing religious activities, but they very seldom basically understand the philosophy of what they do. Meanwhile, khawash people stress on essential dimension of religious teachings, and fulfilling the external dimension only as required by the universal (minimum) standards. Laypeople often occupy themselves with formal aspects of religion, ignoring substantial aspects of it, while khawash people occupy themselves by not putting stress on formal aspects. The comparison can be seen in terms of fasting

1. Laypeople fast by not eating, drinking, and doing sexual interactions (only)

2. “Special” people fast not only by not eating and drinking but also by avoiding inappropriate words, their hands fast by avoiding wrongdoings, their feet fast by avoiding unnecessary trips, their ears fast by avoiding to listen gossips and slanders, their eyes fast by not seeing aurat, and so on.

3. Meanwhile, khawash people (prophets and Islamic saints/ “walis”), in addition to doing those kinds of fasts mentioned above, their hearts also fast by not remembering anything except God. While fasting, in their hearts nothing moves across except Allah.

Salat as a Miraj

2008-08-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

The view that salat or prayer is the mikraj for mukminin (believers) refers to the second opinion, doing miraj spiritually (not physically). A concentrated (khusyu) prayer is enabled to interact with, to muwajahah, muhawarah, to munajat, to communicate intensively with Allah SWT. How?

Imam Ghazali in Ihya ‘Ulumuddin mentioned six “inner meanings (aspects)” that can perfect salats, that are (1) presence of qalb (heart) or hudur al qalb, (2) understanding, (3) ta’zim, glorifying Allah, (4) afraid, haibah, (5) hopeful, raja, and (6) ashamed

1. Presence of the qalb (hudur al qalb) in prayer is the cleanness of the qalb from things shouldn’t be thought about while doing salat.

2. Tafanhum is understanding meanings of the words and sentences uttered in salat. Understanding those meanings will able to help in presenting the qalb.

3. Ta’zim is glorifying God. Ta’zim is result of two knowledges: comprehending greatness of Allah and realizing one’s abjection and limitation as a God’s creature.

4. Haibah is one’s feeling toward Allah resulted from the awareness that power of Allah is very big and effective and from realization that law of Allah or sunnatullah will surely happen. Therefore, he or she is very afraid of breaking His rules, since the impacts will be a certainty.

5. Raja’ is hopeful; always thinking positively that Allah is the Most Compassionate and His Affection is very wide. In salat, feelings of hopeful and worried emerge alternately, worrying about breaking His rules, and hoping for His Mercy.

6. Meanwhile, ashamed feeling (hayaa’) to God resulted from one’s awareness of his limitations in doing religious services (ibadah) for Him.

According to Imam Ghazali, if those six things are in a person doing salat, then his heart will be concentrated (khusyu’) since all of his senses and awareness will focus on The Most, One God, The Most Great that is respected and afraid of but becomes his pillar of hope. Aisyah once told that while not in praying, Prophet Muhammad talked intimately to anyone, but while praying, he seems as if he didn’t know anyone else, and Aisyah acted like she didn’t know (him) too.

Khusyu will be easily reached by people with correct views of life, since wrong views of life will make hard concentration in doing religious services (ibadats). Delightment of munajat will only felt by people who don’t love worldly properties, since, like mentioned by Al Ghazali, one who is still be happy with his properties, what more mixing goodness with badness, will not be happy in requesting God (munajat). Love of properties and love of the day after can’t be united in one same place.

Bida’h and Islamic Culture

2008-08-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

In the perspective of language, bid’ah (heresy) means creation. Bid’ah in religion means creating new things in religion. A hadith of Prophet Muhammad says that all bid’ah is misleading and all misleading things will go into the hell (kullu bid`atin dholalah wa kullu dhalalah fin nar). However, another hadith mentions that whoever has a good creativity will have a double reward from the creativity itself and from people following the creativity (man sanna sunnatan hasanatan falahu ajruha wa ajru man `amila biha). Regarding planting method, Prophet Muhammad also said once that you know this worldly matter better (antum a`lamu bi umuri dunyakum).
From those explanations, it may be concluded that forbidden bid’ah is bid’ah in religious affairs; it means creating things previously not exist in religion.

Then, which matters that are within the scope of religion, and where the creativity may manifest itself? Here we’re sorting matters. For example, shalat (salat) is within the scope of religion and not allowed to be changed, added, or reduced, but mosque buildings, prayer rugs, water reservoirs for wudhu, towers, clothes for salat and others are parts of culture in which people may express their creativity.

Is anniversary of the Prophet’s birthday part of religion or is it part of culture? It is clear that anniversary of the Prophet’s birthday is a part of Islamic culture; it is created by people based on religious inspiration, encouraged by love to the prophet and by goals of dakwah. Due to the love expressions, forms of the celebrations are different: religious speeches, torch parades, sekatenan (a festival held in Yogya and Solo in honor of Muhammad’s birthday), religious story (Rawi) readings, and so on.

The Book of Rawi (Barzanji) itself is a literature book containing epic of the Prophet’s history, written as a manifestation of a man of letters’ love to Prophet Muhammad. To understand culture’s position in religious affairs, we should know first the society’s understanding on the religion itself.

Religious Counselors and Problems of Modern Society

2008-04-07T01:36:00.000-07:00

In this current globalization area, values disorder in Indonesian society have been happening so fast and we can’t really sure about its direction since people have different absorbing power toward various stimuli in the global area. Modernization can be marked through progresses in science and technology, while globalization itself can be marked through the using of information technology that makes this world “shrinks” to a village. We can watch an occasion happening in America or Africa at the same day or even the same minute through television or the Internet. They also can watch what happen in our country in the same way. The world looks as if it is naked, can be seen by all peoples of the earth. The problem for developing countries such as Indonesia is that their people have knowledge levels and social strata that may be very different from each other so that their abilities to absorb information are not same or similar.

In Indonesia now, there are at least five social strata in the society: ultra modern stratum/people, modern people, urban people, traditional people, and backward people, even in Papua there are still communities living like those who lived in stone era a very long time ago, they don’t wear clothes. Those five kinds of people or societies receive the same stimuli from global culture, such as freedom, luxury, pornography, and violence that are different from traditional and cultural societies in Indonesia. The impacts are extraordinary. Local culture and religion’s norms are up side down in family livings, social-political living, economy, fashion, food taste, music, and other life styles. These are difficult problems for religious counselors, since they themselves are also victims of the wave of globalization culture. A lot of religious counselors belong to modern stratum, not yet urban stratum. Extra intensive efforts are required to prepare those religious counselors to be able to play a significant role in helping to relieve modern society’s problems.

Illnesses of Modern Man
Illnesses of Modern Man discussed in this writing are psychological disturbances suffered by people living in modern civilization environment. Modern area has two characteristics: (1) usage of technology in various aspects of human livings, (2) development of science as manifestation of human intellectual progress. Modern man is a man that is thinking logically and is able to use various technologies to enhance qualities of human living. With their intelligence and technology support, modern man should be wiser than ever, but in fact, there is a lot of people whose humane qualities are lower than thinking progress and technology they have achieved. Wisely, the usage of modern communication and transportation tools had caused man to live under global influence and controlled by global information wave, whereas mental readiness of people individually and even ethnically are not same.

Consequences of this imbalance can be found in living reality in which a lot of people had lived in a modern civilization using technology—high technology—as their living facilities but in their lives they suffer distortions in humane values. Dehumanization happens due to their intellectual, mental, and spiritual capacities are not prepared to cross the sea or jungle of modern civilization. They have Mercy cars but their insight is still insight of “becak” (a non-motored three wheeled vehicle). They have communications tools in forms of cell phones and internet connections, but they still often use language of hand signs, they choose pizzas and Kentucky chickens for their menus, but their nutrition insight is still of “tempe bongkrek” class. Their wealthy, positions, and weapons symbolize their progress, but their souls are empty and brittle. They use all symbols of modern man but its substances—logical thinking and sophisticated technology mastering are still far to achieve.

1. Cage of Modern Man
The powerlessness of modern man to play a significant role in the stage of modern civilization unstoppably in progress causes most of the “modern man” to be trapped in a situation called “Man in a Cage”, a term founded by a famous humanist psychologist, Rollo May. This is a term indicating one of modern man’s sufferings.
Such a modern man is actually a man who has lost this meaning of life, a hollow man. He is restless every time he has to make decisions. He doesn’t really know what he wants, and he is not able to choose a way of life he wants. Sociologists call it symptoms of alienation that are caused by (a) very rapid social changes, (b) warm human interactions that had changed into barren human interactions, (c) traditional institutions that had changed into rational institutions, (d) homogenous communities that had changed into heterogeneous communities, and (e) social stability had changed into social mobility.

The psychological situation in the social system shackling the modern man is like a very strong cage, causing the occupants within can’t think to try to find the way out from the cage. People feel too powerless to try to make changes, the power of political system is felt like a ghost whose working standards are difficult to follow, the economy is felt controlled by a few people who can manipulate it at their own disposal, not based on people interest, and cultural supreme values have changed into some kinds of market commodities whose fluctuations are difficult to predict.
Like a person who had been confined in a cage for a long time, modern man are frustrated and in powerlessness. They can’t plan their futures any longer; they are submitted to the fate since they feel powerless. People pay no attention to political developments; civil servants feel that they only work routinely and only do things ordered to them and supervised by their superordinates or bosses.

Another cage that is no less in its strength is social living. Modern people are confined by social demands. They feel that they are restricted to follow social scenario determining various criteria and arranging “musts” in social living. An official’s wife feels that she has to adapt to his husband’s position in terms of clothes, vehicles, accessories and even how to smile and laugh. An official also has to replace his homes, vehicles, clothes, friends, drinks, cigarettes, and habits to conform social scenario regarding officials. Women are also occupied with changing their cosmetics, clothes’ fashion, dressing, food tables and dishes in their homes to conform current trends

Modern man is very busy and trying hard to adapt himself with modern trends. He feels that he has been trying hard to meet his own wishes, but in fact he has been enslaved by others’ wishes, by social wishes. He is actually pursuing things others expect he pursues. He always measure his behaviours based on things he thinks are expected by others. He might be satisfied but the satisfaction is only for a moment, satisfaction in showing behaviours “commissioned” by others. He acts like a play actor on the stage that has to perform excellently based on his director’s commands, although he himself may be not healthy.

That’s the modern man; he does something not because he wants to do it, but because he thinks others want him to do it. He is so busy meeting others’ wishes that he forgets what he himself wants. He has hundreds social masks ready to use in various events in accordance with social scenario, and he uses those mask very often so that he forgets his own original face. Modern man is a man who has lost his identity; his behaviours are like robotic movements, without any feeling. His smiles are no longer as sweet as holy smiles of a baby, but are artificial. His laughs are not longer artificial like a child or teenager’s cheerful laughs, bus are controlled as a kind of face powder to mask his personality. His cries are not longer moans of his soul but are mask to hide his rotten characters, and it is has been programmed when to laugh and when to cry.

2. Psychological Disturbances of Modern Man
Because of the prolonged hypocrisy, modern man suffers various psychological disturbances such as (a) Anxiousness, (b) Loneliness, (c) Boredom , (d) Deviant behaviours; (e) Psychosomatic illness.

a) Anxiety
Anxiety suffered by the modern man caused by losing of meaning of life. Naturally, man needs meaning of life. Meaning of life is owned by one when he has honesty and feels that his life is required by others and feels that he is able to and has done things meaningful to others. Meaning of life is usually fully comprehended by strugglers—in any field—since focus of attention of those strugglers is how to contribute something to others. A struggler usually has a high dedication, and for what he struggles for he is ready to victimize himself and even his life.
Although things done for a struggler is for others’ interest, but the motivation to struggle comes from his own, not for satisfying others. A struggler does something in accordance with the principles he embraces, not with principles others embrace. A struggler will be satisfied if he is able to firmly stick to his struggling principles, although his struggle itself is possibly failed. Meanwhile, a modern man doesn’t have a meaning of life, since he doesn’t have principle of life. He only follows trends, follows social demands, whereas the social demands themselves are not necessarily based on noble principles. One whose life only follows others’ wishes, will only feel satisfied for a moment, and will feel disappointed and ashamed if he is failed. Since social demands are always changing and never end, modern man is demanded to always anticipate changes, whereas changes always happen and are difficult to anticipate and he himself doesn’t have a principle of life, so that he is enslaved to serve changes. Due to these imbalances and mainly because he feels that his life is meaningless, no dedication in his actions, he feels prolonged restlessness and anxiety. Only occasionally he feels temporary enjoyment, false enjoyments, whenever he is performing well on stage of life drama.

b. Loneliness
Loneliness if a psychological disturbance caused by personal interactions within modern society that are no longer sincere and warm. The barrenness of human interactions happens since modern man wears social masks to hide personality face. In interpersonal communications, modern man doesn’t introduce his own self, but instead introducing a person who is actually not himself. As a result, every time a modern man looks at another person, the person he looks at is not a true person but a masked person. Furthermore, personal interactions are no longer interactions among personalities, but interactions among masks, whereas every person needs another person, not another mask.

Because of the barren personal interactions, modern man suffers loneliness, even when he is in a crowd. As a man, he is really alone, since there are only mask around him. He can’t enjoy others’ smiles, since he himself perceives those smiles as masks, like his own smiles to others that are also masks. He regards others’ compliments as “programmed” lip services, even love expression from his lover sounds insipid since he also regard his lover as a person wearing a mask of love. How poor the modern man is!

c. Boredom
Because of meaningless life, insipid interactions with other persons, anxiety always disturbing his soul, and prolonged loneliness, the modern man suffers another psychological disturbance, boredom. When he is on the stage of falseness, the masked man indeed gets delight for a while, but when he gets home, alone again with his true identity, then he is again haunted by anxiety and loneliness. Prolonged anxiety and loneliness makes him getting sick of pretence and falseness, but he doesn’t what to do to eliminate the boredom.

Different from a struggler who feels living in a crowd of struggle even when he sits alone in his room or even in his prison cell, a modern man feels lonely in a crowd, gets frustrated among various facilities, and feels boredom in a party’s seducing merriness.

d. Deviant Behaviours
Anxiety, loneliness, boredom suffered continuously cause one doesn’t know exactly what to do. He can’t make any decision and doesn’t know which way to go through. With his empty and brittle soul, when one can’t think deeply, his tendency to satisfying motives to low things gets very stronger, since satisfying motives to low things will provide a bit of amusement.

A person with this level of psychology disturbance is very easily persuaded or affected to do amusing things although those deeds are deviant from moral norms. His psychological condition is like that of a person influenced by drugs. When one is not able to think almost anything, he is wiling to do anything to get liquor. The emptiness of soul may lead such a person to rob others, although he doesn’t need money, rape someone he doesn’t know, kill another without any clear reason. Principally, the person can do any deviant behaviour that can seemingly amuse him.

e. Psychosomatic disturbances
Psychosomatic disturbances are physical disturbances caused by psychological and social factors. One’s cumulative and peaking emotion may cause shock and disorder in his mind. If those factors causing emotion to peak continuously can’t be kept at a long distance or controlled, then he will always be forced to struggle to press his feelings. Those prolonged stressed, anxious, lonely, bored feelings may influence his physical health. Therefore, pyschomatic disturbances can be viewed as a combination of physical and mental illnesses, which is in Arabic called nafsajasadiyyah or nafsabiolojiyyah. The sick part is actually his soul but the illness manifests in form of physical illnesses

Psychomatic sufferers usually complain that they feel unwell, their hearts pitter-patter, they feel weak and can’t concentrate. The psychosomatic forms may consist of syndrome, trauma, stress, dependence on tranquilizer/drugs/alcohol, or deviant behaviours.

A modern man suffering psychomatic disturbances is like an occupant of a cage that does not realize any longer that the cage had confined him. He thinks that living within the cage is as normal as it should be. He can’t imagine how things outside the cage look any longer.

3. Psychological Therapy for Modern Man
Because modern man’s sufferings come from the cage confining him, the way out of the problem is trying to get out from the cage. The cage confining the modern man actually has something to do with emptiness of values. Emptiness of modern man’s values happens since he can’t recognize himself in constellation of God’s creatures. He is occupied with his belief that he is only a stand-alone creature, so that his world gets narrow, his sky gets low.

To be dared to get out of his cage, firstly a modern man should recognize again his identity, what a creature is, what a man really is, who he really is, for what he exists in this world and where to go after this life?

A modern man with not so serious illness can be asked to discuss, to think, contemplating what had happened and how much the rest of his life will possibly be. He is asked to recognize himself in the context of Allah’s creature, since like the Prophet Muhammad said “he who knows himself knows his God. However, dialogue or discussion won’t help a sufferer with a very serious condition. Such a person is recommended to be taken into a situation that gives no opportunity else than thinking and feeling being in a religion condition, for example invited to join a forum of “dzikir jahr” like that of “tarekat of Naqsyabandiyaah” community. The dzikir jahr environment will force him to follow reading of thayyibah sentences, and repeated readings will help to slowly enter a situation that is not easily comprehended but beautiful and delighting.

In this perspective, tassawuf or religious spirituality is actually highly relevant for modern people, for healthy ones, and especially for sick ones.

4. Muslims’ Views of Life
People are trapped in a modern cage because they have wrong views of life. They have wrong views of life so that they create further mistakes preventing them from getting the meaning of modernization and instead becoming merely consumers of modernization wastes. A Muslim having a correct view of life will be still exist and strong in every era, traditional era and modern era, since the correct view of live will throw wastes out of the essence.

Muslim views of life can be measured at least from following things:
a. Goal of Life. Religion of Islam teaches us that goal of man’s life is seeking for ridla of Allah, ibtigha'a mardatillah, so that his principle of life is whether things he chooses are in accordance with God’s will or not. This view of life will make one strong in his convictions, not afraid of being abused verbally and even not afraid of being alienated from his social system. If one has decided that God’s will (ridla of Allah) is his goal of life, then he will prevent from having to meet social demands in contradiction with his goal of life.

b. Function of Life. Islam teaches us that man’s function on earth is as a khalifah or representative of Allah. As a khalifah of Allah, man is given responsibility to uphold truth and law of Allah on earth. For that purpose, man is also given right to manage and make use of nature. This view of life makes one can’t come to a standstill seeing the arbitrary behaviours of people in damaging living or environment. As a khalifah, he feels invited to do good deeds and to prevent bad deeds (ama ma’ruf and nahi mungkar). In this perspective, man is a subject, not merely an object.

c. Duty of Life. Islam teaches us that man is created to worship God. Therefore, worship or ibadah is a duty to do, not a goal. To achieve the goal of achieving will of God (ridla of Allah), man should do his worshipful duty. Those who are disciplined in doing their duty will be given promotion, while lazy ones will stay behind.

d. Instruments of Life. To achieve the goal and to do the duty, man is given
instruments that are his own self (his physics, intellectuality, and soul), properties, and nature. Properties and belongings are instruments of life, not a goal. Therefore, the amount of properties a man needs is the amount he needs for the purposes of doing his religious duty and achieving will of Allah as his goal of life. To achieve his goal and to do his duty, man needs nutrition for his body’s health, clothes for social interactions, feet or vehicles to travel, hands or power to carry out decisions, and science to improve his qualities of work.

e. Model (Exemplar) of Life. Man tends to imitate and identify. Man needs a figure to imitate, since merely sciences and skills don’t guarantee one to achieve values of work primacy. For that purpose, teachings of Islam determine that the figure that should be referred by man in his life is Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad is uswatun hasanah (excellent model) for mukmins (believers). Muhammad as an exemplar is unrivalled by anyone, since Prophet Muhammad is the concrete manifestation of Quranic values. “Kana khuluquhu al Qur'an”, Aisyah r.a. said once.

f. Friends and Foes in Life. In living his life, struggling in doing the duty, and achieving the goal, man needs friends and often meets foes. Islam teaches us that all mukmins are brothers and sisters, and devil is a consistent foe or enemy. A mukmin has to prioritize other mukmins as his partners over other people. Dealing with devil provides nothing except a loss.

Functioning Religious Counselors
A religious counselor actually is different from a muballigh or teacher of Majils Ta’lim. A muballigh should talk a lot, while a counselor should be able to listen a lot. A muballigh deals with healthy people at once, while a counselor deals with troubled people, one by one. A muballigh acts as a subject in dealing with a mad’u as an object, while a counselor only helps a troubled person so that the person can be a subject to solve his own problems as his objects.

Therefore, religious counselor should comprehend his position when dealing with troubled people that he is a counselor not a mubaligh. A troubled person may have his problem disappears only by telling it to the right person (counselor). On the contrary, a trouble person may be getting more confused when he listens to long advices submitted by a muballigh.

It is not easy to change self-concept of a muballigh to become a counselor. Science, field experiences, and comprehension on people’s problems in life are required here. We meet various people problems in modern living but not everyone is able to analyze those problems to find their solutions. Preparing programs for religious counselors in capital areas is easier since they live close to cases and there are a lot of information source. To change the muballighs into religious counselors in solving modern man, periodical programs can be held, for example once a week. The programs consist of:
1. Inviting information sources to provide insights on problems of modern society (psychology)

2. Guided by an instructor, every counselor is given task of observing society problems in his area and reporting them in form of paper

3. Also guided by an instructor, on every day of common programs, every counselor candidate reports his findings.

4. The instructor guides them in comprehending existing problems.

5. Instructor guides them in finding appropriate problem solving format

6. Publishing counseling journal for internal purpose whose materials taken from cases founded by those counselor.

7. A kind of seminar is held every certain period to discuss those problems.
In Jakarta area, those tasks can be carried out by PMTI in cooperation with Ministry of Religious Affairs and other sponsor institutions. Wallahu a`lamu bi as sawab.

Educational Problems in Indonesia

2008-04-07T01:34:00.000-07:00

Quality of a nation is determined among others by its culture. Culture is the concepts, ideas, thoughts, and beliefs held by a society for a long time so those things guide them in fulfilling their needs of life. Different concepts will lead to different behaviours. Wrong concepts will lead to wrong behaviours. Concept of Indonesia’s nationhood among others can be found in the constitution (Pancasila, 1945 Constitution, and so on) formulated by Indonesia’s founding fathers and developed by further generations. A culture is built mainly through education. Therefore, it is astonishing that in our (Indonesia’s) existing ministerial cabinet, culture is only “clung to” tourism so that culture is distorted into cultural things processed into tourist objects, while no one handles the spirit/essence. Actually, if not handled in one separate ministry, cultural affairs are more appropriate if handled under education ministry or education and cultural ministry (department), since it is education that builds the concept of Indonesian culture on generations from basic level to high level, while education for early age children (PAUD) and kindergarten can be handled over to local communities as a effort to form local cultural and local wisdom.

We often hear that members of our Indonesian society mock each other. Actually quality of people is determined by two things.

First, heredity. Indonesian people at present are direct descendants of 1945 Indonesian generation and are grandchildren of 1929, and are great grandchildren of 1912 generation. According to Ibn Khaldun, ups and downs of a nation are marked by emergence of three generations. First, Pioneering/battering generation, second, Developing generation, and, third, Enjoying generation. If in a country there are too much groups that are members of enjoying generation, which is generation that is only enjoying results of development without thinking how to develop, then it is one indicator that the nation will experience decline. The process of comes and goes of those generations happen within one century according to Ibn Khaldun. What makes us sad is that in our country, only a little bit more than 50 years of age, when few of pioneering generation are still alive, and the developing generation are still in the process of developing, a lot of members of enjoying generation are emerging, mostly even from educated groups. What’s wrong?

Second, education. It is education that can develop the spirit of Indonesia nation. Then, what are wrong in education for this young generation?
There are at least nine mistakes in our nation education so far (during New Order):

[a] Education management in the past overstressed cognitive aspects, ignoring other aspect so that it gives rise to a generation suffering split personality.

[b] Over-centralistic education that generated a generation of people that is only able to regard Jakarta (the capital) as the only hope without recognizing opportunities and big potentials in their own local areas.

[c] Education failed to build bases for developing a disciplined society

[d] Education failed to provide human resources that are ready to compete globally.

[e] Education management ignored democratization and human right. For example, during the new order, teachers/students ratio for schools under Education and Culture Ministry was 1: 14, while in madrasahs (under Ministry of Foreign Affairs) the ratio was only 1: 2000. Another example, educational budget of the government in State Senior High School was Rp 400, 000 while in Madrasah Aliyah was only Rp 4, 000/child/year.

[f] People empowerment in human resources and educational development affairs was subordinated through very centralistic uniformity. Therefore, people creativity in developing education wasn’t developing.

[g] Centralization of national education caused bluntness of local autonomous ideas.

[h] National education didn’t sufficiently respect cultural plurality so that it was in contradiction with the spirit of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity).

[i] Enforced contents of nationalism and patriotism through P4 (Guidance for Comprehending and Practicing Pancasila) and PMP (Pancasila Moral Education) were too dry so that they are contra productive.

Those nine mistakes in national educational management have provided their following bitter fruits:

1. Young generation whose insight is low and who doesn’t have idealistic imagination ability.

2. Labor force that is unable to compete in global employment market.

3. Pokey, corrupt, and uncreative bureaucracy.

4. Economic players who are not ready act fairly

5. People who are easily act anarchically.

6. Heavily damaged natural resources (mainly forests)

7. Hypocrite intellectuals.

8. Foreign debts that is not repayable

9. Dominance of morally low leaders

10. Confused local leaders. Regent of minus areas still hope for funds coming from the central government, while regents of plus areas spend too much money for unimportant things

Education in the Reform Era
1. Reform era gives rise to cultural shock, like the feeling experienced by a person who has been imprisoned for so many years but then suddenly see the prison’s wall crumbles down. People experience a very different situation with almost unlimited freedom and openness. Because of this euphoric condition, people are not able to think clearly, demanding rights but ignoring duties, criticizing but not providing solutions.

2. Education society realizes that our human resources as products of our national educational are not able to compete globally so that we are only able to “export” servants, while at home our skilled workers have to compete with foreign skilled workers. The problem is that output of quality education can only be enjoyed after 20-25 years. Our uncompetitive human resources at present are products of education system implemented since 20-30 years ago. We have another problem in connection with radically changing education system: teacher we have now are products of inappropriate education system. In the concept used by IKIP, teachers are educational instruments, not figures that are able to transfer culture to their students. It is this vicious circle that is hard to break.

3. Unfortunately, our education experts have a tendency to mostly refer to textbooks and are lack in doing systemic tests in the field. SD (elementary schools) teachers are still merely “instructors”, not teachers who are followed like in our national education philosophy since a long time ago. Doctors and professors of education should still teach in elementary and junior high schools so that they are able to create culture-based education system, find realities that can be comprehended and formulated into theories, and then meet at bureaucracy level to manage education based on western theories. As long as education in elementary schools is only handled by “instructors”, it will be more difficult to develop the students at higher education strata.

4. Quality education is indeed expensive, but the increase of education budget in APBN (State Budget0 to 20% will not help a lot if National Education Ministry only focuses on certain educational projects, not educational development as a whole.

5. Private institutions have opportunity to create educational innovations without restricted by complex bureaucracy’s regulations, but it is very making us sad that there are a lot of private educational institutions that are merely business-oriented.

6. International schools are required as a response to globalization, but opening of international schools by foreign parties is very risky in terms of culture since they have different educational philosophies.

To accelerate and widen culture of learning national, educational budget should not only aim for formal schools but also informal and non-formal schools. At one point in the future, employment market will not merely consider certificates given by formal schools but also employees’ skills and these skills can be developed in informal and formal schools. Academic titles also won’t be relevant in a point in the future.

Happy Family

2008-04-07T01:33:00.000-07:00

The ideal pair of word “family” is “happy”, so the phrase will be “happy family”. This means that goal of everyone who builds a household is seeking happiness in life. Almost all cultures regard a household living as a parameter for the real happiness. Although one is failed in his career out side his home, but if he is success in building a firm and prosperous family, then he will be regarded as a successful and happy person.

On the contrary, one who is success outside out of his home, but if his family is in a mess he will not regarded as a lucky person, since apart from the success he has achieved, failure of his household will mirror in his face and his unhappy way of life. Building a family is indeed a social disposition of man. Psychologically, family living for husbands, wives, children, grandchildren, and even parents-in-law is a “harbor of feeling”. Peacefulness, missed-feelingness, touchiness, spirit, and sacrifice all will end up in an institution called family.

A family has their own concepts: a wife is not merely a pair woman in bed and a mother giving birth to her children, a husband is not merely a man. There are vertical and horizontal self-actualization concepts. Any man can indulge his sexual need in the street, with anyone, but that is not identical with happiness. Sexual affairs may satisfy lust and syahwah but they will not provide peacefulness, tranquility, and psychological firmness. Islamic concept of happy family is usually called Sakinah Family.

Eight Love Definitions according to Al Quran

2008-04-07T01:32:00.001-07:00

According to a hadith of Prophet Muhammad, a person who is in love tends to always remember and mention the one he loves (man ahabba syaian katsura dzikruhu). Prophet Muhammad also said that a person can be enslaved by his love (man ahabba syaian fa huwa `abduhu). Prophet Muhammad also said that there are three characters of a person in a true love (1) like talking to the beloved one better than to others, (2) like gathering with the beloved ones better than with others, and (3) like following wishes of the beloved ones better than wishes of others or oneself. One who has been in love God will prefer to talk to God by reading His sayings, prefer to interact with Allah in i’tikaf, and like to follow commands of Allah better than to follow others’ commands.

In Al Quran, love has eight definitions/kinds. Here are the explanations:
1. Mawaddah love is a kind of love that is flaring up, burning, and seducing. The person who has this love of mawaddah wants to be always together with his/her beloved one, doesn’t want to be separated from the loved one, and always wants to fulfill his thirsty of love. He wants to monopolies his love and almost can’t think other things.

2. Rahmah love is the kind love that is full of affection, gentle, ready to sacrifice, and ready to protect. The person who has love of rahmah pays more attention to his beloved one than to himself. For him, the more important thing is the happiness of his beloved one although for it he has to suffer. He tolerates his beloved one’s weaknesses and always forgives his beloved one. Included in the love of rahmah is love between people connected by blood with each other, mainly parent’s love to his/her sons/daughters and vice versa. Therefore, Al Quran, relative is called al arham, dzawi al arham, which are people having natural affectionate relations coming from mother’s affection that is called rahim (from the word “rahmah” or bless). Furthermore, people connected by blood with each other are recommended to maintain silaturrahim or affectionate interactions. Wife and husband united by love of mawaddah and love of rahmat at the same time are usually can be loyal to each other now and in the Hereafter.

3. Mail love is the kind of temporary and very burning love that is given almost all of attentions so that other things tend to be lack of attention. This love of mail in Al Quran is mentioned in the context of polygamy in which the husband in burning love with the younger wife (an tamilu kulla al mail) tends to ignore the older one.

4. Syaghaf love is a very deep, natural, orisinal, and fuddling love. The person who experiences this syaghaf love (qad syaghafaha hubba) may look like a crazy person, forgetting himself and almost not realizing what he has been doing. Al Quran uses term “syaghaf” in telling how love of Zulaikha, the wife of an Egyptian official to her servant, Yusuf.

5. Ra’fah love is a very deep affection love that often ignores norms of truth, for example having pity on one’s son so one doesn’t dare to wake him up to do salat/prayer, defending him even he’s wrong. Al Quran uses this term when reminding that this ra’fah shouldn’t avoid people from upholding law of Allah, in this case punishment for adulterers (Q: 24: 2)

6. Shabwah love, or blind love, is a love causing one to do deviant behaviours inevitably. Al Quran uses this term when telling how Prophet Yusuf prayed to be separated from Zulaikhah flirting him every day (requesting to be imprisoned), otherwise he will lapse into fool behaviours, wa illa tashrif `anni kaidahunna ashbu ilaihinna wa akun min al jahilin (Q:12:33)

7. Syauq love (missing someone). This term doesn’t come from Al Quran but from a hadith interpreting Al Quran. In surah al `Ankabut : 5, it is said that whoever long to meet Allah will surely meet Him in the future. This syauq (missed feeling) is expressed in a ma’tsur prayer quoted from a hadith told by Ahmad, “wa asa’luka ladzzata an nadzori ila wajhika wa as syauqa ila liqa’ika” (I beg to enjoy the delight of looking at Your face and delight of yearning for meeting You). According to Ibn al Qayyim al Jauzi in a book entitled Raudlat al Muhibbin wa Nuzhat al Musytaqin, syauq (missed feeling) is the heart’s adventure to one’s loved one (hurqat al mahabbah wa il tihab naruha fi qalb al muhibbi).

8. Kulfah love, a love feeling accompanied with awareness to educate one’s love ones to do positive but difficult things, such as a parent’s love that causes him to order his son to sweep and clean the son’s own room, although there is a servant ready to help. This kind a love is mentioned by Al Quran when stating that Allah will not burden someone except within his ability la yukallifullah nafsan illa wus`aha (Q: 2:286).

10 Heart Potentials

2008-04-07T01:30:00.000-07:00

In Arabic, qalb and fuad have very similar meanings. A Prophet Muhammad’s hadith indicates the similarity of meanings of those two terms in connection with softness and smoothness. We can see the applications in following sentences: “their qalbs are softer” and “their fuads are smoother”. Furthermore, potentials of qalb (heart) mentioned in Al Quran are:
1) Turning away, like mentioned in surah at Taubah/ 9: 117.

2) Feeling disappointed and upset, like mentioned in surah az Zumar/39:45.

3) Intentionally deciding to do something, like mentioned in surah Al Ahzab/33:5 and surah al Baqarah/ 2:225.

4) Having prejudices, like mentioned in surah al Fatah/48:12.

5) Refusing something, like mentioned in surah at Taubah/9:8.

6) Denying something, like mentioned in surah an Nahl/16:22.

7) Can be tested, like mentioned in surah al Hujurat/49.

8) Can be bent down (ditundukan), like mentioned in surah al Hajj/22:54.

9) Can be widened or narrowed like mentioned in surah al An’am/6: 125

10) (Even) Can be sealed, like mentioned in surah al Baqarah/2: 7

How a heart can turn away, change, refuse or deny something, and so on is also indicated by following matsur prayer:
“O, my God who changes hearts at your own disposal, please make our hearts stick to Your religion to obey You” (H.R. Muslim from `Amr ibn `Ash).

The method 19 When entering the Room Tidur

2008-03-19T00:47:00.000-07:00

between the characteristics basyariah humankind was thirsty if the body has needed water, hungry if the body has needed food and tired as well as ngantuk if the body has needed the rest.

The circle lived the daily of humankind as basyar was to get up, ate, drank, moved, rested and again slept.

Sleep for humankind was the sub-system from his life system, psychological and psychological.

Generally humankind, slept like died where functions of his spirit did not work, but to some people of sleep was during where the spiritual activity justeru increased, so as when getting up not only his body that was fresh but also his spirit.
Pious people often accepted the inspiration (ruya Al haqq) justeru when sleeping.
Around the sleep courtesy according to the Islam teaching was as follows: 1.
Sleep fast.

According to Aisyah r.a, Rasulullah always went to bed in the beginning of the night.
(muttafaq 'alaih) 2.'

Sleep in the situation berwudlu`.
Rasulullah spoke: If you wanted to sleep, berwudlu`lah like you berwudlu` to pray.
(muttafaq 'alaih) 3.'

Lay on the right side with berbantal the right hands like that was demonstrated by Rasulullah, afterwards might change on the left side and used the left hands as a pillow.
4.

Did not take the position of annoying sleep the health, for example too long slept tengkurap.
5.

Before sleep read the Kursiy article and the letter end Al Baqarah, Al's letter Sincere, Al Falaq and an Nas, like that was taught by Rasulullah.
6.

Prayed when lying with the Rasulullah prayer:
Bismika Allahumma ahya wa amutu
Meaning that: by the name of Mu oh lord I lived and I died.
7.

If receiving the bad dream tonight, or most startled, or felt frightened, was prescribed read the prayer: A`udzu bi kalimatillahi at tammati min ghadlabihi wa 'iqabihi wa syarri ibadihi min hamazatis syaitani an yahdurun Meaning that: I took shelter with Allah's sentence (Al Qur`an) that was perfect from murka him, and from torturing him, from the crime' of 'slaves him and from all the disturbances' of the 'devil who visited me.'
(HR. Abu Daud) 8.

The method Bersabar

2008-03-19T00:41:00.000-07:00

for the length of the life of humankind, the problem in turns came, because of the meaning of the life personally to be how faced the problem.
In a theological manner, the problem of the life was the challenge that will classify which good person and which bad person, which tested person and which weak person.

Secara the theory, the person of the believer will always be lucky, because he was grateful when receiving luck and being patient when facing the difficulty.
On the other hand the person was not faithful always was not lucky, when receiving his luck went too far and when facing his difficult difficulty of forgetting the memory.

It was patient in being resolute that the heart without complaining in facing the ordeal and the barrier, within a certain time, in order to achieve the aim.
To be able to be patient, the Islam religion taught the courtesy as follows: 1.
Kept when facing the first blow.

Rasulullah had spoken:
Innamassabru indassad matil uulaa.

Meaning that: Patient that actually was when facing the first blow.

2.When being fallen on by the disaster, immediately considering Allah and requesting his forgiveness.

The Allahs decree: Meaning that: (people who were patient in being) they that when being fallen on by the disaster, said; actually we were belonging to Allah and actually we will come back to him.(Al Baqarah: 156) 3.

Did not show his disaster to the other person, like that was demonstrated by the wife of Talkhah Ash (Ummu Sulaim) when was remained died his child.
(was narrated in hadis the Story of Muslim) 4.

Patient in facing all the ordeals sincerely to Allah.
Allah decreed in hadis Qudsy: Hambaku that the believer, who was patient by submitting kepadaKu when his sweetheart I called came back (died), to him did not have the reply that was appropriate from me apart from heaven.
(HR. Bukhari).

Love According to Al Quran

2008-02-17T22:48:00.000-08:00

Love According to Al Quran
According to Al Quran, human is created by Allah SWT in a pair—a man and a woman, and they are bestowed with love and affection, and it is natural that human wants to love and to be loved. If the necessity of love is fulfilled in a correct way, then it will make a man or woman feel peaceful, tranquil, and happy; on the contrary, a love not following correct procedures will cause misery.

In Al Quran, love feeling between man and a woman is called “mawaddah”, “rahmah”, (Q: 30:31) “syaghafa”,(Q: 12:30) “mail” (Q: 4:129), and “hubb-mahabbah” (Q: 12:30). Those different terms indicate that love is delicate, deep, and has various forms. Love indeed has very broad and deep dimensions in which different characteristics of love will lead to different behaviours.

In Arabic, love itself is mentioned in three characteristics, (1) appreciative (ta’dzim), (2) attentive (ihtamaman), and (3) love (mahabbah). In the first, the beloved one has the position like that of tiger or sword (things that we afraid of but at the same time we admire). In the second, the beloved one is like a disaster we should wary of. In the third, the beloved ones is like a liquor (the thing we are addicted to)

The three groups of characteristics are united in the term “mahabbbah”. The person is called habib, habibah, or mahbuh. Specifically, Arabic mentions 60 kinds of love such as isyqun (or “asyik” in Indonesian), hilm, gharam (passionate love), wajd, syauq, and lahf. Al Quran, however, mentions only 6 terms.

Character of Man

2008-02-17T22:45:00.000-08:00

Man has a nature as a cultural being (madaniyyun bi atthob`i) and as social being (ijtima`iyyun bi atthob`i). As a cultural being, man has various concepts, ideas, and beliefs he adopts which in turn will guide him in fulfilling necessaries in his life. Man has concepts on beauty, honour, greatness, and humility.

As a cultural being, man is also knows theoretical values, economical values, religious values, power values, and solidarity values; the dominant value of which on a person will also determine whether he or she will become a scientist, economist, religious teacher (ulama or priest), artist, politician, or humanist. Furthermore, there are also mystical scientist, struggler-politician, rational ulama, corrupt human rights activist, philosophical artist, and repressive ruler. A highly-civilized person would feel humiliated if he gained success by making others suffer or if he gained victory by deceiving others.

Meanwhile, a lowly civilized person will be proud that he is able to deceive others, the government, and the society as a whole. According to a lowly civilized person, success is the main goal and the means is merely a technical matter, not a value, while for a highly civilized person, success relying on valueless means is a failure.

Man as a social being has a desire to cooperate and compete at the same time. Man realizes his weaknesses so that he wants to cooperate with other men to achieve common goals faster. Man, however, is also unique; every person is himself or herself, having mind, feeling, and will different from those of others. Therefore, while in cooperation a person may be sincerely cooperating for common goals, while another person may be unique, having his own agenda, wanting to achieve his own goals, beyond the common goals. People having their own agenda will compete with each other, sometimes fairly but often unfairly. The temptation to compete unfairly will stronger mainly in political and business competitions. A lot of people do things humiliating his dignity as a human being for their political and business goal.

Difficulties as Parts of Life

2008-02-17T22:43:00.000-08:00

When Adam and Hawa (Eve) were still in the heaven, God invited them to enjoy all facilities of the heaven without having to struggle first, since the heaven is indeed not a field of struggle. Among those abundant heavenly enjoyments, like mentioned in Al Quran, there is only one forbidden by God, the fruit of khuldi that was not allowed to pick, wale arroba hardships syajarota fatakuna min al khosirin “and don’t approach the tree of khuldi, otherwise you will be in a loss”.

It is a kind of scenario to be learned from that man is often not thankful. After had been permitted to take everything except one thing, it is that one that is seducing man. Satan seduced Adam by saying the key of immortality is in the forbidden tree. Satan also seduced Adam by saying that all other heavenly enjoyments are meaningless without that one. Adam was indifferent; he didn’t want to touch the forbidden thing. Satan, however, wasn’t hopeless, after failing in seducing Adam; he came to Hawa, Adam’s wife. It seems also a kind of scenario that women have to tendency of being more easily seduced to find out secrets behind the forbiddance. It is also a kind of scenario, that men often can’t hold his principles any longer after they are seduced by women. Later, Adam broke his principles, violating what had been forbidden by God, picking the fruit of khuldi to make his wife happy.

After the violation, a new stage of man living has begun. Adam and Hawa were thrown from the heaven in which everything had been easy and enjoyable, and they were placed on earth as representatives (khalifah) of God. God said, “I have made everything available for you on earth, but nothing is free there. You may have all enjoyments and delightments after struggling to overcome difficulties”. It took a long time for Adam and Hawa to adapt to sunnatullah of living on earth. Adam and Hawa couldn’t escape from system of life. Adam had to face a reality in which his two sons, Qabil and Habil, were involved in a conflict and one of them later killed the other. Is living in this world a misery since we have to face difficulties? It appears that, as mentioned in Al Quran, after a difficulty there is easiness, and behind a difficulty there is easiness.

Struggles in Life

2008-02-17T22:41:00.000-08:00

In Al Quran, struggle is mentioned in the term “jihad”. The word “jihad” in various derivative words is mentioned 41 times in 19 verses. Some were revealed in Mecca, while the others were revealed in Medina. In perspective of lughawi (language), jihad means fighting against enemies, dedicating all abilities and power in forms of words, actions, and all other that one can do. The word “jihad” may mean struggling in form of war against enemies, and may mean working hard but not in relations with war. For the word root “jihad”, the word “ijtihad” comes, which is working hard intellectually, struggle intellectually, mujahadah an nafsm or working hard spiritually or spiritual struggle.

Meanwhile, in a hadith, the word “jihad” is also used in the context of spiritual struggle of hajj. Some of jihad commands are addressed to personals (mukhatab mufrad), but mostly to groups (mukhatab jamak). Some of jihad commands are given by mentioning the objects, but mostly without mentioning the objects. What mentioned is the meaning, jihad on Allah’s way fi sabililah. According to a rule of interpretation, if a transitive verb is mentioned in a verse without mentioning the object, then object of the verse is general. Therefore, objects of jihad are not only enemies in warfare, but all included in the phrase “fisabilillah”, for example giving foods to the poor and liberating slaves (al Balad; 13-16).

Therefore, jihad is not necessarily done with weapons, but also with pens and words. In this context, teachers are lack in prosperity but are trying their best in educating young generation of the nation are strugglers or mujahidin; social workers trying hard with all of their abilities to help dignify the society are actually mujahidin or strugglers too. Character of a struggler is diligent by firmly holding his principles although there is a risk to die. A person who dies while struggling is called dead as syahid (syahid means witness). It means that his death becomes a witness of his diligent efforts and his death is a risk for his respect. For respectful people, there are only two choices according to Prophet Muhammad: isy kariman aw mut syahidan, live respectfully or die as syahid.

Mukmin are Brothers.

2008-02-17T22:39:00.000-08:00

According to Muslim’s life insight, mukmins are brothers, innama al mu’minuna ikhwah fa aslikhu baina akhowaikum. Conceptually, every mukmin has a commitment to worship God; his or her prayers, his religious services, his life, and his death are dedicated to God only. Furthermore, similarity in vertical vision will make easy in organizing horizontal visions. Mukmins, in their same faith, are brothers. The most appropriate partners are those who having the same aspiration in faith. A faithful person, however, who has other interest than God will have his brotherhood in faith easily broken or weakened.

A figure who always becomes an enemy in performing various tasks of life, according to muslim’s life insight, is satan. Conceptually, satan is an enemy, aduwwun mubinm, since satan is indeed created by God as a kind of seducer, testing qualities of man. Satan can have a form of demon (jin), or man, min al jinnati wa an nas. Essence of satan is invitation to evilness. He is in man’s blood flow, always trying to find opportunities to make man go astray by using lust and syahwah as his vehicles. In angriness, arrogance, greed, and wrongdoings people do, satan always give his encouragements.

According to a hadith of Prophet Muhammad, satan often stays in markets and intersections. It may mean that evil influences are always ready to play their roles whenever there is a transaction or transition. In every transaction, man is always seduced to commit crimes like taking benefits by unfair ways. Likewise, in every transition period, whether transition of times or transition of positions, people are often seduced to take benefits from the narrow times. Satan has a very wide territory, penetrating borders of time and space. Only the power of zikir (remembering God) can expel satan, therefore, we are advised to read bismillah and ta`awudz (taawuz) ; a`udzu billahi min as syaithan ar rajim, I seek the refuge of Allah from Satan, the accursed."

Political Idealism and Pragmatism in Politics

2008-02-17T22:36:00.000-08:00

Assumption that politics is dirty is actually a subjective one since it is based on subjective experiences in the field, not politics as a cultural concept. Man itself is a political being, zoon politicon, who has character of cooperating and competing at the same time. Man realizes his weakness; therefore, he wants to cooperate with others to achieve shared goals faster. Man also has uniqueness; every man is himself, having mind, feeling, and will that different to those of others.

Therefore, while in cooperating some people are really sincerely cooperating for the shared goals, but some others are unique, having different agenda and wanting to achieve their own goals beyond the shared goals. People with different agenda are competing with each other, sometimes fairly but often unfairly. Political world is a field of cooperation that is full of competition, internally and externally. To gain victory in the competitions, every competitor uses his/her intelligence, since without intelligence people will lose in competitions.

According to a psychoanalysis theory, expression of a man is a synergy of three pillars of personality, id, ego, and super ego, the animal aspect, the mind aspect, and the moral aspect. A politician with an animal personality will compete like an animal: greedy, impatient, and sadistic. A politician putting stress on mind will involve himself in politics smartly; he is able to play beautifully and to do a political engineering, although he is not necessarily moralistic in his actions. Meanwhile, a moralistic politician will compete fairly by strongly adopting moral principles, referring to the political aims pursued and, enduring the misery when having to pass very difficult stages; he doesn’t want to practice cow trading.
As a result of a competition, a political victory is not always in accordance with characteristics or ability of the politician. Amien Rais who is a PhD in politics doesn’t always gain victory in political stage.

Instead, he had to inaugurate Megawati who wasn’t a bachelor replacing Gus Dur. Political idealism doesn’t necessarily guarantee actual victory. Idealism indeed often strengthens when facing a too-pragmatic political reality. Wisdom, intelligence, toughness, patience, and courage are required in facing political reality tending to be pragmatic.

Just imagine, political idealism proposed by founding fathers of this nation to develop a just and prosperous state based on the philosophy of Pancasila, until 62 years of independence still has been have to fight against political pragmatism full of corruptions and conspirations. Other intelligences other than intellectual intelligence are required here.

There kinds of intelligences
Previously people only proud of their intellectual intelligence, but not two other intelligences have been introduced, emotional and spiritual quotients (EQ and SQ)

1. Intellectual Quotient /Intelligence (IQ) can be seen from one’s ability in viewing a problem scientifically, explaining it logically and creating a theory-based problem-solving formulation. Sometimes, however, a person that is intellectually intelligent gets lost at logic irrelevant with the problem solving itself. He tends to be satisfied with his logical analysis and is proud of his loyalty to scientific rules. A research showed that people with a very high IQ are very rarely success in leading an institution; on the contrary, most of them are working at institutions led by people with a moderate IQ.

2. Emotional Quotient (EQ) is indicated from one’s ability to control himself in facing difficult situations. With a strong self-control, he can calmly view the problem and calculate impacts of a decision or action. An emotionally intelligent person’s focus of interest is not scientific and logic methods but how a problem solving can be implemented; hence, he doesn’t only think logically but also think wisely and sensibly. He doesn’t only know himself, but he also tries hard to know others relevant with the problem at hand. Victory is not his target, but success is. A lot of people win at the beginnings but lose in the end; instead, an emotionally intelligent person is willing to give in at the beginning for the real victory later.

3. Spiritual Quotient (SQ) is indicated from one’s ability to view problems using his inner sight, not his physical eyes. Physical eyes are limited by space and time, while people having spiritual intelligence aren’t only able to see things in connection with space, but also able to communicate with anyone in the past and in the future. If main characteristic of a person having emotional intelligence is able to interact in harmony with situation or problems today, then main characteristic of a person having emotional spiritual is having a vision on a far future, beyond his era.

An idealistic statesman usually has those three kinds of intelligence, so that decades and centuries after his death his political ideas will be relevant, while a pragmatic politician will have his political ideas buried after he is resigned
10 January

Terrorism and Politics (3)

2008-02-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

The so called practice of terrorism had been known in Indonesia since a long time ago. Our heroes in the past were also labelled as terrorists and extremists by the Dutch, since they provoked terrors against the colonizer, not horrific terrorism but heroic terrorism. After the proclamation of independence, in seeking national system deemed suitable for Republic of Indonesia, radicalism can’t be evaded. First, because of different concepts on state, movements led by following figures/organization emerged: DI/TII (Java), Daud Bereuh (Aceh), and Kahar Muzakkar (Sulawesi). Second, because of political pressure given by New Order. Third, because of intelligent game/”scenario” like in case of Imran’s KOMJI. Fourth, because of influence of global dynamics, like wars in Central East, Iran Revolution, Arqam movement in Malaysia, Afghanistan wars, and America occupation on Afghanistan and Iraq. The figure seems to play the most important role in labelling terrorism in Indonesia, however, is Sidney Jones.

Sidney Jones, the Director of Indonesia International Crisis Group centred in Australia had spent 20 years to document various conflicts in Indonesia in his capacity as an NGO activist and as an American accomplice. Sidney Jones periodical reports become official inputs for American Congress, FBI, and CIA. Many things reported by Sidney Jones surprises Indonesians and even surprise people whose name mentioned in the reports, because he seems to understand things on events of radicalism to their details, including the actor’s underpants, such in the report on The Case of The Ngruki Network in Indonesia.

It is not clear yet whether terrorist actions in Indonesia so far are planned by Indonesians themselves or only “games” masterminded by western intelligences, whether the terrorists are the only terror actors or they are actually victims of global political games. Sidney Jones’ reports obviously show his double standards, but they also obviously create negative image on Indonesia internationally. Indonesian press also refer to Sidney Jones’ thesis since there is indeed no other report can be its equal so far so that subject matter of terrorism in Indonesia only has one main reference, Sidney Jones. Meanwhile, a multinational non-profit organization centred in Belgium, International Crisis Group, led by the Finland President, Martti Ahtisaari, although also tends to be pro-America, but isn’t as courageous as Sidney Jones in concluding things regarding radicalism in Indonesia.

Amrozy and Imam Samudera
Amrozy’s smile when he’s accepting his verdict of death sentence really annoyed the families of Bali Bombs’ victims and confused Western psychologists, so that the Western people called him a smiling terrorist. Meanwhile, Imam Samudra had written a book called “I am a Terrorist”. Until today, they don’t want to ask for presidential pardon and still smiling in welcoming their dying day. Amrozy and Imam Samudera actually are only samples of global political impacts, impacts of America’s political double standards.

US, CIA in this respect, wasn’t careful when deciding to train mujahidin in Peshawar to fight against Soviet Union in Agnostic. CIA thought “technically” that enemy’s enemy is friend, while those non-Afghan mujahidins coming to Afghanistan were mainly motivated by spirit of repelling disbeliever (kafir) soldiers from Afghanistan. They were ready to die not for any formal task or job, but due to call of their souls. In Afghanistan, Imam Samudera didn’t feel that he was an Indonesian, but an earth’s citizen struggling for wiping out oppression of disbeliever soldiers, such a spirit was felt by mujahidins around the world, both who were fighting in Afghanistan and those who were preparing themselves to go there.

Amrozy was belonging to the last category, since he only went to Malaysia. When US were showing their double standard clearly by relating terrorism to Islamic groups, Peshawar-graduated mujahidins turned to fight US previously training them. Bush once said, “Now for all nations of the world, there are only two choices; join America or join the terrorism”, those mujahidin veterans can’t possibly choose America. They were forced by America to be the superpower’s enemies. The America’s arrogance in only giving two alternatives is similar to that of in Cold War 1950, at that time John Foster Duller once said, to all the Asian and African countries there are only two alternatives either they going to join Washington, or they join Moscow.”
In his war against terrorism, Bush determines to run after the so-called terrorists wherever they are, while responses of the Peshawar alumni are no less strict, killing Americans, Civilians and military any where and any time. Amrozy and Iman Samudera have not been making Indonesia an enemy, but have been involved in a global war against America. Soldiers, however, may have certain mental disorders in war. For example, a super-sophisticated American ship once shot a pick-up car containing electrical poles since the pilot thought the vehicle was a tank. Similarly, Imam Samudra and Amrozy, in Bali bombs, couldn’t distinguish Australians from Americans. Therefore, global terrorism at present is more a political and economical tool and intelligence engineering than an ideological war. Furthermore, it is usually only stupid and narrow-minded people who can be trapped into becoming field actors of terrorism, while the intellectual actors are sitting comfortably while “calculating benefits of their projects”.

Terrorism and Politics (2)

2008-02-17T22:28:00.000-08:00

Practice of terrorism can be seen of its historical roots in an extreme Shiah figure named Hasan bin Sabah from Hassyasyin (1057 M) sect which was given title The Old Man of The Mountain in Alamut (near Caspian Sea) and the name “Hassyasyin” (has something to do with use of hasyis—a kind of drug) then was westernized into “Assasination” since this group always suddenly killed their political enemies. Meanwhile, ideology of modern terrorism in general is originated from Darwin’s evolution theory: “struggle for survival between the races” and natural selection theory. Furthermore, Maximilien Robespierr, a figure of French revolution is regarded as the person setting up basics of modern terrorism, followed by Vladimir Lenin (Russia), and Joseph Stalin (Russia), who was given the title executive master of terror (1924), followed by Mao Tse Tung (China) who in provoking terrors to secure people loyalty to the state destroyed family and religious institutions.

In United States, terrorism hasn’t been a strange thing since a war in the 17th century. This nation was even, as one historian note, conceived and born in violence, so that American war against terrorism is actually war against itself, or part of its terrorist culture.

Internationalization on Terrorism
There are two things that serve as bases for internalization on terrorism at present: Usamah bin Laden and Afghanistan or Peshawar city.

1. Actually Usamah bin Laden emerges at international stage as an impact of Saudi Arabian domestic politics. Usamah as a Muslim and Saudi nationalist together with about 50 Saudi ulama/intellectualls raised a strict protest once against the kingdom on American military base in holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The Saudi kingdom didn’t give any respect on the aspiration of Usamah and other 50 Saudian figures; instead, they preferred to show their commitment on their cooperation with US. Usama was then deported from his native land and he made all Islamic states his “native land”. He lived in Sudan once and then in Afghan, at present, he has probably passed away, but his figure is often shown to guard the war project against global terrorism.

2. When Soviet Union was occupying Afghanistan, US had the strong interest to expel it. In its effort to expel the communist soldiers out of Afghanistan, US assisted, trained, and armed Afghan’s Mujahiddin. Communist invasion on Afghanistan highly motivated Muslims around the world to do jihad in the poor country. US found a potential power to disturb Soviet Union there, and then it facilitated non-Afghanistan coming from all Islamic countries, including Indonesia, in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Peshawar was just like a military academy with 100.000 mujahidins around the world were trained there under guidance of CIA’s instructor team led by William Cassey, M16 (UK), ISI (Pakistan), and financed by Saudi Arabia. After Soviet Union had been expelled from Afghanistan’s territory, the Mujahidins felt that it was they who had expelled those unbelieving soldiers from Afghanistan, but US thought that it was it who had succeeded in defeating Soviet Union by training Afghan and non-Afghan mujahidins. After the leaving of Soviet Union, there were still war veterans (mujahidin) in a very big amount. Mujahidins’ success in expelling the super power Soviet Union soldiers psychologically caused a positive self-concept on the mujahidins; they feel they can overcome any difficult problem. Hence, waves of Afghan war veterans entered Bosnia, Chechnya, Daghestan, Moro, Poso, and Ambon.

Principally, those mujahidins were and are ready to jihad and die as syahid wherever Muslims are oppressed. When those tough war veterans were no longer find other jihad fields, most of them returned to its original habitat as ordinary people, farmers, traders, or religious teachers, but some of them experienced psychological problems like those of Vietnam veterans in US. Hambali, Amrozy, Imam Samudera and many other are village (local) people entering global political cyclone.

They live in small villages, but they always listen to world global information through the Internet, and, like Rambo, their souls are easily shocked whenever they see US’ arrogance that always uses double standard. They are not the kind of terrorist labelled by public opinion in American media, but they are ideological strugglers in needing of appropriate standing base. Therefore, treating the group arbitrarily by using paradigm of war against international terrorism like what has been provoked by President Bust is not only ineffective but will resurrect spirits of war veterans now staying quietly in their original habitats.

A Pentagon’s Defence Science Board report entitled Strategic Communication, as quoted by BBC.com (Thursday, 25, 11, 2004), openly blamed the war against terrorism that precisely broadened terrorism network against America, since public diplomacy by US on democracy to the Islamic world is not more than merely a pretension. US’ actions on the Islamic world, according to the report, are driven by a hidden motive and intentionally controlled to fulfil US’ national interests by victimizing the Islamic world.

Political Conscience

2008-02-17T22:26:00.000-08:00

People Conscience Party (Partai Hanura) is one of new political parties that will fight in the 2009 general election. Wiranto as the founder and general chairman has placed political advertisements putting stress on conscience. Is there really a conscience in politics?

“Nurani” or conscience comes from the Arabic word “Nur” meaning light, while “nuraniyyun” means something having character of light. What light? According the perspective of Islamic Psychology, psychological devices of man are mind, heart, conscience, syahwah, and lust. Mind is the problem solving capacity whose task is thinking, heart is the device to understand reality, “nurani” or conscience is the inner sight as opposed to eyes of the head. Syahwah is behaviour motivator or motive, and lust is the destructive force testing the soul ability. As a system, the five subsystems are led by the heart, so that a person whose heart is good will have a good behaviour too; on the contrary, if his heart is bad then his behaviour is also bad.

Emanation Theory
The concept of conscience comes from israqy theory (emanation theory) stating that God is a Nur (Allahu nur assamawati wa alardh), like the sun that always emanate its light. The sun leaves its traces on the earth in the forms of living, warmth or heat, and brightness. At night, the sun’s heat and light try to go back to its source, leaving the earth dark and cool. Similarly, God also radiates His light and among the traces of God is man; therefore, in man there is a divine light called bashirah (inner sight) or nurani (something having characteristics of a light). “Nurani” (conscience) has a longing to return to God as his original light. It is different from heart that is inconsistent. Sometimes heart hates something, another time it loves the thing. Sometimes it remembers (something), sometimes it forgets. Sometimes it is relaxed, sometimes it is restless. Meanwhile, conscience is a divine light that is consistent, unwilling to compromise dishonesty and crimes. Although one is winning a case in the court by bribing the judge, his conscience honestly tells that he is the guilty one on the case. However, like a light that is sometimes dim, man’ conscience is sometimes also dim or dead that is when it closed by something. If a conscience is dead, then the person is like a person in a dark place (dzulm) and his behaviour is like that of a person in darkness; misplaced, taking and placing things wrongly, misperceived, and taking wrong steps. From the word “dzulm”, then a person whose conscience is closed or dead is called dzalim or despotic person, person placing things not in their correct places.

Conscience is closed by two things: greediness/ambition and sinful deeds. A greedy person certainly has a conscience not in function. He possibly has the highest position with the highest salary but he still manipulates the poor’s rights. Similarly, an overly ambitious person will use almost any way to achieve his ambitions, he doesn’t care whether the way is right or right, he doesn’t care whether his acts will inflict a loss upon the country and the nation or not.

Political Character
If politics is understood as power, then one of its characters is corrupt. Corruption is manipulating numbers and facts for one’s own interests. In connection with psychological typology, a politician more influenced by his or her mind will tend to be rational although sometimes he/will be “dry” (too much focusing on ratio), while a politician more influenced by his/her heart will tend to be careful, a politician more influenced by his/her syahwah will tend to easily and overly motivated by ambitions, a politician more influenced by his/her lust tend be destructive and evil. Meanwhile, a person who is involved in politics because his conscience called him/her to do so tends to desire to give than to receive.

Political Syahwah
Syahwah is a tendency on things desired. Political syahwah is a tendency on ruling others, their mind, their tastes, and even their wills; then political syahwah will motivate the person to be number one as a chairman, director, head of village, or even president so that he can rule and control others. Actually syahwah is humane, neutral, and not necessarily bad. If a person fulfils his syahwah by following procedures and laws (God’s law, state’s law, and ethical law) and by being honest then the syahwah actualization is allowed and even can be an “ibadah” (religious deed or worship). Since politics tends to be corrupt, however, then political syahwah in general motivates us to try to achieve ambitions, while ambitions may close our consciences. Therefore, seemingly focusing on conscience in political movements and manoeuvre has tendency on manipulation, not honest in judging a thing, not honest in criticizing, and forget to be introspective. When a chairman of an opposition party in a political party commented that President visiting an area is merely “tebar pesona” or trying to attract people, then the comment is certainly not a voice of his conscience but is based on his political syahwah. Because of his syahwah, then he forgets his own criticism and does exactly the same thing, trying to attract people. Similarly, when a presidency is still in its halfway, but a lot of people had declared their intention to be the next president, then their declarations are not voice of their consciences but their political syahwahs, since syahwah is indeed impatient.

Are there leaders with conscience? Certainly. Character of a leader motivated by political conscience is that he emerges because of his inner call, not because of calculating advantages and disadvantages. In a seemingly hopeless situation, an always-wrong situation, when a nation is almost in its destruction, “conventional” leaders are preoccupied with calculating their positions, fighting for new ones, although their heads are possibly almost sunk. In such a situation, a true leader usually emerges whose conscience is called to clean up all the mess. He’s ready to give anything needed without much calculation of advantages and disadvantages. His heart and mind are free from selfish interests. He emerges not because he wants to rule but because he wants to contribute his potentials to salvation of his nation, and he even is sincerely ready to give he leadership to others deemed more appropriate.

Conscience advertised is certainly not a real conscience. If a consumptive thing advertised repeatedly will attract consumers although such a thing is possibly not of high quality, then advertising a quality conscience repeatedly for a long time will cause the “conscience” sounded unattractive to the ears of the “consumers”.
Man has a kodrat as a cultural being (madaniyyun bi atthob`i) and as social being (ijtima`iyyun bi atthob`i). As a cultural being, man has various concepts, ideas, and beliefs he adopts which in turn will guide him in fulfilling necessaries in his life. Man has concepts on beauty, honour, greatness, and humility. As a cultural being, man is also knows theoretical values, economical values, religious values, power values, and solidarity values; the dominant value of which on a person will also determine whether he or she will become a scientist, economist, religious teacher (ulama or priest), artist, politician, or humanist. Furthermore, there are also mystical scientist, struggler-politician, rational ulama, corrupt human rights activist, philosophical artist, and repressive ruler. A highly-civilized person would feel humiliated if he gained success by making others suffer or if he gained victory by deceiving others. Meanwhile, a lowly civilized person would be proud that he is able to deceive others, the government, and people. According to a lowly civilized person, success is the main goal and the means is merely a technical matter, not a value; while for a highly civilized person, success relying on valueless means is a failure.

Man as a social being has a desire to cooperate and compete at the same time. Man realizes his weaknesses so that he wants to cooperate with other men to achieve common goals faster. Man, however, is also unique; every person is himself or herself, having mind, feeling, and will different from those of others. Therefore, while in cooperation a person may be sincerely cooperating for common goals, while another person may be unique, having his own agenda, wanting to achieve his own goals, beyond the common goals. People having their own agenda will compete with each other, sometimes fairly but often unfairly. The temptation to compete unfairly will stronger mainly in political and business competitions. A lot of people do things humiliating his dignity as a human being for their political and business goals.

Terrorism and Politics

2008-01-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

According to a source at Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Amrozi will soon be executed as a criminal. Amrozi is a figure highly interesting to be studied, firstly, since he was accused to be a world-class terrorist involved in the famous Bali bombing. Secondly, he was even smiling after the judges pronounced a death sentence on him. A question arises: was the terror committed by Amrozy and his friends a political behavior or a ideological behavior? Issues on terrorism at present are no longer based on substantial truth; on the contrary, those only become global economic and political propaganda tools. Debates on terrorism are not longer using scientific paradigms, but political and economic paradigms.

Definitions of Terrorism
Defining terrorism is highly important to distinguish terrorists from freedom strugglers. It is indeed almost impossible that terrorism is defined objectively. Definition of terrorism in connection with Usamah bin Ladin, for example, according to a columnist named Michael Kinsley in Washington Post, October 5, 2001 was a confusing definition. The definition containing “injury on government property and computer trespass” is too wide in its scope. Furthermore, Kinsley gave an example, US supported a guerilla movement against Nicaraguan government, but in El Salvador, US did the reverse. If terrorism is defined as a crime supporting political aims, the question is how if the actor is the government of a country?

Terrorism had been defined by referring to interests of the definers, so that there is a definition of terrorism based on ruler’s perspective, intelligent perspective, and scientific perspective. Definition of terrorism based on ruler’s perspective among others is Terrorism is premediated threat or use of violence by subnational groups or clandestine individuals intended to intimidate and coerce governments, to promote political, religious or ideological outcomes, and to inculcate fear among the public at large.

Meanwhile, FBI, for example, defines or determines a person a terrorist or not depending on public opinion in US; “The unlawful use of force or violence against person or property to intimidate or to coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social goals”.
Meanwhile, more neutral definitions are proposed by Ali A. Mazrui and Raymond Hamden.

According to Ali A Mazrui, we should distinguish horrific terrorism that kills innocent people indiscriminately from terrorism done by strugglers for independence (heroic terrorism) in facing the oppressing power, or even oppressing superpower country. The latter terrorism is of patriotic and heroic nature.
Meanwhile, Raymond Hamden distinguishes terrorisms based on their various backgrounds: such as political point of view, ideology of a religion, political struggle against an established government, and mental disorder.
Although it is impossible to unify all definitions pertaining terrorism, but eventually definition accepted by common people will be the definition made by the power owner that can force their intentions, whether political, military, economic or technological power.

It is certainly not easy to understand US’ way of thinking in regarding Yasser Arafat as a terrorist, meanwhile Israeli that has been colonizing Palestine, violating human rights, and owning mass destruction weapons are defended intensively by US. Terrorism is never discussed to its roots of problem, but only viewed from US’ interests. All that threat American interests are labeled as terrorists, and unfortunately UN is not strong enough to resist American hegemony. Root of terrorism is injustice.

In any conflict area in which striking injustice exist violence will happen. Palestine, Afghanistan, South Philippines, and Iraq are now are producers of violence. Whom the violence is aimed? To a very powerful party compelling its wills to weak parties with support of weapon, formal legality, and economy.
There are three characteristics of terrorism: (a) spreading scared feeling; (b) destroying public infrastructures, and (c) causing innocent victims in large amount. Hence, there are actually two terrorist groups.

1. First, Strong terrorists, in this case are big (powerful) countries, with an excuse of protecting their national interests, they think that they have the right to destruct their enemies, wherever they are. US (in Afghanistan and Iraq), Israeli (in Palestine), and Soviet Union (when colonizing Afghanistan) in this perspective are terrorist countries, meaning that here terrorism is launching by state. Viewed based on the characteristics of terrorism activities, US is the country that is most in spreading scared feeling, destructing public infrastructures, and killing innocent people in a large amount.

2. Second, Cornered Terrorists, those who are weak and lose in formal (political) struggle but don’t want to surrender. These groups think that they are entitled to defend themselves and to launch guerilla attacks in accordance with minimum abilities they have. Therefore, terror and anti-terror warfare at present are actually warfare between two kind of terrorists, first, terrorists who try to maintain their dominant powers (mainly economy) on the world, and second, terrorists who are cornered and with all limitations they think that they have to maintain their existences in every way.

Five Requirements of Sakinah Family

2008-01-17T20:10:00.000-08:00

Society is a reflection of families within it. If families are healthy then the society is also healthy. If families are happy then the society is also happy. There are 5 factors required to establish a sakinah family:

1. There are mawaddah and rahmah (Q: 30: 21) in the family. Mawaddah is a burning love that is flaring up and seducing, while rahmah is a smooth love whose owner is ready to sacrifice himself and to protect the beloved ones. Mawaddah alone isn’t sufficient to secure the household’s continuity; on the contrary, rahmah will develop mawaddah from time to time.

2. Interactions between husband and wife should be based on interdependence, like a apparel and the person wearing it (hunna libasun lakum wa antum libasun lahunna, (Q: 2:187). There are three functions of apparel: (a) closing awrah, (b) protecting the wearer from heat and cold, and (b) adornment. A husband to his wife and vice versa should function in the three aspects. If the wife has a weakness, then her husband shouldn’t tell it to others, and vice versa. If the wife is sick, her husband should find medicine or take her to a doctor. A wife should have appearance making her husband proud and vice versa, a husband also should have appearance making his wife proud. This following contrary situation shouldn’t happen: appear attractive outside, but look annoying at home.

3. In socializing, a husband and his wife should consider things socially regarded as decent (ma’ruf), not merely right, Wa`a syiruhunna bil ma`ruf (Q: 4:19). Amount of mahar, subsistence, methods of socializing and so on should consider ma’ruf values. These are should be considered especially by a couple coming from highly different cultures. Wa`a syiruhunna bil ma`ruf (Q: 4:19).

4. According to a hadith of Prophet Muhammad, there are five pillars for a sakinah family (idza aradallohu bi ahli baitin khoiran and so on): (a) having tendency to religion of Islam, (b) the younger respect the elder, and the elder care about the younger, (c) simple (economic) in shopping, (d) well-mannered in socializing, and (e) always be introspective.

5. According to another hadith, four things will cause happiness in a family (arba`un min sa`adat al marâi): (a) pious (loyal) husband/wife, (b) dedicated sons and daughters, (c) healthy social environment, (e) near/easy-to-get subsistence.

Political Sovereignty

2008-01-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

Recently the writer was invited to attend seminars and give general lectures in three colleges in Trengganu city, Malaysia. There are interesting sights there, which are a lot of big writings placed in front of buildings of governmental offices reading DAULAT TUANKU. According to royal tradition there, the words “daulat tuanku” means readiness to execute commands of the king so that phrase is must be used by an official or minister when he is about to report to the king or in stating readiness to execute the king’s commands, like tradition in TNI (Indonesian military) to say “siap” (ready). At present modern time, the phrase “daulat tuanku” is a confirmation of a political system that political sovereignty in Malaysia is on the hands of the sultans. Malaysia is indeed a constitutional country (like UK and Nehtherlands) consisting of various sultanates in which a sultan is elected alternately among the sultans to be Yang Dipertuan Agong (King). Meanwhile, daily governmental activities are led by a prime minister elected through a democracy process.

Sovereignty (“kedaulatan”) comes from the Arabic “daulah” meaning power or turn in power. The word “Daulah Umayyah” and “Daulah Abassiyah” historically was used to refer to power of Umayyah and Abbasiyyah dynasties. At present, the word “daulah” is also used to refer “state”.

Three Kinds of Sovereignties
In connection with sovereignty as a power system, there are three areas of sovereignty: People’s Sovereignty, Law’s Sovereignty, and God’s Sovereignty (Divine Sovereignty). People sovereignty means that people hold power of the state, manifested through general elections in which people choose their representatives to hold various positions in the highest institution of the state (MPR or People Consultative Assembly in Indonesia) and in the pre-reform era the highest institution elected President to implement people power.

Furthermore, President is called the holder of the Assembly’s mandates. At present, people sovereignty is not given to the Assembly but directly given to the president through direct president election and to governors and regents through direct regional head elections (pilkada). This giving sovereignty directly may be positive or negative. On the positive side, the direct election eliminates manipulations previously happened through “cow-trading practices”. On the negative side, anarchies behaviors/movements often happen in the name of people. The idea of appointing governors through regional head elections proposed by Muladi (Lemhanas) is understood as an effort to reduce the excesses of direct people sovereignty that can weaken the authority. The more important thing here that we have government whose president is directly elected. The implementation of people sovereignty is merry, but the cost is very high, using up people’s energy. The Indonesian society indeed consists of various social strata: ultra modern, modern, urban, traditional, and backward peoples. People freedom may be such a boring thing for ultra modern people, but urban society is now preoccupied with enjoying the people sovereignty by means of freedom of choice.

Meanwhile, law’s sovereignty is also adopted because Indonesia is a law state. Law’s sovereignty means that it is law that should be the commander so that law must not be controlled by political interests; it is law that should control politics, not vice versa. In this respect, we should admit weakness of law sovereignty in our country, since law is not only often controlled by politics but even by dirty hands of corruptors. In Indonesia, there are a lot of newly interested things now. People Representation Board (DPR) makes constitution, government implements the constitution. The Constitution Court controls the constitution itself. The government is supervised by DPR and people as the holders of political sovereignty, government and DPR is supervised by law apparatuses as the law enforcers. All highest institutions are controlled and supervised, except the Constitution Court whose decisions are binding and isn’t controlled by any institution except itself. In this perspective, it is as if the Constitution Court holds God’s sovereignty.

God’s Sovereignty in Politics
Theologically, man can hold God sovereignty since man is His representative (khalifah). Man as a representative is not only given the right to manage nature, but he is entitled to reinforce God’s law on the earth for example giving killers death sentences. Every nation and social stratum has a different way of thinking in reinforcing God’s sovereignty. The first who claimed to hold God’s sovereignty in a state as the head of state of Vatican was Pope.

Among Catholics there has been a belief that pope position comes from God, so that Caesars or kings should be throwned by Popes. According to Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) Pope was lower than God but higher than ordinary people. This claim wasn’t immediately accepted since Roman myth also stated that Caesar was the ruler of the world and son of God. Conflicts between these two authorities of God colored political history of Europe; sometimes Pope could control Caesar, sometimes Caesar could play Pope’s political “balls”. King Hendrik IV (Germany) even had the courage to attack Rome, exiling old Pope and appointing new Pope. When Pope Urbanus VI was supported by Germany and UK, France appointed its own Pope located in Avignon. King Henry VIII (UK) had even the courage to separate from Rome by establishing Anglican Church in which King was the head of the church. Pisan Council (1409) made worse the problem by appointing three figures to fill the pope position at the same time. At present, Vatican becomes unique as a state, since its territory is so small in the centre of Rome, the capital of Italy, but its political area is very wide. Its relations with caesars in the globalization are also very unique, benefiting each other.

In history of Islam, God’s sovereignty was also claimed by sultans, mainly repressive sultans. Theology developed was theology of Jabariyyah (predestination) regarding sultans’ existence as a God’s will, so that the notion develop was that sultans were shadows of God on earth (dzillulloh fil ardh). Sultans or kings in Java also adopted similar notions, so that king’s words there were regarded as God’s words, anything they decided couldn’t be cancelled, “sabda pendito ratu”. In Iran after the period of Syah Reza Pahlevi, implementation of God’s sovereignty in politics is arranged more conceptually in what called “wilayat al faqih”, that the highest political power is on the hands of Ayatullah al `Uzma. Democracy may still go on, but everything might be vetoed by Ayatullah al`Uzma as the holder as God’s sovereignty.

God’s sovereignty in Indonesian political party
Political theology a la Shiah is unrealizedly adopted by some Indonesian political parties, especially Islamic parties. The first who adopted this system is NU, both when it is already a mass organization at present and when it was a political party. In NU, the highest power is held by Rais `Am of Syuri`ah. The Rais`Am can veto decisions of all institution below him. Since the Syuriyah institution is perceived as vertically nearer to God’s sovereignty, the decisions are made through istikharah prayers, requesting that God himself chooses the best decision. Certainly, like in pope institution and Iran’s “wilayatul faqih”, effectiveness of this depends on the rais ‘am’s personal charisma. If the tanfidziyah management is smarter and naughtier, the syuriyah’s authority may be shaken. The NU’s pattern is also adopted by PKB. In PKB, chairman of Syuro Board is the holder of the highest political sovereignty. Therefore, Matori Abdul Jalil, Alwi Syihab, and now Muhaimin Iskandar should appropriately place themselves under the shadow of God’s sovereignty now held by the present chairman of Syuro board, Gus Dur; otherwise, they would possibly be “condemned”.

PKS (Welfare and Justice Party) seems to also adopt this system. The party’s highest political sovereignty is held by Syuro Board (Majelis Syuro), so that internal competitions within PKS aren’t intensive, since the spirit developed is sami`na wa atho`na (obedience) to the Syuro Board. PBB (Star Moon Party of Moon Star Party) also adopts this structure, although charisma of its Syuro Board isn’t too sacred. Golkar (Golongan Karya—Functional Group) in the New Order period was actually adopting this system, since its political sovereignty was still held by the chairman of Guiding Board, Soeharto. Therefore, different from it is now, Golkar in Soeharto’s era was highly solid. Democrat Party also adopts Guiding Board institution, but in its statute, the Guiding Board isn’t mentioned to be having authority at the same level as God’s sovereignty. The board authority is limited to only direct struggles, guide, and receive reports. The chairman of the Guiding Board now held by present president SBY is highly effective in maintaining the party’s solidity.

Political Logic

2008-01-17T20:03:00.000-08:00

Working hardly isn’t always productive. A becak driver, for example, works hard by pedaling his becak until sweating and breathing with difficulty, but the result may be insufficient. Working smartly tends to be more productive, not too hard but the result is much more. A lot of people, however, have worked smartly, resulting so much things; all necessities are already available for them, but they are restless and then they misuses drugs or end up in jail. Furthermore, there is another kind of work, which is working sincerely. One who works sincerely will thank God if he obtains much result; if he only gets a few results he will be patient and try again. Any amount he gets from his hard, smart, and sincere workings, he will accept gladly, since her realizes that man can only make efforts, while the results are determined by God. There are some people who had already got much, but still feeling not enough, restless, not eating well not sleeping soundly, made enemy by a lot of people. Meanwhile, some others only get not many, but they feel sufficient, and even can give others. Tranquilly they enjoy results of their efforts, they are peaceful, in harmony with their surroundings and even respected by others.

Earthly Mathematics vs. Heavenly Mathematics.
Based on mathematical calculation, one who has 10 millions rupiah then takes 5 millions rupiah out of the amount will only have 5 millions rupiah left. If he sticks to his habit of giving a half of his money from his efforts to help people in troubles, then according to ordinary mathematical calculation, he will be harder to be rich compared to if he doesn’t have such a habit.

If he will be rich 10 years after with that habit, then logically he will possibly be rich only in 5 years if he doesn’t have such habit of giving money to others. Facts of life, however, often prove different things. People who often give tend to be rich quicker than stingy people whose businesses aren’t running well. Similarly, traders who taking benefits with highest margin often lose in competition with traders who benefits from low margins. Why? Because life doesn’t only depend on earthly mathematics, there are earthly mathematics and heavenly (religious) mathematics. People sticking to mathematical calculation in social interactions will unrealizedly lose a non-technical opportunity whose value is immeasurable mathematically, which is God’s blessing. Blessing here means optimally enjoy the delightment or result. For example, all of 5 millions rupiah are invested without any exception or “leaking”, so that the growth is constant. Meanwhile, not blessed income may be seemed to be much in amount, but not optimally used since most of it taken for unnecessary things.

Heavenly mathematics teaches us that our belongings are God’s endowment. God commands man to work hard and God will give in accordance with His will based on heavenly mathematics. Zakah, for example, actually means “pure” and “to grow” so that people who are regularly paying sufficient zakah will have belongings that are pure (free from the poor’s negative comments) and his heart will also be pure (free from mathematical greediness). Philosophy of zakah is that in our belongings there is right for others (the poor), who are asking for or too shy to ask for. If the zakah isn’t paid, then it means the rich person abuses right of the poor. Zakat also means to grow, so that belongings whose zakahs are paid will grow in amount and meaning healthily. Is this logical?

God teaches us a lesson through trees. A tree whose twigs and leaves regularly cut will grow beautifully with a certain pattern, since from the twigs cut new fresh leaves will grow. If the tree is never cut, then the tree will still continuously grow but not beautifully and without any pattern and can become a haunted big tree. A generous rich person is usually intimate with his surroundings, beloved and respected by people surrounding him. A stingy rich person is like a haunted tree, people will be afraid to approach him except those who tend to things in connection with shamans and satans.

Universal Wisdom and Local Wisdom
Earthly mathematics teaches us reversed logics. From values of local wisdom (Java’s), for example, there is an idiom “wani ngalah luhur wekasane”, he who dares to give in will be respectable in latter days. According to earthly mathematics, giving in means losing, means weak. According to heavenly mathematics, however, giving in is a power, since only strong people can give in. giving in is different from surrendering. People who give in will usually win later; people who seemingly win are usually will lose. A lot of universal wisdom values are found in holy book’s verses, hadith, and maqalah or wise words. The examples are as following.
Anyone (leaders) who is modest will have his dignity raised by God and anyone (leaders) who is arrogant will be toppled by God (man tawadla`a rafa`ahullah, waman takabbara wadla`ahulla—hadith of Prophet Muhammad) Love your lover not excessively, possibly he or she will be the person you hate most at the latter days, and hate your enemy not excessively, possibly he or she will be the person you love most at the latter days (al Gazali).

Things you like may have bad impacts on you, and things you hate may have good impacts on you (Al Quran) If you sit in back row and then people ask you to move to the front, it is better than you directly sit in the front line, but then others ask you to move backward since the seat had been located for someone else (Isa al Masih).

The Balanced Ways: Map to Rich.

2008-01-17T20:01:00.000-08:00

The book on your hands, The Balanced Ways: a Map to Rich, written by Kana Suryadilaga contains various tips to use in life using various psychological instruments and how to manage intelligence appropriately, so that those who benefit from it will be like a person crossing the ocean who is always able to control his steering wheel in facing always-changing situation. Recipes on how to live don’t necessarily come from intelligent people, but recipes on how to live from experienced people are more easily understood and followed.

Kana, although he is relatively still young, he is experienced in living a tough live in Jakarta the capital city. Together with spirit of continuous learning, his experiences enable him to write out his comprehension on the life he lives in form of tips on how to live successfully. Insya Allah, this book will be useful for the reader. Wallau a`lamu bissawab.

Coalition

2008-01-17T19:56:00.000-08:00

In Arabic, “politics” is “siyasah”. Part of Islamic science discussing politics is called “fiqh as siyasah” or “political fiqh”. Academically, politics is close to ushuluddin or teology. Therefore, at IIUM (International Islamic University Malaysia), for example, if a postgraduate student takes Ushuluddin as his major program, then his minor program is usually politics. Hence, if a bachelor who has graduated from Faculty of Ushuluddin (Theology) is active in political world, then he is on the right track. Politics talks about power, source of power is God; and Ushuluddin or Theology is a science talking about divinity.

“Isim fail” (grammar) form of the word “siyasah” is “sais”. Betawi people use word “sais” to refer to sado or dokar (a small 2-wheel carriage) driver. There is indeed a similarity between a political actor and a sais (driver); both of them controls a power to achieve a destination. A clever sais can control his horse gently, the horse can run with a speed wanted by the sais, the horse can be also controlled to walk slowly when passing through a bad road, can be turned, and can be ordered to stop.

Furthermore, a horse’s character is indeed similar to that of politics. Politics is also a power that can be controlled to bring the actor to the political goal. The political controller should have ability similar to that of a sais, able to spur and bridle his horse at the right time. A horse can be wild and harm the sais and the carriage it pulls, while a uncontrolled politics also can be a boomerang harming the controller with his political carriage (party) he rides. A very hungry or weak horse can act very wildly and even kick the sais, while a politics whose needs aren’t sufficiently satisfied may cause a political anarchy that may kill or at least harm political parties.

Because of the wildness of the horse and for the smoothness of the trip, the sais closes some of the horse’s sight by using “horse spectacles” so that the animal will only focus on the path in front of it, it won’t be able look to the right or to the left, whatmore behind of it. Similarly, in political controlling, not all realities should be disclosed, accessible by anyone anytime. There are some facts that should be hidden from public, since if the facts are disclosed, public may be provoked by other political controllers to maneuver in anarchic way that can hamper certain political processes. Political honesty doesn’t mean that we are naïve, disclosing everything; instead we have to have a kind of political intelligence, knowing the proper form of openness, and how and when we should be open so that certain political processes can happen controllably.

Idealism and Political Pragmatism
For an individual politician, politics often has a negative connotation, for example in connection with political ambitions, political games, political money, and so on. Those are indeed parts of political pragmatism. For a society, especially for a nation, however, politics is a part of common management implemented to achieve common prosperity. With politics, a nation can achieve its glorious period: political, economic, and cultural at the same time. Failure of political management can cause a nation to lose its significant existence; the land is prosperous but the citizens are poor, the population is a huge in amount but they can’t be a subject, only becoming a global political object.
Therefore, a nation doesn’t only need an ideal political concept full of values of ethics and humanity, but it also requires political effectiveness. Like a horse, politics should be controlled appropriately. The problem is how to control politics ethically and at the same time effectively.
Ibnu Khaldun introduced the term “ashobiyyah”. According to the father of sociology, it is not sufficient to convey ideal political notions to the mind and conscience of people, since effectiveness of mind and conscience controlling can’t be measured. A concrete power is needed, which is fanatically supporting ideas of political elite. The concrete power is the support from majority of groups/people securing continuity of political program at nation level. The group supporting the government’s politics is called ashabiyyah.

Reform and Coalition
When Soekarno was implementing his revolutionary political idea, he intentionally formed a power ashobiyyah in form of NASAKOM (Nationalism, Religion, and Communism). All Soekarno’s revolutionary political jargons such as Manipol Usdek (Political Manifesto), crush Malaysia, and others are supported clamorously by the NASAKOM coalition, even the idea of Long-Live President actually a deviance from Constitution 1945 was supported by NASAKOM ashobiyyah coalition. Soekarno was failed in this case not because he wasn’t conceptional, but more because the Nasakom anatomically was difficult to be realized in practice.

Meanwhile, in implementing his political idea of New Order, Soeharto formed a power ashobiyyah in form of ABG (ABRI—Military and Police, Bureaucracy, and Golkar) coalition. During the new order period, the coalition fanatically supported Soeharto’s ideas and he engineered democracy so that Golkar always became the winner of General Election. His failure was not because of misconception, but more because he had been pretending as if implementing democracy.

Reform overthrowing Soeharto masterminded among others by Amien Rais, was more incited by hate on Soeharto and angriness to ABG coalition and its new order. Therefore, the reforms itself didn’t have appropriate conception (not conceptional). The reform process was like an anarchy taking place from Streets (Jalanan) to Senayan. Amandment 1, 2, 3, 4 caused the nation’s directional became obscure. New coalitions were often formed, but also unconceptional, merely coalitions of improvisation.

Nationhood Coalition was formed once, followed by People Coalition. It is clear, however, that the SBY’s government hasn’t been supported by ashobiyyah like Nasakom or ABG coalitions. President SBY puts more emphasis on political culture than on forming real political power. The existing cabinet is often called a manifestation of Rainbow coalition. This rainbow coalition indeed won’t be highly effective. Political parties like criticizing the President better than criticizing their own ministries in the cabinet. PAN even had left the coalition but still has been placing two ministries for SBY; funny, isn’t it? Ministries, governors, and regents are now more focusing themselves more on how to make their parties win in General Election 2009 than on making success current government’s politics. Golkar and PDIP also maneuver to form a coalition, but for supporting what? Political ideas or position targets?

Coalition as a form of ashobiyyah will indeed be needed for the government after the general election 2009 to support the continuity of the systemic change, not to secure one’s election for a position. It should be avoided that in the era without GBHN (state policy guidelines) we can only prepare “menu of development” without having the opportunity to cook it because this nation has been preoccupied with such political improvisation steps, whereas we are now in a global area in which this nation should reinforce its existence as a great nation. Without such reinforcement, 230 millions of Indonesian population would only become bubbles of the global sea. We hope that God protects us from being in that situation.

Wise

2007-12-10T23:51:00.000-08:00

The word “arif” (wise) comes from the Arabic `arofa - ma`rifat -`arif-ma`ruf whose basic meaning is to comprehend. Comprehending is different from knowing. Knowing is cognitive based on knowledge, observation, or theory. Meanwhile, comprehending is affective, based on direct experiences. For example, a wife had been married with her husband for almost 20 years, but in fact she did not fully know his husband yet. Later, she was shocked after finding out the true identity of man with whom she has been in a same bed for 20 years, since she had been misled by his physical appearance.

Wise character has not only horizontal but also vertical natures. A vertically wise person is said to have achieve the level of ma’rifat, comprehending God (in certain aspects), not merely knowing Him. Since a wise man comprehends his God as the Most Beneficent, then he would be able to endure failures and misfortunes, since perhaps those misfortunes are only trials God gives to him. He truly realises that difficulties are parts of living system. He realises that God had created a law system in which no dark forever, light must come after dark. Similarly, easiness will come after difficulties.

Wise people still will be smiling in time of troubles, ready to be disappointed and sad without any word. On the contrary, unwise people will be easily frustrated, complaining in time of troubles, not ready to be disappointed, and expressing his sadness with abuses. Wise people comprehend themselves, so that they are self-conscious. If a person had comprehended himself, he would comprehend his God, man `arofa nafsahu `arofa robbahu.

Avenues to the Truth (3)

2007-12-10T23:49:00.000-08:00

Bias of Jihad
Al Quran mentions these following two terms: jihad and qital. The word “jihad” in its various derivations is mentioned 41 times in 19 verses. Some of them were revealed in Mecca, while the others in Madinah. In the perspective of lughawi (language) jihad means “fighting against enemies”, dedicating all abilities and powers in forms of words, actions, and everything that one able to dedicate. Meanwhile, the word “qital” clearly denotes war and it also contains the meaning of killing enemies (qatala). On the contrary, the word ‘jihad” may mean war against enemies, but also may mean working hard not in the context of war. From the word “jihad” a sentence on jihad arise, “working hard intellectually and mujahadah an nafs, working hard spiritually”.

Concept of Jihad in Al Quran
From those 41 verses mentioning the word “jihad”, 28 of them mention jihad in the meaning of struggle, for example, command to jihad by using Al Quran against kafirin (unbelievers), fala tuthi` al kafirin waja hidhum bihi jihadan kabira (Q: al Furqan:52), doing jihad and be patient after hijrah, tsumma ja hadu wa sabaru, (an Nahl:110), benefits of jihad, wa man ja hada fa innama yujahidu linafsihi, (al `Ankabut:6) jihad with properties and souls ( wal mujahidun fi sabilillah bi amwalihim wa anfusihim (an Nisa :95) and so on. Meanwhile, the verse firstly allowing jihad in the context of war uses the word “qital”, stating that Muslims fought against by enemies may defence themselves through physical war, uzina lillazina yuqataluna bi annahum zulimu, (al Hajj:39), and these verse refers to the first battle, the battle of Badr.

Meanwhile, in hadith jihad doesn’t only refer to war, but also hajj. The commands to jihad are intended for individuals (mukhatab mufrad) but majorities of them are intended for groups (mukhatab jamak). Some commands to do jihad mentions the objects, kafirin and munafiqin (hyprocretes) like those mentioned in At-Tahrim 9, jahid al kuffar wa al munafiqin. Rule of interpretation determines that if a transitive verb mentioned in a verse without mentioning the object, the object of the verse is of general nature. Therefore, objects of the jihad are not only unbelievers and hypocrites, but everything included in the meaning of fisabillah (fighting in way of Allah), for example giving foods to the poor, releasing slaves (al Balad; 13-16). Hence, jihad doesn’t have to use swords, but may also pens or words.
Jihad and Die as Syahid

Al Quran often mentions die as syahid in connection with jihad as something highly honorable. It is mentioned that those who killed in Allah's way are not dead, they are even alive in a better life (al `Imran: 169). That’s why mujahiddin (jihad doers) enthusiastically try to achieve syahadah (die in way of Allah), since syahadah is an achievement and more beneficial. The jargon regarding syahadah is “live respectfully or die as syahid (Islamic martyrs)”.

Jihad and Dakwah
Basically dakwah is freeing man from the chains of unbelief, hypocrisy, slavery, polytheism, and other wrongdoings or deviations. In essence, dakwah is socialisation of the role of Islam plays as the religion of blessing for the universe. Al Quran should be preached to mankind. In submitting dakwah, we often meet obstacles, therefore jihad as part of dakwah are required for:

1. Fighting crimes
2. Protecting the society from enemies’ disturbances
3. Denying slanders
4. Safeguarding continuation of dakwah

Jihad in forms 1, 2, and 3 are defensive, meanwhile form 4 may be offensive. The aim of jihad among others to make sentences of Allah in victory, kalimatullah hiya al ‘ulya (at taubah: 40). In the period Makkah, Al Quran in general commands Muslims to be patient and do jihad through Al Quran (dakwah), but in the period of Madinah, Al Quran allows wars to defend Muslims from attacks of enemies, accompanied by message not to exceed the limits (4: 190).

The best way of doing Jihad for protecting the poor or denying slander is by using physical power (biyadih), if we can’t do that, then do jihad with our words, protests, and demonstrations. If we still can’t do that, just do jihad with our heart, feeling sad and praying for the suppressed, and that’s the weakest faith. In relations with global world order at present, a question arises: what kind of jihad is the most effective in fighting against the superpower USA?

Social phenomena of Jihad
We know about Jihad Command (in the period of Soeharto). Laskar Jihad (Soldiers of Jihad) in Ambon and Posi conflicts, Jihad of Islam in Palestine and many others, and the term of “Jihad” may also be related to the group led by Amrozi and Imam Samudera. We, however, are often misguided by external phenomena, so that jihad as a psychomotoric term in religious affairs is misunderstood when observing social realities not comprehensively. The movement of Jihad Command in the era of Soeharto was actually a political project of a intelligent institution (Bakin) since in strengthening the ideology of Pancasila, ideological enemies should be created and then some figures are prepared who can be encouraged to form what seemingly an Islam ideological movement, the Jihad Command.

In practice, later Bakin couldn’t completely control the movement so that it really widespread as a destructive ideological force using the name of Islam. It is rumoured that Hambali, who is at present accused as the intellectual actor of Bali Bomb, was a figure recruited by Bakin, so were Danu Muhamad Hasan and Hispran, who had an office at Jl. Senapati, and lived in Tanah Abang (Ali Murtopo’s “headquarter”). Meanwhile, Soldiers of Jihad, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the movement of Imam Samudra and his friends are impacts of globalisation in which Islamic community as a whole has been treated unfairly by USA (perceived as a part of the Christians), as in Afghanistan, Moro, Iraq, and Palestine. Much of the leaders of the Soldiers of Jihad are veterans of Mujahidin, Afghanistan, and Moro conflicts, and they regard crimes committed by small groups of certain Christians in Ambon and Poso as parts of global conflicts also happening in Palestine, Afghanistan, and South Philippines. Since in the global era enemies don’t fight against each other frontally but they clearly compete with each other, then it is not easy to identify enemies, since often movement using jihad as part of their names are actually supported by intelligent deceivers who regard Islam as an enemy.

The case of Mataharitimoer
The author of underground stories whose book is on your hand now, whose alias is Mataharitimoer tells us through this book how he had expressed himself in the avenues to the truth which are believed to be under the ridla (a kind of sincerity) of God, how he unconsciously had gone far passing avenues of struggles some of which sometimes indeed were felt as bright and correct paths, but other avenues were felt as dark or even as dead-end. It seems that after he had arrived at the end of the avenues, he finally found what he believed as the true path of the truth, encouraging him to write out his experiences in passing the avenues to the truth as guidance for the next generation. I am gladly writing this preface since the avenues were similar to those I’ve known. As long as 10 years in the New Order period, I secretly embraced a hard-line aspiration. My obsession was also on jihad and for some times I participated in some underground discussions. However, my experience of living together in a barrack for about three months with Afghan Mujahiddin, my getting acquaintance with Afghanistan President Sibghatullah Mujaddidi, Chechnya President General Ashlan Mashadov, Nur Misuari MNLF Moro, Luis Farachan for USA dan my visits to Libya, Sudan and Egypt, changed my perspectives on politics, religion, and jihad so that now I become highly moderate in perceiving conflicts and believe that Islam is a blessing for the universe (rahmatan lil`alamin). As a citizen, now I put more emphasis on the ship of Republic of Indonesia than on the room of Islamic community, since if the ship is drowned, the room would be drowned too. Wallahu a`lam bi as sawab.

Avenues to the Truth (2)

2007-12-10T23:45:00.001-08:00

Religious and Cultural Biases

The anti-Pancasila discourses actually come from religious and cultural biases. Islam is a pure religion that also gives rise to various cultures, so later Islamic culture and Muslims cultures emerge. Islamic culture is influenced by Islamic teachings, while some Muslim cultures come from Islamic teachings and others come from other cultures, which may in contradiction with Islamic teachings themselves. Culture is concepts, ideas, and beliefs held by the community for a long time and guiding their behaviours in meeting their life necessities.

There is a principle that is easily remembered in this respect, that religion of Islam is pure in terms of mahdlah (directly oriented to God such as fasting) religious services, and that basically religious rites are forbidden except those which are ordered, meanwhile in terms of culture, mu’amalah, basically all societal cultures are allowed, except those which are forbidden (al ashlu fi al `adapt wa al mu`amalah al ibahah hatta takun dall fi buthlanihi). Therefore, in terms of (pure) religon, no creativity allowed for ummah, but in terms of culture, all cultures are indeed areas of creativity. State, sciences (including religious sciences), Pancasila, and constitution are parts of culture. Similarly, Islamic parties, Islamic societal organisations are products of culture. Even the concept of khalifah is a part of Islamic culture, so that character of khulafa rasyidin is different from those of khilafah of Bani Umaayyah and Abbasiyah. Islamic countries may have forms of kingdoms, republics, dynasties, and constitutional kingdoms, depending on the territorial conditions and creativity of the ummahs. Anti-Pancasila ideology is not an Islamic expression; its position is same as that of Communism that is also anti-Pancasila, those ideologies are parts of culture.

Avenues to the Truth
The truth isn’t always clearly seen like the sun, but it can exist in a far and hidden place so that to approach it we should pass the narrow alleys or climb steep hills. A book named Climbing to Allah which is translated form a book titled Madarij as Salikin, written by a famous salaf ulama, Ibn al Qayyim al Jauzy (691-751 Hijriyya, indicates a relation and distance between small and low man with The Most High God as The Source of Truth, so that man has to climb if he wants to approach Him. Result of the climbing can be that the climber becomes a person close to God (min al muqarrabin), or even unite with Him in existence (wahdah al wujud) or only look as if he unites with God (wahdat as Syuhud). His approaching Allah can be seen as a manifestation of man’s awareness to fulfil His call or can be understood as man disposition to approach like a fire that always move upward (taraqqi) since man, as believed by the concept of al Isyraqi, comes from God so that he has divine characters and always eager to long to return to Him.

According to al Jauzi, the spirit of climbing to Allah is within man’s comprehension on God as indicated in surah al Fatihah al Fatihah Iyyaka na`budu wa iyyaka nasta`in (only You we worship and only you we ask help to). Concentration and dependence with feelings of hope and worry) on Allah stimulate man to travel a long distance to meet Allah beloved, missed, and afraid of. Maulana Syekh Yusuf illustrates three avenues that can be passed in the travel, first, conventional avenues by following shariah routes (thariqah al Akhyar/thariqah as syar`i), second, avenue of zikr (thariqah ahl az Zikr), and, three, avenues that are full of difficulties (method of hurting oneself thariqah mujahidat as syaqaa). The long and climbing avenue is not easily passed, so that there are some stations (maqamats) as stairways (madarij) of achievement of the musafirin (travellers).

The long road to Allah is not an easy-straight avenue but it is full of obstacles and traps. Activists of various movements (harakah) mainly those who become victims of repressive rulers are often entrapped by so many misleading traps so that actually they should be seen as mujahidin but we may perceive them as criminals. The distance to the truth is so long that sufis formulate maqamats or stations, from station of tawbah to station of ridla, or maa’rifat or mahabbah. The hardest station for Muslims in general is the first station, the station of tawbah. The true tawbah (tawbah Nasuha) should fulfil three elements, which are (a) regretting the mistakes done in the past, (b) promising not to do the mistakes again, and (c) really not doing the mistakes again. The first two elements are relatively easy, but the third elements often become a hard obstacle for the person who wants to repent so that he can never pass the station.

Avenues to the Truth (1)

2007-12-10T23:42:00.001-08:00

Introduction to Stories from Underground: Forbidden Jihad.

Every Muslim has to believe that source of Islam is Al Quran and that Al Quran is a teaching of truth coming from the Most Truth God. Doubting the truth of Al Quran is a form of human stupidity since Al Quran revealed to the earth as a guidance for taqwa (pious) people is a holy book in which no doubt about its truth (la roiba fihi). Al Quran is the perfect truth coming from the Most Perfect God.Avenues to the Truth (1)
Introduction to Stories from Underground: Forbidden Jihad.

The problem that the man that has to absorb the perfect truth is not a perfect creature. Man is a creature who has limitations, even spiritual/psychological tools of man (mind, heart, and conscience) used to apprehend the truth are also unique, so that every person can have different perceptions on the same object, influenced by different ways of thinking, or different psychological situations. Therefore, truth based on man’s perceptions also depends on perspectives used. We possibly know following terms, “mathematical truth”, “logical truth”, “philosophical truth”, “social truth”, and “sufistic truth”. Logical truth can still be divided further since there are mathematical logic, social logic, and heavenly logic. We can try to understand religion based on logical, philosophical, social, and spiritual approaches, with very different outputs. It is not the religion as the object that is different, but the perceptions resulted because of the different approaches.

Truth Levels of Religion
In history of Indonesia’s politics, the implementation of Pancasila as the only foundation had caused continuous conflicts between Islamic organisations and the government, since some of the Islamic societal organisations regarded the implementation of principles Pancasila is a violation on religious beliefs. Some accidents sometime happened in which some Muslim students refused to participate in flag ceremonies, since they regarded giving salutation to a red-and-white flag is a syirik (polytheistic) action. We can see a remnant of this implementation of Pancasila as the only foundation in Indonesia in the case of Abu Bakar Basyir. In fact, the problem arose because of different perceptions; at what level a religion should be regarded as an absolute religion and at what level a religion regarded as not having absolute role. Based on perspective mentioned above, religion can be understood in five levels as follow:

1. Religion of Islam as meant by Allah
When we say that Islam is complete, perfect, holy, high, and nothing exceeds it (al Islamu ya`lu wa la yu`la `alaih), what we really mean by Islam at that level is the teaching of Islam as meant by Alllah himself. At this level, perfect and absolute truth of Islam is contained in the truth of Al Quran’s revelations. At this level, Islam is a concept of teachings contained in the holy book, not according to ulamas, nor according to what written in the books. The statement that Islam is perfect is completely right in this context.

2 Religion of Islam as exemplified by Prophet Muhammad
The concept of Islam is completely perfect and comes from the Most Perfect God. Then man who has to understand it, however, is not a perfect creature, since he has to try to perceive what he see or listen. Between the perfection of Islam and imperfection of man there is a wide gap. Therefore, man often has wrong perception and misunderstands religious teachings. In order to comprehend the perfect truth of Al Quran, examples are required. Muhammad as the messenger of God is an example of the truth of Al Quran, so it is said in a hadith that the Prophet’s akhlaq is Al Quran (kana khuluquhu al Qurân). As an exemplar of Islam, Nabi never did a significant mistake, since he was always under guidance of Allah. Whenever he did a mistake, he was then corrected immediately through Gabriel angel. Correction given to the Prophet is mentioned in Al Quran: 66:1. Therefore, the religion of Islam as exemplified by Prophet Muhammad is also absolutely right. If Al Quran is a theory, then Prophet Muhammad’s behaviours are the practice. In Islamic legal system, the Prophet’s hadith in some cases serve as the explanation of Al Quran, but in other cases serve to establish certain law, complementing Al Quran.

3. The religion of Islam as understood by the Prophet’s companions (shahabahs)
Prophet Muhammad gave examples on how to live rightly under the guidance of Al Quran’s revelations. The people living during his life (called the Prophet’s shahabahs) saw and imitated Prophet Muhammad’s behaviours. The shahabahs, however, had different abilities as ordinary men in perceiving examples given by Prophet Muhammad. Some of them were highly intelligent, while some other were intelligent and less intelligent. In terms of opportunities, some shahabahs were very closed to him, near or together with him almost everyday or every time, while others only met him for a while everyday, some other shahabahs only met him only once a week. Their different frequencies in meeting the Prophet made abilities of shahabahs in understanding the Prophet’s behaviours were also different. Some only imitated his behaviours, but people like Umar bin Chattab, for example, didn’t only imitate what they’ve seen from him but also comprehended the essences of the Messenger’s behaviours. Therefore, in various things Umar often had opinions different from those of others. At this level, religion of Islam is comprehension on the main sources, Al Quran and hadith. The shahabahs tried to understand Al Quran and to understand what exemplified by the Prophet.

Those different comprehensions create not-absolute truth. Religion of Islam at this level has truth that is not absolute, but since they were more closed to the Prophet and motivated by their love to him, comprehension’s of the shahabahs on Islam were more close to the truth. The importance of love of Allah and His prophet was appreciated by the Prophet by saying that “my shahabahs are like stars, you may seek obtain directions from any star” (ashabi ka an nujum, biayyi iqtadaitum ihtadaitum).

4. Religion of Islam as understood by ulamas
After all shahabahs and tabiin has passed away, we only have ulamas to be referred in terms of religious affairs. The ulamas understood Islam not directly from Prophet Muhammad or from his shahabahs, but from Al Quran and hadith and from religious traditions existing in the Islamic community. Therefore, the two sources were interpreted in one way or another. Some ulamas tended to be rationalistic, while some others tended to follow traditions. All opinions resulted from those interpretation also had possibilities to be wrong or right, and the opinions themselves were different and various. Therefore, in the period of early ulamas, various religious mazhabs (schools of thought) were born. In terms of fiqh, there were mazhabs Syafii, Hambali, Hanafi and Maliki, for example. These mazhabs also emerged in other disciplines. Like the shahabahs, some ulamas tended to be philosophy-oriented, while others tended to be tradition-oriented. Ulamas lived in big cities such as Bagdad and Basrah tend to think rationally. They developed method for comprehending religion (usul fiqh) by using a logical approach. They did ijtihad by proposing logical arguments (dalil ‘aqly) in accordance with many demands of big cities (metropolises) in which new problems arose everyday, requiring dynamic responds. Meanwhile, ulamas living in agrarian cities tended to follow religious traditions adopted for a long time ago by subordinating logical arguments. In disciples of fiqh and tafsir (interpretation), these two main groups, the rational ahl ar raâyi ulama group and traditional ahl al atsar ulama group, were evident.

At this level, the process of comprehending religion (Islam) not only developed in terms of law (fiqh), but also in terms of theology (kalam or tawhid), tassawuf, and philosophy. Since the process of comprehending religion (Islam) was interpretative, no absolute truth there. Ulamas even always ended their opinions or beliefs by saying that only Allah knows which opinions were the correct ones, Wallahu a`lamu bis sawab. As noted in the history, sciences in this period developed very rapidly, and at that time almost seven centuries of world history was almost identical with Islamic history, and at the same period, the western world was still in the dark period.

5. Religion of Islam as a tradition of Islamic community
As time goes on, not all Muslims have the opportunity to study Islam from its main sources, Al Quran and hadith, but through religious teachers who having different scientific standards. A lot of people in the past embraced Islam only because their parents or people around them had embraced Islam. At that time, religious comprehension of the community tended to be traditional. Tradition of Islamic communities didn’t always manifest the correct Islamic teachings. It is not impossible that traditions of Islamic communities were in contradiction with the Islamic teachings themselves. Therefore, Muslims should observe traditions critically, good traditions may be maintained, while traditions in contradiction with Islam should be eliminated.

Wisdom

2007-12-10T23:39:00.001-08:00

Despotic is understood as placing something not in its right place, while wise is understood as placing something exactly in its right place. Professional thieves deserve to be imprisoned in accordance with certain law articles, that’s indeed just. It is not wise, I think, if the imprisoned ones are hungry people who are forced to steal foods.

Intelligent people are not always wise people too. Wisdom is only owned by people who are not only intelligent but who also have a wide insight and a lot of experiences. Success may strengthen motivation, but it doesn’t always create wisdom. On the contrary, continuous failures may create a wise character. Therefore, young people are usually strong, swift, and strict but they are not always wise, but older people having a lot experiences, of failures and of successes, are able to act wisely.

Character and Temperament

2007-12-10T23:37:00.000-08:00

Some of behaviours come from one’s characters, while other behaviours come from his temperament. What are differences between those two? Temperament is the mode of one’s reactions to various stimuli coming from his environment or from within himself. One’s temperament has a close relation with his biopsychology conditions, so it can hardly change and is neutral to good/bad judgements. Meanwhile, character has a close relation with of good/bad judgements of one’s behaviours based on various parameters held by the society. Characters are formed during one‘s life experience, so that it can change. Temperament doesn’t have any ethical implication; meanwhile character often becomes an object of ethical judgements.

Some people may have temperaments that are in contradiction with their own characters. A person can have a bad temperament while his/her character is good. If his temperament is at work, he tends to act negatively. Later he will regret it and ashamed of what he had done, although this bad temperament tends to reappear. Furthermore, a person who has a bad character but has a good temperament is usually able to hide his bad character from others. Deceivers usually have good temperaments but their characters are bad. The worst is a bad-character person who also has a bad temperament.

Permanent characters will form a personality. According to Freud, man’s personality consists of three pillars, which are Id, Ego, and Super Ego, or animal, intellectual, and moral elements. Behavior, in Freud’s opinion, is an interaction among those three pillars. Freud concludes, however, that human is a Homo Volens, a creature who has wishes and that his behaviors are controlled by wishes hidden in his subconscious mind. This conclusion underestimates man’s dignity.

According to Islam, personality is an interaction among soul (nafs), heart (qalb), mind (`aql), and conscience (bashirah) qualities. Personality, in addition to being provided with inborn tendencies and genetic heritage from one’s parents, is also formed through a long process during his lifetime, including internalisation of values, knowledge’s, and experiences in his self. In this perspective, religious faith one obtains from knowledge’s and experiences also enters his personality structure. A Muslim with a strong Muslim personality can’t enjoy the delicious of pork, although it has been cooked in accordance with his taste. A Muslim with a strong Muslim personality can’t enjoy the property obtained through corruption. He also always awakes from his sound sleep if he hasn’t done his Isha prayer yet.
Obviously, every Muslim has a different Muslim personality quality. The quality itself isn’t necessarily constant. Sometime it is firm, intact, and prime. But in other times it can be distorted by influences coming from sources other than his religion.

What is Love?

2007-12-10T23:33:00.000-08:00

What is Love?
Love is one of characters of Allah, the Most Great God. Therefore, within love, there is greatness, the greatness of love. Man is ordered to follow akhlaq of Allah. Regarding love, a person who has a love feeling and can love others is a noble person.

Love, however, has levels. According to Imam al Ghazali, there are four levels of love qualities:

1. At the first level a person only love himself/herself. All goodness only measured based on his/her interests. This is the lowest-quality love.

2. At the second level, a person loves another only as long as the other provides benefits for him/her. If the benefits of love is no longer exist, then the love ends. Love at this level is a “traders’ love” or “transactional love”.

3 At the third level, a person loves another, although he may be not benefited by his beloved one. Love at this level is a noble love.

4 At the fourth level, a person loves true goodness apart from whoever brings the goodness. This is love at the highest level, and they who have this kind of love can love Allah, since Allah is the goodness an sich.

Wisdom and Age

2007-12-10T23:29:00.001-08:00

As mentioned previously, it is old people who are usually able to think and act wisely, but there is a psychology theory stating some characteristics of man in interpersonal communications. For example, there is a person with an important position but people in general don’t respect him, while there is an ordinary person who is socially honourable. Furthermore, there is a intelligent person whose advices never be considered, while there is a person with average intelligence to whom others often consult about various things.

According to a role theory, there are three characteristics of man:
Children. Children don’t understand responsibility, tend to be spoiled, if they ask for something, they want to get it soon, otherwise they will mope or weep and roll over the floor. We can take them as they are.

Adults. They tend to be to the point and understand responsibility. When they think they’re able to do something, they will say so. On the contrary, when they think they’re not able they will say it. If failed in doing their tasks, they would usually ready for the consequences.

The elder people. Dominant things among the elder people among others are understanding and forgiving. They understand flaws of younger people and tend to forgive other’s mistakes.

The problem is that getting older is a certainty, but becoming adult is a choice. We sometimes see a young person whose attitude like his elders (mature), instead, we also sometimes see elder people acting childish.

Strategic Steps in Developing Families of the Nation.
Based on assumption that in its one century old of age (in 2045) the nation of Indonesian will have to had manifested itself to be a nation of sakinah families, strategic steps as continuation of or correction on reforms that should be planned are as follow.

1. Guaranteeing the implementation of good governance. The character of a good governance among others is people participation, arranged by a system to, supervise the governing activities so that information on all things regarding governance can be accessed by the public (transparent), so that not only the window of participation will open but political processes in all strata of the government will proceed in accordance to their schedules, not stagnant. If the system is effective, then a clean government will manifest itself. This has something to do with culture of openness that should be socialised, as a contrast with feudalism that is tending to keep secrets. Javanese feudalistic culture in the new order government has made corruption practices like an iceberg phenomenon, widespread but difficult to prove. Removing feudalistic culture in the government is done by clearly separating state (public) affairs from personal affairs. Secrecy of personal life is respected, but governmental affairs should be things that can be accessed by the public, and it is indeed a right of the public to get informed on them. Regarding family lives, matters between a husband and his wife are secrets “concealed in a closed room” not to be known by other members of the family, but policies and economy on the family should be understood by all members of the family.

2. Enhancing security in the society and defence of all of Republic of Indonesia’s territories. These have something to do with professionalism and dignities of The Police and the Army Forces. Professionalism’s of those two institutions have something to do with education and equipment required. Meanwhile, their dignities have something to do with recruitment and career position guidance systems. Transparent and logical education and recruitment systems will lead to spirit of dedication. On the contrary, education and recruitment systems burdened by corruption, collusion, and nepotism will produce officers who are easily seduced to become oppressors, “Mafia” members, and crime backers. Furthermore, sufficient equipment will enhance personnel self-esteem and effectiveness of tasks in accordance with large amount of population and the total width of all Indonesia’s territories.

3. Enhancing National Economy in a Democratic Way. The government should have a strong will to enhance the national economy through the spirit of siding with common people. National economy policies should make a balance between accepting free trade, as a consequence of globalisation, and protecting national interests. Even USA as a developed country still protects its national economic interests.

4. Enhancing commitment of law enforcement. This should be done by making a balance between improving law apparatuses and indiscriminate law enforcement. We should learn from China in which strict law enforcement on political elite has drastically reduced crime level and has improved economical welfare spectacularly only within a decade. We should develop and strengthen pillars of democracy, and distribute clearly separated tasks and authorities among the governments, representative institutions, and judicature institutions.

5. Determining national educational strategy oriented to be implemented within 50 years from now. It should be admitted that existing generation is a product of wrong education system of the past and that its negative impacts on qualities of human resources will not disappear within the next 10-20 years. China has always been sending its students abroad, although only 10% of them are returning, the rest are still living and working abroad. Chinese immigrants are not regarded as traitors of the country; instead, the emergence of Chinatowns in many countries is an advantage for China’s economy in the global economy system. Meanwhile, India implements an educational strategy in form of providing a huge educational budget only for 10% of the population. As the result, 10% of 1 billion of India’s population or 100 millions people are highly educated human resources, and they are dominant in the skilful workers market in developed countries and in middle-level trades in various countries, meanwhile our human resources are losing in their own country’s competitions and only sending servant abroad. In the period of petrodollar about 30 years ago, Malaysia didn’t use its money to develop buildings but to send their youth abroad to study, while we used up the money for developing “jungles of concrete” in various cities, while budget for education was still 10% from the total national budget. At present, Malaysia is enjoying qualities of their human resources while we are lamenting over qualities of our human resources.

6. Intensifying international diplomacy. As a great nation, Indonesia should often participate in international forums, respond important occurrences around the world, and play an active role in collective efforts of creating world peace. Initiative of Hasyim Muzadi (Chairman of PBNU) to act as a mediator in Thailand conflict should be admittedly praised. The paradigm of placing of ambassadors as a form of respect and exile for senior officials should be replaced by paradigm of diplomacy and forming a new cadre of diplomats. Ambassadors should not necessarily consist of older people, but they may be also consisting of younger people. Ambassadors shouldn’t also always perform “gracefully” but they also may or should become a kind of “salesmen” of domestic products.

7. Continuing National Reconciliation. We should learn from mistakes in the past as an invaluable learning, as a basis for preparing the nation’s future, and then we should dare to determine that from this day our past is closed and from now on all policies should be oriented to future programmes.

Opportunistic 2

2007-12-10T23:26:00.000-08:00

Five Positive Opportunistic Attitudes

In terms of corruption, opportunistic is negative, but Prophet Muhammad introduces us five good opportunistic attitudes. One of the Prophet Muhammad’s hadith said Ightanim khomsan qobla khomsin; Make use five opportunities before other five opportunities come.

1.Hayataka qobla mautika. Your life before your death, use your life as productive as possible, since only as long as one still lives he can invest for his happiness in the day after. When he is dead, he is no longer productive, except for three things: amal jariah (good deeds), useful knowledge’s, and prayers of his pious children. Therefore, while we still live, do good deeds as much as possible, good deeds whose benefits will be durable and enjoyed by a lot of people, for example, building bridges, roads, schools buildings, mosques, and hospitals. Teach your knowledge to others, then as long as others apply your knowledge’s, you will get the rewards. Educate your children to become pious children, since only prayers of pious children that will be certainly granted by God.

2.Syababaka qobla haramika. Your youth before your old age. While you are still young, not forgetful yet, use your youth to study and work hard, since studying in one’s youth is like painting on stones, not easily disappear, while studying in one’s old age is like painting on the water, you will soon forget what you had studied. You should work hard in your youth as a kind of infestation, so that in your old age you will enjoy the fruits of the trees you had planted in your youth. When one becomes forgetful, he will be weak like a child, become stupid like before he went into school.

3.Shihhataka qobla saqamika. Your health before your sickness. Healthy doesn’t only mean enjoyment but also opportunity. When he is healthy, one can do a lot of things, can overcome many troubles and can collect reserves to be used whenever he’s sick. Healthy is an enjoyment that we seldom realise, only after we are sick, we realise that healthy is highly meaningful.

4.Ghinaka qobla faqrika. Having things before losing those things. While you have a lot of things, still rich, not bankrupt yet, use your properties for doing useful things for common people, family, neighbours, and the society in general, since when you get bankrupt will not able to give almost anything, and then you realise the meaning of rich people’s contributions. One of characters of rich people is that they virtually don’t have any necessity and have capabilities to give things. If one has already owned a lot of things but his necessities are more than things he own so that he’s not able to give things to the poor, and instead he take things from them, such a person is actually not a rich person. Therefore, there is a rich person who has a poor heart, and there is a poor person who has a rich heart. A person with a rich heart can give 4000 rupiahs from 5000 rupiahs he owns. Therefore, once again, do a lot of useful things while you’re still rich.

5.Sa`atika qobla dloiqika. Your spare time before your busy time. While you still have a lot of times and opportunities, not in a hurry yet, use those opportunities to do the best things. Opportunity seldom comes twice, so make use of the opportunity immediately. Don’t wrongly choose something and don’t make a wrong decision when the opportunity is still open. A lot of people wrongly use opportunities in times of troubles, ending up in a long regret, brief enjoyments that will lead to continuous miseries. Be aware of the beginning of an opportunity coming to you. Wallahu a`lamu bissawab.

Opportunistic (1)

2007-12-10T23:22:00.000-08:00

Java culture recognises supernatural powers. A person with supernatural power is one who has ability to face certain constraints with extraordinary ways, for example, he is invulnerable and can’t be wounded by bullets or sharp weapons, or he can walk on the water. Some of supernatural powers are regarded as coming from power within one’s own self; some others are believed to be inherent in certain things. Those things with supernatural powers are called jimats (charms) from the Arabic word “‘azimat”. Those things are, among others, creeses, rings, and yellow irons. Those who want to get the supernatural power usually collect those kinds of things as much as possible. Political leaders wants charms intended to strengthen their powers, criminals interest in charms intended to cheat their to-be victims, lazy persons desire charms which can be used to obtain properties without working, and coquettish persons look for charms to attract certain people from the other sex.

This way of thinking stressing on “shortcuts” is also implemented by bureaucracy officers who tend to enrich themselves by using “shortcuts”, using certain strategies in manipulating regulations, deviating from rules, or recklessly breaking the rules to gain a lot of money shortly. This practice is called corruption. Those corrupting officers’ focus of attention is how to gain properties as much as possible while they still own authorities, while they still in their positions. Since there is similarity between their way of thinking and way of thinking of those people with supernatural powers used in handling certain constraints in extraordinary ways, then the “skill” of those corrupter is called “charm of opportunity” meaning opportunistic, making use existing opportunities as much as possible while still possessing powers.

Those having the charms of opportunities are intelligent in terms of certain numbers, but they are not intelligent in terms of space and time. They are intelligent in calculating amount of money that they can embezzle, but they are not intelligent in terms of the places that they will have to live in and how long they will be in uncomfortable situations. Just imagine an ex-officer who had the “charm of opportunity”, he may have had 25 houses in Jakarta, billions rupiahs of deposits, but when he achieves the elder ages after getting retired he is sued to be responsible for his “charm of opportunity” he had had when has was in position. In climax, no one of the houses he can live in, since then he has to stay in a small room of a prison for seven years. Imagine, in his elder days he should have been living happily with his grand children, but instead he has to spend his time in a narrow room of a prison.

Just

2007-12-10T22:50:00.000-08:00

“Just” means “placing something or someone in its proper place”, placing wrong people in the group of wrong people and placing right people in the group of right people. Legal justice is usually measured through various legal articles and paragraphs, so that how long a criminal should be punished is determined based on the articles of Criminal Code. However, legal justice should be distinguished from sense of justice. Justice based on Criminal Code doesn’t necessarily guarantee sense of justice.

A chicken thief can be imprisoned for six months, meanwhile a corrupter abusing 100 million rupiahs, equal to price of about twenty thousand chickens, can avoid traps of legal articles, since he is skilful in manipulating those legal articles. Character of justice is balance, so that symbol of a legal institution is a balance. Balance is character of the nature created by the Most Just God. If mankind damage the balance of the nature, then disasters will strike them. Similarly, unjust rulers will have impacts in forms of disasters striking their citizens. Opposite of just is despotic (zalim)

Zalim comes for Arabic dzolama - yadzlimu – dzulmun - dzulumat- dzalim-madzlum whose basic meaning is dark. A despotic person is a person whose behaviours like those of a person in darkness who doesn’t or can’t place someone or something in his/its proper place, for example punishing innocent people, abusing state money, taking other’s wife although he had had his own wife. In daily.

WHAT TO DO WHEN VISITING SICK PERSONS

2007-10-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

Man experiences ups and downs in his life, he is sometimes happy but at other times he is sad. Sometimes he is lucky, while other times he is unlucky. He is healthy sometimes and sick at other times. Among man's happiness is getting help when he is in troubles, getting easiness when he is in difficulties, and visited by his relatives and friends when he is sick. Visiting a sick person is a good deed that will be greatly rewarded by Allah.

Rasulullah once said a sentence whose meaning is:
"When one visits a sick person or visit a friend having a same religion, then a call (from Allah) is heard: 'you are a kind-hearted man, your going is good, and you have been building your own palace in the heaven'." (Hadith of Muslim)

In visiting a sick person, Islam gives us following guidance as follow:
1. Pray for the sick person that he will get healthy back soon, when visiting him. A prayer exemplified by Messenger of Allah is "La ba`sa `alaika, tahu run insyaa Allah".

The meaning is "don't be worry about your sickness, insya Allah (because of your sickness) you will be a person who are cleaned from sins. (Hadith of bukhari)

2. Place right hand on the sick person's forehead by praying:
Allahumma rabbun na si, azhib al ba`sa, wa asyfi anta as Sya fi, la syifa a illa syifa uka syifa an la yugha diru saqaman.

The meaning is: O Allah, God who created man, please eliminate his sickness, O Allah please heal him/her, since You're the Most Healer, no healing without healing from You, a healing which doesn't leave any sickness (Hadith of Bukhari).

2. Don't visit a sick person in a too-long time, since it may be disturbing the sick person or his family

3 . The visitations should be done repeatedly if the sick person wishes them, so that he will feel that others pay him attention.

4. Ask the sick person to be patient and ridla (acquiesced) to decisions and fate of Allah. Give him/her hope that he will probably recover his/her health and remind him not to be hopeless and not to hope to die soon, although his/her sickness may be so heavy. The Messenger of Allah once said "Don't any one of you hope to die soon because of a disaster happening to him."

However, if dead is indeed the best condition in this case, it is recommended that we pray as follow:
Allahumma ahyini ma ka nat al haya tu khairan li wa tawaffani iza ka nat al wafa tu khairan li.

The meaning is: O Allah, let me still alive if live is indeed better for me, or please let me die, if die is indeed better for me (muttafaq 'alaih)
6. It is a sunna for the sick person to recall the good deeds that he/she has already done. This is to encourage the sick person to confirm his husnuzzon (positive thinking) to Allah. In addition, he should also remember the hikmah of his sickness as gift of Allah to erase his sins, to increase his rewards, and to elevate his position.

7. It is recommended that the sick person increases his zikr to Allah and that he doesn't forget to declare testament/will to his family, especially regarding debt matters, things that are amanat (mandate) of others, or declare to bequeath parts of his property to the way of Allah.

TAHAJJUD PRAYER: UNITING LOVE WITH THE BENEFICENT GOD

2007-10-23T22:55:00.001-07:00

Tahajjud (al hujud) itself in the perspective of lughawi means to sleep. Meanwhile, the meaning of the term "tahajjud prayer" is a sunnat prayer done after sleeping at night. Unlike istikharah prayer and hajat prayer whose communication materials with Allah are already definitive, tahajjud prayer is done not because of any conceptualised wish, but it is a prayer that really has a function as a media for approaching Allah, taqarrub ilallah. Tahajjud prayer is a time in which a slave wants to express his longing, devotion, intimacy to God, The Creator. Tahajjud prayer is a forum between two lovers, a longing mukmin, with Allah (The Beneficent). Therefore, ethically tahajjud prayer is done while others sleeping soundly and not done together (in a jamaah) so that the atmosphere between the two isn't disturbed.

In the tahajjud prayer, a lover may cry, laugh, complain, and unite his love. Tahajjud prayer is really is a plus (nafilah) of a slave's obedience to his God. Other prayers have definitive amounts of rakaats, while tahajjud prayer may be done in accordance the necessity of the person doing it, depending on the person uniting his love, depending on how long his longing to meet his lover is met. Tahajjud prayer may be done in 2, 20, or 100 rakaats, depending on its level of intimacy (al inbisath wa al âuns). In the tahajjud prayer a mukmin may travel crossing the border between this world and the unlimited spiritual world, in what may be called the mikraj of a mukmin.

Journey to the spiritual world
Journey here means that one is departing in searching for something, but in this case also means returning to the original place. In the first meaning, one is more influenced by his wish, while in the second, one is more influenced by his belief. Invisible world means the area that can't be seen. Things can't be seen since they are blocked by space and time or blocked by different dimensions. The invisible world is the world behind the visible world. The visible world can be detected by technology, while the invisible world can be detected only spiritual tools. Dream world, barzakh world (the world in the grave) and the day-after world are invisible worlds. Peak of the invisibilities is the Most Invisible, Allah.
We can travel to the dream world, we can even arrange a kind of "teleconference" in this dream world, but the travel can't be confirmed except by the one experiencing it. There are two kinds of dreams, ruâya al haqq and adhghotsu ahlam. The first is guaranteed to be right and has a kind of reason, while the second kind has no reason and doesn't cause any belief. Spiritual travelling may lead us to the destination, but we also can mislead in it. Therefore, a musafir (traveller) should equip himself with map and compass and a guide (mursyid) if required. Artists, shaman, philosophers, and mutadayyin can be these spiritual travellers.

Returning to the blessing of Allah
Returning refers to original place, therefore returning to the blessing of Allah (to die) means return to one's original place, in the lap of Allah, the Merciful. The phrase "returning to the blessing of Allah" is inspired by the sentence "inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji`un", verily we are belong to Allah and we will go back to Him. However, there are some people intentionally program their lives to go back to him, while some others never program their lives and then feel shocked when suddenly "drawn from the circulation" or die.

Why we returning to the blessing of Allah?
The concept of returning comes from the concept of creation. There are two theories explaining how mankind is created, which is al faidh (endowment) theory and isyraqi (shining) theory. According to the first theory, man is an endowment and blessing of Allah. Allah has abundant blessings, one of them is mankind. Furthermore, there are men themselves have different doses of affections. The peaking power of blessing in mankind causes a longing to return to the blessing of Allah.

Meanwhile, according to the second theory, man is the shining of light (nur) of Allah. Therefore, in man there is a power of truth light that can't lie, we call it nurani. As a creation of The Most Perfect God, man is tajalli (manifestation) of blessing of Allah. Therefore, Allah is the Holy and there are aspects of holiness in man. Allah is the Beneficent and the Merciful, so that there is affection in man. Allah is the Most Great, so that in man the trait of overly proud (takabbur) sometimes emerges. Essentially, all traits of Allah (the Most Perfect) show their traces imperfectly in man He creates.

Like the sun heat that always tries to return to its original heat up there, consciously or unconsciously man often longs to return to his original light, Allah. The programmed journey of returning is called taqarrub ilallah, approaching Allah.

Three Ways of Returning
If we realise that we have to return to God, then we have to consider the route map, which route to pass: shortcuts, highway, or alternative road.

1. Highway. Highway is an ordinary, conventional road whose direction and traffics are clear, so we don't need any guide. This kind of highway in the science of tassawuf is called thoriqat al akhyar (the road of good persons) or also may be called thariqat as syar`i (the shariah road).

2. Shortcut. Shortcut here means a not-complicated road, it may be shorter that the highway but it takes an extra power. This kind of road in tassawuf is called thariqat ahl az zikr, the road of master of zikr. The master of zikr's way of thinking is similar to political way of thinking. If we want to quickly arrive to destination, then we have to own access to political rulers or to be perceived as political supporters. If we want to pass crowd of PDI mass safely, just shout "Long live Megawati, then we will pass them safely. If we want to pass crowd of PKS mass, just shout "Long live Adang Dani, then we will pass the crowd safely. If we want to pass crowd of PKB mass, just shout "Long live Gus Dur", and we will pass safely, and so on. However, the real ruler of this world is Allah, then if we want to be safe in approaching Him, just do zikr uttering His names, then we will be safe.

3. Alternative road. This road is usually farther, but we can see many beautiful sights during the trip. Some people wouldn't mind to pass the alternative road. Although it is far and hard, but they feel happy passing it. According to the science of tassawuf this road is called mujahadat as syaqa, a road full of difficulties. They who choose this road are ashamed of sleeping in the bed, eating delicious foods, wearing luxury clothes, travelling by planes since they feel that they don't sufficiently thank to God who had given them feet and other things. They do hajj by riding bicycles or by walking. In essential, they choose the hard ways but they enjoy them.

Climbing Stairway to Approach Allah
The word "climbing" here refers to a position, that man is low and Allah is the Most High, therefore man has to climb to approach Him. Position of Allah is so high and so far so that we can't approach Him only through one trip. We have climb through stairs or through stations or maqamats. The stations are

1. Station of Tawbah with three tickets we have to buy:
a. Ticket of repentance
b. Ticket of promise
c. Ticket of proof
After buying these three tickets, we will find the second station:

2. Station of Zuhud; with requirements:
a. Keep away from material world
b. Live a simple life
c. Don't be seduced by world delight and material delight
After passing station Zuhud, we will pass the following station, which is

3. Station of Wara` with a characteristic that here we keep away for syubhat (doubtful) things.
Then we will the next station:

4. Station of Faqr, with characteristics
a. low level of basic necessities
b. don't ask for anything except as necessary
c. don't ask for a thing although we don't have it

5. Station of Patience (Sabar)
a. Patient in doing religious services
b. Patient in facing disasters
c. Patient in doing obligations
Patience here is tolerating by not complaining or upset:
- in facing trials and obstacles
- for a certain period
-in order to achieve a goal

6. Station of Tawakkal
Here we:
a. Completely surrender to God's will
b. Do not necessities (materials) for the future
c. Feel sufficient about things that are available at present
d. Feel restful although don't have much things
e. If we have something, we feel that other may need it more

7. Big Station for al Muqarrabin
After passing through the stairway of stations (maqamat), we will arrive at the last station of the journey that contain of ma'ridat, ridlaa, and love. Those who have achieved this stage are categorised as persons who are near to Allah (al muqarrabin). The three conditions only can be known through spiritual experiences.
Ridla means happy and satisfied about any thing given by God, so that person who is ridla always be cheerful and bright.

Ma'rifat means familiar with someone, not only knowing him/her.
Love. If we are familiar with someone, we may be in love with him/her. If we love someone, everything coming from the beloved one will always make us happy.
When climbing, a mutasawwif feels fear God and worries about Him, but after get closer to Him, he feels that Allah is not a God who tends to be angry to His slaves, but a God who loves and cares about His slaves. Therefore, his fear disappears and instead of it, his love feeling to God emerges. In the station of Ridla, his love to God is burning in his heart, at that time a mutasawuf arrives at the station of live, and he becomes a sufi.

Characteristics of his love are
1. Obeying God and hating any attitude against Him
2. Surrendering himself to God the Beloved One
3. Empty his heart from anything else that the Beloved One.

In the highest level, the sufis unite with God, like mentioned in the following conditions:
Ittihad, man succeeds in achieving the highest level so that he unites with his God, after experiencing fana dan baqa

Hulul, God chooses His selected servants in whom He manifests His divine traits or characteristics. In tassawuf, terms "nasut" and "lahut" are known. Nasut is divine traits, while lahut is humane traits. God has nasut and lahut, meanwhile man has lahut and nasut. Al Hallaj and Syekh Siti Jenar once experienced the hulul. Allah Hall once said "I am the Truth (ana al Haqq) or I am Allah. Sufis who has achieved this level are called insan kamil, the perfect persons.

This level is also called wahdatul wujud or wahdatus syuhud. The first terms means uniting in existence, while the second terms means they (God and man) seem as if they are in union but in fact they are not.

SUCCESSION IN IBN KHALDUN UNIVERSITY

2007-10-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

Ibn Khaldun who lived various places in Tunis, Granada, and Egypt (1332-1406) is often called one of persons who built the basics of Sociology. Although the fourteenth century is named the century of Neo-Hambalisme in which Ibn Taimiyyah and his disciples made sure the victory of Neo Hambalism against scholastic theology and philosophy and Muslim intellectuals began to become dim, Ibn Khaldun-and Mullah Shadra-was the exception. Mulla Shadra was very influential in the East, while Ibny Khaldun possessed major influence in the West. The scientist who was once offered by Timur Lengk to live in his palace was not only rich in his scientific ideas, but also was also rich in public (and legal) experiences. That kind of richness caused Ibn Khaldun's theories of historical philosophy and political sociology were practical or earthly. Strong basics of his knowledge in geography, politics, and culture caused him to understand the sunatullah of changes in society, so that he accepted monarchic political system as a natural thing.

One of Ibn Khaldun's theories is very interested if it is used in analysing Indonesian history. In his Muqadimmah (Introduction), Ibn Khaldun proposed following five stages of a country's life: (1) stage of consolidation in which the country's authority based on democracy is supported by the society (`ashabiyyah), (2) stage of tyranny, (3) stage of misusing the country's authority for the sake of the ruler's interests, (4) stage of safeguarding in which various threats emerges and the ruler regards critical groups as enemies, and (5) stage of collapse in which the ruling system no longer functions.

In Ibn Khaldun's opinion, those stages cause three generations to emerge: (1) Developing Generation that with all of their simplicity and sincere solidarity obey authority of the power they support (2) Enjoying Generation, those who are economically and politically benefited in the power system. They aren't sensitive to the interests of the nation and the country any longer. (3) Generation who doesn't care about their own country. They can do anything they like without considering their country's fate. If a nation/country has reached this stage, then collapse of the country as a sunnatullah will possibly happen immediately, and according to Ibn Khaldun this process will happen for about one century.

An interesting thing happening in Indonesia as a nation in the perspective of the theory of Ibn Khaldun mentioned above is that the three generations are now existing in the same time after only about a half decade of independence. At present we still can see a lot of people representing the 45 generation which can be categorised as the first category. The megacase of corruption, collusion, and nepotism in Pertamina, Bank Bali case, and architects of various social riots in various areas, and so on are indicators of existences of the second and third generations.

Ibn Khaldun, like Rousseau, believes that a society that was originally good or at least neutral can be damaged by civilisation. In nomadic condition, a society tends to be male, wealthy, and aggressive. It is the established urban civilisation that causes it to be sluggish, passive, and languid, provoking invasion(s) causing the society to fall into a prey. It is very interested to find out that at this time the Indonesian societies can be categorised into five groups in terms of advancement (1) societies living in ultra modern condition in big cities (2) modern societies, (3) traditional societies in rural areas, (4) backward societies such as alienated tribes, (5) societies "living in stone age" like those living in certain rural areas in West Irian. We can imagine how social orders of those Indonesian societies will be damaged if they have to receive uniform global culture packages through electronic media.

Indonesians appreciate Ibn Khaldun among other by name two universities after him: Jakarta University of Ibnu Khaldun and Bogor University of Ibnu Khaldun. Although Indonesians often find difficulties in national leadership successions, there is an excellent example of leadership succession in Bogor University of Ibn Khaldun. Since the head of the university position was held by AM Saifuddin, the leader positions are not longer "sacral" but totally functional. Position exchanges from rector of university to dean or assistant rector and vice versa happen systematically and without any psychological burden. Rais Ahmad who was previously the rector of the university without any psychological burden became the assistant rector of the university in the next period. However, the example provided by Ibn Khaldun university is indeed less spectacular that case of Khalid bin Walid, who knightly accepted the decision of Khalifah Umar bin Khattab degrading him from the commander position he held before to become an usual soldier.

When Do Love Come?

2007-10-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

Since love is original condition (fitrah) of the heart then the love feeling grows together with the function of the heart as a psychological instrument. Some people become adult (falling in love in this case) quickly, but most of them are normal in terms of love feeling, while some others grows lately. In an 8-10 year person, vaguely love feeling to the opposite sex begins to appear although it was often denied. In the first period of puberty (15-17 year), love feeling often emerges and looks for object. A teenager/child in puberty ages who haven't found another person in the opposite sex as his/her love object will get restless from time to time. It doesn't mean, however, that when the teenager finds his love object his/her heart will be restful, since love in the puberty time is like a flaring fire or rolling waves. Puberty love is burning but not established yet, so it is easily broken and changed with another love object. It is beautiful, seducing, but also flaring. It is very rare that pubertal love leads to a marriage.

After the first puberty, in age of 21-25, the love feeling emerges usually is an established feeling. It may emerge because of the first sight, or because of daily interactions.

Love at the First Sight
Love at the first sight is usually triggered by the meeting of certain elements of attraction and certain tastes. The attraction may be coming from the whole figure of someone, or from his deadly glance, his charming smile, his sweet voice, or his very impressing distinctive behaviour. In this case, these distinctive or unique attractions meet a person with distinctive taste. Love can't be scientifically analysed since love isn't part of any science, but it is a part of feeling.
It is difficult to explain the sweetness of sugar as much as it is difficult to analyse the thundering of love. One who has felt the sweetness of sugar, although he can't explain it scientifically, but the sweetness of sugar becomes a haqqul yaqin (very strong belief) which can't be broken by any argument saying that sugar isn't sweet. Likewise, one who has felt the sweetness love will not listen to judgements of others that are based on various analyses.

Love at the first sight is usually sincere, pure, and not sex-connoted. Meanwhile, attractions of chapped-lips, sleek forehead, hip, breast, calves, and so on usually do not cause love at the first sight, but are merely sexual attractions.

Love through Intensive Interaction
Love also can grow because of long communications, for example love between two students attending lectures together, two partners at work, two persons coming from a same distant area, two friends with same problems, or even between a master's son and his servant. Two persons previously hating each other after a long interaction may become love each other. Why? Long interaction, mainly interaction among those facing same or similar problems will show the true characters a person, whether the person is understanding, honest, loyal, or not. Daily living for a long time will change cognitive recognition into affective recognition so that if a person is already known as a charming person then comfort, cheerfulness, and tranquillity will felt during together with him/her. On the contrary, feelings of losing and loneliness will emerge if two persons in love with each other have to separate, and if they have to wait any longer, a missing feeling will disturb them. This psychological process cause in their hearts the beauty of feeling and imagine of hopeful future will probably be created in each of them. Love also may emerge between two persons who often write letters, phone, or chat through the Internet with each other although they haven't met with each other since voices and expression of words may penetrate hearts and cause love to grow.

Inspiration of Love
Love also can grow through inspiration. Inspiration here means an idea suddenly and strongly implanted in the heart. Such an inspiration can be preceded by meetings, by introduction of various ideas through readings, or by dreams. A girl can suddenly fall in love with a leader after seeing him makes a speech, and after it the leader can't disappear from her heart, dominating all of her feelings, at nights he becomes her dreams, at days he becomes her remembrances. There may be a reader who often read a book or novel of a writer. The reader actually had read his books, interested in and admiring his writings. Then at a time her feeling suddenly becomes love, love to the writer, although she hasn't met him.

Inspiration also can come from dreams. According to an interpretation of Al Quran, once upon a time Zulaikha, a daughter of a Yemen governor was planned to marry to a princess, but she refused the plan since she had dreamed of marrying a food affairs minister of a Pharaoh kingdom in Egypt. She was so charmed by the figure the Egyptian minister at her dream. His father accepted the idea and went to Egypt to meet a minister of food affairs. The minister welcomed the dream of the beautiful girl of Yemen. However, Zulaikha was surprised knowing that her to-be husband was so different with the one she had met at her dream.

The minister she had seen in her dream was handsome and very young, while the minister who would marry him was an old widower. Feeling ashamed, Zulaikhan didn't dare to refuse to marry him, then she indeed married him and later was brought to Egypt as a minister's wife. Years gone by but they didn't have any child yet. Once upon a time when they were travelling, they found a child named Yusuf who had been thrown into a well and even sold as a slave by his brothers. Zulaikha advised her husband to buy the slave and to treat him as an adopted child. Life went on and Yusuf grew as a handsome teenager taken care by Zulaikha. Zulaikha passionately interested in the very charming Yusuf, let also her husband had already very old.
Zulaikha's seductions were not successful, but according to the interpretation later Yusuf was imprisoned to protect good reputation of the minister's wife. After he had been imprisoned for years, the truth revealed itself.

Yusuf was declared to be not guilty, and Zulaikha admitted that she had been stuck on him. In brief, later Zulaikha's husband passed away. The king noticed that Yusuf had an extraordinary intelligence, so that he was later appointed to replace Zulaikha's husband as minister. Later, since Yusuf actually was also in love with Zulaikha, they married with each other. After Yusuf really becoming her husband, Zulaikha said, "This is the man I had seen in my dream when I was still a girl". Hence, Zulaikha's love had been inspired when Yusuf was still a child and Zulaikha hadn't known him.

Akhlaq to teachers

2007-09-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

Akhlaq to teachers
Teachers are persons who teach various kinds of knowledges to their students. In this case, we may distinguish between (common) teachers and educators. Teachers are persons who transfer knowledges, while educators are persons who implant certain patterns of behaviours. Success of a teacher is measured through his ability in transferring knowledges so that the students understand or master the knowledges taught Students’s knowledges mastery can be known through tests, and the levels can be measured in forms of marks 0-100 or achievement indexes 0-4.

Meanwhile, success of an educator can be seen from skills, disciplines, and consistencies performed by the students during the rest of their lives. Ethically, teachers and parents have equal positions. Parents have the virtue of raising their children, while teachers have the virtue of introducing knowledges and implanting patterns of behaviours enabling one to develop his self-concept in actualising himself to become a person favoured by himself, his family, and even his society. Two different persons can perform roles as a parent and as a teacher, but a same person can also perform the roles. It means that a father or mother may also be a teacher for his/her children, both teaching theoretical knowledges and teaching various practical aspects of life.

In silat (Indonesia’s traditional martial art), a suhu or teacher is very respected and obeyed technically and ethically. Obedience is a mental attitude, therefore his students do not automatically obey a teacher, and he should firstly prove his superiority to them.

In education, one can suddenly become a teacher of a discipline, but he or she can’t suddenly become an educator. Based on my own experience as a teacher in elementary school, senior and junior high schools, my first 10 years as a teacher didn’t make me an educator. Only since the 13th year, I thought that I was also an educator, not merely a teacher. A teacher’s focus of attention is transferring knowledge in the classroom, and the criteria of how to do it has been determined in teaching methodology. A teacher may feel that his tasks are only performed in the classroom and things happen outside of the classroom have nothing to do with his tasks. Therefore, a teacher may merely be feeling annoyed in facing problems regarding his students, but is not feeling concerned about them, let alone trying to overcome them.
In connection with his students, a teacher may more focus on himself as an officer-in-charge than on his students as persons that are being educated. Meanwhile, an educator focuses on his students being educated as a unity of human individuals. An educator will feel sad if he finds out that his students’ achievements decline and he will attempt to find out the roots of the problem, apart from the fact the problem is in the classroom or outside of it. A teacher may be easily not attending the classroom only because he is feeling unhealthy, but an educator will attempt to attend the classroom despite his unhealthiness.

Since the 13th year as a teacher, I felt that I was also an educator after having two following experiences:

First, associating with a principal who was very dedicating to education. The principal actually had a high social status, but he paid a lot of attention to his educational tasks. He always visited sick students and teachers and attended every social event such as weddings held by the parents of the students. At first, I thought activities like those were bothering me, but later I also comprehended the meaning of educational tasks comprehensively.

Second, having certain tasks as a teacher of Guiding and Counselling or Educational Counselling. As a counselling teacher, I eventually knew real problems of students as human children. Once I noticed a student who was actually smart and religious but he sometimes showed strange behaviours. After approaching him, later I knew that he had been experiencing a kind of identity crisis. He doubted his identity that time after knowing from his Biology teacher that considering his blood category, it is impossible that his biological parents were persons so far known as his mother and father. He became more confused after getting information from the hospital in which he had been born that in the year in which he had been born there was an incidental case of unintentional babies’ exchange. This identity crisis seriously impacted on his interpersonal relations with his family, his study achievements, and his integrity. Other case I faced was about a female student who was at the third grade of Senior High School. She was very aggressive to men, including me. I often felt shocked and awkward because of her slightly sexual aggressiveness. After approaching her, I found out that her father died when he was two years and from that time her mother became a widow.

The girl seemed to grow up in a very pitiful family. Because her home was so small and narrow, he often caught her mother having intercourse with men she didn’t know about. The young girl was contaminated by improper views, but no one offered her solution. She often read Al Quran and carried out salats and her study achievements were not bad, but her subconscious mind often made her doing aggressive behaviours, including to her male teachers including me.

As a counselling teacher, I didn’t only interact with students but also with the parents of the students having problems, so that I often faced a lot of “humane” problems concerning students, their parents (people) and fellow teachers. As an ordinary man, I often experienced inner conflicts in handling counselling cases, but as an educator and a teacher, my concern was more dominant. I was familiar with the students’ problems, so familiar that a kind “love bias” sometimes happened between a teacher’s love and a man’s love.

Experiences in facing problems of my students (and people) caused me to feel a kind of happiness and loveliness as a teacher when I succeeded in helping others and when I received sincere respects from my students. As an educator, I was feeling challenged by problems faced by students (and their parents) like the excitement felt by a fighter finding an equal fighting opponent. Sometimes I felt touched finding out that although some of my students had not met me again for more than 20 years but they still mentioned my name as their teacher when giving advices to their children or students In Islamic tradition, akhlaq of a student to his teachers is manifested in various forms, for example regularly visiting them, prioritising them in giving charity (shadaqa) or material infaq, giving his children name after his teachers’ names, asking for their advices and prayers every time he has strategic plans or purposes, sending al Fatihah to them, and inserting the teachers’ names into the list of person to be prayed after doing salat or in certain events.

Branches of Akhlaq (2)

2007-07-26T00:56:00.000-07:00

2. Akhlaq to Parents and Relatives
Al Quran strictly requires man to dedicate to his parents (Q: 17: 23). Dedicating to parents (birrul walidain) is alkhoir, a goodness value universally made compulsory by God. It means that the goodness value of dedicating to parents is in force for all times and for all strata of societies. How to dedicate to parents, however, belongs to category of al ma’ruf that is a goodness value socially accepted by a society in a time and in a region. In this case, Al Quran set limitations. For example, in Surah Al Isra it is mentioned that a child should not speak harshly to his/her parents, let alone scolding them (Q: 17: 23).

A child should show his/her thankfulness to his/her parents that had caused him/her to exist in this world. God views a child’ s thankfulness to his parents as essential, so that the command to be thankful to parents is revealed at the same time with command to be thankful to Himself (Q: 31:14). One’s obedience to his parents, however, is limited by his obedience to God. If his parents command one to do things violating God’s commands, then he is not allowed to obey their command by still properly (ma’ruf) respecting them as parents (Q: 31: 15). The prophet also forbids a child to openly take a dispute with his parents to a law court since children-parents relations are not merely legal relations with aspect of social contract but also holy blood relations.

Meanwhile, parents should be just in giving their affection to their children. Among parents’ obligations to their children are giving good names, making a living for them, educating them with religion (akhlaq for living) and marrying them off in time
If his parents had passed way, a child has following obligations to them: (a) doing things commanded in their last will/testament, (b) maintaining their good reputation, (c) continuing their goals, (d) continuing social interactions with their relatives and friends, (e) asking God’s forgiveness for them. In case of social interactions with relatives, the spirit of good relations in general should be in accordance with the spirit of obligation to dedicate to one’s parents.

One’s uncles, aunts, mothers in law, and so on should be placed at the same level/position as his/her parents, younger nephews and nieces should be placed at the same level as his younger brothers/sisters, while older nephews and nieces should be placed at the same level as his older brothers/sisters. Specifically, relatives should be given priorities over others. For example, if one intends to pay zakah while there are poor persons entitled to receive the zakah among his relatives, then the poor relatives should be given priority over other poor people who are not relatives in receiving the zakah. The spirit of ethics in kinship relations is expressed by Prophet Muhammad in following sentence: “respecting the older and caring for the younger” (laisa minna man lam yuwagir kabirana wa lam yarham soghirana).

Branches of Akhlaq (1)

2007-07-26T00:52:00.000-07:00

Man is a social being and a unique individual at the same time. As a social being, a man needs other men to actualise himself. Without other men, a man can’t be a man. What a man will be also depends on with whom he is socialising. Social interactions in a society give rise to social norms that are values agreed on by the society as goodness. According to ethics, those norms are called social ethics, while science of akhlaq calls those social norms al ma’ruf that are things socially known by the society as goodness. In accordance with the wide scope of human interactions, ethics has some branches, such as social ethics, political ethics, business ethics, medicine ethics, and so on. All those are guidances on what should do and what should not do in each field. Since ethics has mind or culture as its sources, all of its branches only regulate order of values in horizontal relations among men.

Meanwhile, akhlaq has universal values of divine revelations as its sources; its scope includes horizontal relations among men and between men and their environment and vertical relations between man and his God. In detail, man’s akhlaq in the perspective of vertical and horizontal relations consists of:

A. MAN’S AKHLAQ TO OTHERS
1. Akhlaq to Prophets
God gives his guidance to man in four levels that are (1) instinct, (2) the five senses, (3) mind, and (4) revelation. The first and the second guidances are also given to animals, in addition to man. The second guidance, mind, are the thing that makes human different from animals. With his mind, man can solve problems so that man is able to plan, to evaluate, and arrange things. Although man has physical limitations, for example he can’t fly like a bird and he can’t dive like a fish, with his mind, man can compensate those weaknesses. With technology he creates, man is able to rule the earth and its atmosphere for fulfilling his life necessities.
In addition to understanding technical things, man with his mind can distinguish between good things and bad things, between things ethically should be done and things should not be done.

Therefore, man has responsibilities for his behaviours, both to his society as a social system and to his God in the day after. Mind, however, can’t determine universal truth, since everyone has a different capacity of mind. Truth perceived by the mind is highly relative, since man is influenced by subjective things so that he can’t achieve the true happiness if he only uses his mind. Mind only can find truth but doesn’t determine it. To complete His blessings, God gives man the fourth guidance, revelation. Revelation is the universal truth submitted by God to guide man in achieving the true happiness. In accordance with man’s ability in absorbing information, God sent Prophets and Messengers as revelation-bringers and models of how to live rightly at the same time.

In Christianity, Jesus is called a living revelation, while in Islam, Prophet Muhammad is regarded as manifestation of the truth values of revelation of Al Quran (kana khuluquhu al Qur'an) and model for human (uswah hasanah). Prophets are God’s messengers sent to human societies. There are some prophets sent to a certain community in a certain period of time, while there is also a prophet sent to guide human in all periods of time. According to Islam, Prophet Muhammad, as the closing or the latest prophet, has teachings for all human beings until the end of time. Basically, there is no inconsistency or contradiction between revelations brought by earlier prophets and revelations brought by later prophets since all of them has the same source (min manba'in wahid).

Manifestations of man’s akhlaq to prophets will be mentioned. When a prophet still lives, ethically and rationally people in his period, in welcoming appearance of a God’s messenger, should accept, respect, and believe him. Al Quran mentions that a believer should believe a prophet (Q: 7: 157), do not reject him (Q: 3:184), do not speak loud to him, be courteous (Q: 49: 2), do not hurt his feeling (Q: 33; 53), and don’t kill him (Q: 3: 21). Furthermore, man is ordered to love and defend him and follow his sunnah.

After a prophet had passed away, a believer’s behaviour to him should be:

(a) Following his sunnah. Sunnah has a wider meaning than that of hadith. Prophet’s sunnah consists of daily behaviours modelled by him when he does religious services, becomes the head of his family, becomes the head of his country, becomes someone’s friend, becomes a citizen, becomes a commander at war, and so on. It is often debated that whether the prophet’s sunnah that should be followed is limited on his behaviours as a messenger or also including his behaviours as a “basyar”, an ordinary man. According to majority (jumhur) of ulamas, all behaviours of prophet Muhammad, when he does his tasks as a messenger and as an ordinary man, is a sunnah that should be followed, since even his behaviours as an ordinary man is enlightened (guided) by revelation so that there is nothing of his behaviours is blameworthy. Critiques of the orientalists on Prophet Muhammad’s behaviours—on polygamy, for example, are not accurate in general since their analyses are not comprehensive.

(b) Loving him. Manifestation of loving a prophet among others are following his sunnah, reading shalawat for him, giving one’s children and grandchildren names having something to with him, and putting emphasis on following his sunnah than on following other things. Shalawah is ma’tsurah prayer, a prayer taught by the prophet and even is commanded in Al Quran. For Prophet Muhammad himself as a ma’sum (holy) messenger, his followers’ prayers actually do not give any effect. Shalawat is more a necessity of one uttering it since he/she hopes for the prophet’s syafaat (intercession) in the day after. Meanwhile, commemorating maulid (birthday) of the prophet is more a part of culture and social necessity of Islamic community, it is not based on his recommendatio

Benefit of Akhlaq in Daily Living (2)

2007-07-26T00:34:00.000-07:00

3. Memorising and Thinking
Things captured by the senses (sensation) is changed into information (perception) and stored in memory. Memory is a highly structured system that enables organisms to record facts of the world and uses them to guide their behaviours. One of man’s advantages is his ability to store a huge amount of information for a long time and to recall them back.

Memorising works through three phases: (a) Recording: information from perception is recorded through the nervous system, (b) Storing: the information is stored in a certain form, a certain place, and a certain time. Information in the memory may increase and may also develop itself, (c) Recalling: the stored information can be recalled back, flashing into one’s mind or indeed intentionally recalled back in detail since the information is needed. Everyone has a different memory capacity. For example, a person always remembers in detail things he experienced decades ago, while the second person tends to forget things quickly. Meanwhile, the third person tends to forget the older information after recording the new one. A male student of Institute of Al Quran Sciences, who has to recite Al Quran from memory as her task, forgets the first juz (chapter) of Al Quran after reciting the second juz and passing the test. When reciting the third juz, she begins to forget the second juz and so on.

Thinking is an activity involving the using of various concepts and symbols to replace objects and occurrences. Thinking is manipulating or organising environmental elements by using various symbols so there’s no need to do visible activities. Thinking is the fourth process, after sensing, perceiving, and memorising, that affect interpretation of stimuli, In thinking one involves sensing, perceiving, and memorising at the same time.

In daily living, thinking is required to: (a) solving problem, (b) making decision, and (c) creating new things. In solving problems, some people think realistically, some other think unrealistically. Realistic thinking, or reasoning, consists of two thinking methods: deductive and inductive methods. Deductive thinking is taking a particular conclusion from general premises. On the contrary, inductive thinking is taking general conclusion from particular instances.

In addition, there is an additional method that is evaluative method of thinking or critical thinking through sorting problems, making distinctions, and valuing whether a thing good or not, appropriate or not.

Although critical thinking and using the thinking methods are characters of one’s intellectuality, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that every intellectual person always thinking logically. In daily living, thinking logically may cause difficulties; on the contrary in certain circumstances, thinking illogically is sometimes more practical and more secure. Above the logical thinking, creative thinking is also known.

Solving dilemmatic problems requires creative thinking. Creative thinking is thinking by using a new method, a new concept, a new finding, a new paradigm, and a new art. Creative thinking is urgent not due to its newness but due its relevance in solving problems. Due to its newness and unconventionality, creative people often can’t be understood by other people in general, they even may be regarded as strange or “crazy” (thinking “crazily”). If these thinking methods are connected with categorisations of leaderships, we may observe that there is a leader that is born in correct time. There is also a leader who is born in a time but since he rules too long, his thinkings becomes obsolete, and still there is another leader who is born “preceding his time”. The last type of leader has very creative thinkings so that people of his time do not understand him. It often happens that only after this kind of leader has passed away, people realise that the various thinkings of the controversial leader were advanced and correct.

Characters of people who are able to thinking creatively is (a) having intelligence above those of average people or very intelligent, (b) open-minded, and (c) free, autonomous, and self-confident.

In addition to thinking, tafakkur (contemplating) is also known, According to Asfibani, thinking is a potential that can connect concepts of science with objects, meanwhile contemplating is the potential’s wandering follows its mind capacity. In Al Quran, people having a mind capacity strong enough to contemplate in a correct way are called ulul albab (Q: 2: 79 and 197)

People with honourable akhlaq have perceptions and thinkings that are consistent in straightening, appreciating, or constructing things. Therefore, people with honourable akhlaq are not influenced by prejudices when perceiving things, they think constructively in creating things and they are proportionally just in straightening up (correcting) certain things. Their consistencies will make ease their thinkings since their memories neatly store information so that they won’t experience any inner conflict.

Interpersonal Communication System
In social life, people need each other, in terms of individual or group, and it is inevitable that transactional relations happen among them. Quality of one’s relations with other depends on his/her image. If one has a good image in others’ eyes then his interpersonal relations must be good, and these good interpersonal relations determine success in negotiating, promoting, and transacting. Therefore, image is a very important asset in communicating with others.
Image is others’ strong impression on a person, a group of persons, or an institution. One consistently shows good behaviours and outstanding achievement for a long time will build his society’s impression on him that he is a good and excellent figure. On the contrary, if he shows inconsistent behaviours for a long time, his society will build bad impression on him.

Therefore, according to this perspective, image can be built. One who intends to have a good image in his family or in his environment should consistently shows that he is a good person. Image or impression is built through interpersonal communication process in which others perceive us and vice versa. Problems on image usually have something to do with ones having socially prominent positions. Not all behaviours, however, are perceived correctly, since perceptions are influenced by many factors.

1. Psychological Bases of Interpersonal Relations
Good interpersonal relations among individuals, or among institutions are not built automatically but are based on psychological bases. Good relations between two parties are enabled if there are three following factors between them:

1.1 Trust. If others respect us since they trust our moral credibility, then our interpersonal relations must be good, and transactional relations with other parties will run smoothly or even very smoothly. The problems are how to develop the trust and how to maintain it. A person may try hard to built his image but always fails, while another person’s image suddenly falls due to a seemingly minor occasion, but there is still another person who experiences a big occasion or faces a big problem but his good image is not badly influenced. Consistency is one of factors that may build good image, while inconsistency may damage image, but consistent inconsistency for a long time is a distinctive image.

1.2 Attitude of Helping Each Other. Attitude is a tendency to behave, perceive, think, and feel in facing an object, idea, situation, or value. Attitude is not behaviour but is tendency to behave to a certain object. We can understand one’s attitude in helping others through consistency in his attitude to certain objects for a long time. If we are known for having attitude of tending to help others, not intercepting or pretending to help others, then our relations with others will run smoothly, and in turn will make ease our transactional relations. Attitude tends to stay in one’s self, doesn’t change easily but it indeed can be changed since attitude basically is built from experiences and learning process.

1.3 Open-mindedness. Open-mindedness has a very significant impact in developing good relations. An open-minded person is a person who has self-confidence and honesty. He is not worry that his opinions, advice, and offers will be refused since he has a positive self-concept. He doesn’t have any hidden (and bad) agenda behind ideas and advice he propose openly, since he has honesty. A creative-thinking person is usually also an open-minded person, although behind his open-mindedness there is a hidden agenda of positive social engineering that he thinks is necessary. We should distinguish open-mindedness from thinking naturally and plainly, since the former has a positive connotation while the latter has a slightly negative connotation

Factors Affecting Perception
In building images, both individual images and institutional images, we should consider various factors affecting perception, since we not only can wrongly sense something but also wrongly perceive something. When others perceiving us, there are at least two things affecting their perceptions: situational factors and personal factors.

Situational Factors that may affect Others’ Perception on Us:
2.1. How our characters are introduced. If we are introduced as persons with a few of knowledge but a lot of good deeds, then others will perceive us as good persons (positive), but if others introduce us as persons with a lot of good deeds but without knowledge, then the image built is negative.

2.2. Distances: physical distance, intimacy distance, social distance, and thinking distance. People who interact well with ulamas are usually perceived as religion experts, people who often communicate with the president are usually regarded as important people, and persons who often talk about Marxism are often regarded as communists, and so on

2.3. Body gestures. Putting hands on the hips and elbows turned outwards and showing pride are often regarded as indicating arrogance. Bowing one’s head are often perceived as showing politeness and modesty. Raising one’s face is perceived as showing courageous and sitting with one chin in his/her hands is often perceived as indicating sadness.
2.4. Facial Expression. Face is the mirror of the soul. Shining face is perceived as indicating happiness or sincerity. Messy face indicates stress. One’s feeling is indeed can be known through his facial expression, although a sweet face of one with evil character and fierce face of one with good character may cheat us.
2.5 Ways of uttering verbal symbols. Sweet words uttered by an angry person tend to have deeper meaning than rude words uttered by someone with happy face
2.6 Appearance. Physical appearance, clothes, vehicles, and houses one has may indicate his/her image, but physical appearance of one with proven credibility of akhlaq will not change or influence his/her image. When it comes to a person whose nobility of akhlaq is widely known, people put stress on who wear the clothes, not the clothes themselves.

Meanwhile, personal factors affecting others perception on us and vice versa is life experience and self-concept. One that had lived with us wouldn’t believe any negative rumour on us if we have been consistently living by doing good deeds. On the contrary, if during our long life we had done much bad behaviours that are known by many people, then people would not trust us if one day we act and behave like pious people.

Self-concept also has a very big impact in communication. Self-concept is one’s view and feeling about his/her own self. Self-concept may be psychological, physical, and social. One with positive self-concept is self-confident in communicating with others so that it strengthens the good image he has, meanwhile one with negative/bad negative self-concept tends to overly calculate others’ responds so that his credibility is unseen.

Benefit of Akhlaq in Daily Living (1)

2007-07-26T00:24:00.001-07:00

As a social being, man can’t avoid from interacting with each other. In communicating with each other, man subject to intra-personal communication and interpersonal communication systems. Furthermore, as a psychological being, man don’t only absorb visible things, but they also perceive those visible things with their psychological devices, so that one’s performance is not only understood from visible things of his but also from things that are assumed to be also exist behind those visible things. People in general may tend to judge someone based on his outward appearances as the parameters. In judging someone, educated and civilised people, however, tend to put emphasis on his moral and akhlaq credibilities as the most important parameters among his qualities. They refer to those parameters in any social transaction. One’s akhlaq credibility is a very helpful and powerful factor in negotiating with others in various matters.

A. INTRAPERSONAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
A party’s leader may say to his public that he is a honest person who never lies, but his public will not immediately conclude that he is indeed a honest person, since man isn’t a cassette recorder that record every sound it hears. Instead, any information received by a man is passing three phases: (1) Receiving the stimulus; spoken words are listened and the speaking person is seen. (2) Processing information; words listened are connected with the person uttering it, his present words are connected with his words in previous days, his words are connected with others’ words, and so on, then words of the party’s leader are concluded into an information in accordance with one’s perception. (3) Storing information, what had been concluded into an information is then stored in one’s memory. (4) Providing back the information. When one wants to respond the statement of the party's leader, he has to think about what responses should be given, what possibly will be the implications or impacts and so on. This process gives rise to a new information on the party’s leader. A same message may have different meanings for different persons and responded differently by different persons too.

According to Communication Psychology, the process of receiving information involves Sensing, Perceiving, Memorising, and Thinking

1. Sensing
Sensing originates from the word “sense” that is the faculty of perceiving that connects man and animals with their environments. In Communication Psychology, sensation is the process of receiving stimuli. When two persons communicate near each other, they can perceive each other physically, seeing body of each other by means of sight, listening each other by means of hearing, smelling perfume used by each other by means of smell, feeling the smoothness of each other’s skin by means of touch. All that perceived by the senses are stimuli. Sometime people can perceive two stimuli at the same time, for example, when you are watching television (external stimulus), another stimulus comes inwardly in form of memory of your parents which are unhealthy in the village and waiting for you to come.
Different sensations of different persons may be caused by different senses’ faculties/capacities and by different experiences and environments. A food tasted very peppery by tongues of Yogya people is probably tasted normal by tongues of Minangese people. On the contrary, words spoken loudly deemed normal by Medan people may sound very disturbing or annoying to the ears of Javanese people.

2. Perceiving
Perceiving is a process of giving meaning to sensation so that one gains new knowledge. Perception is a process of changing sensation into information. When you think you’ve heard someone had said “silat” while in fact he had said “salat”, you are in wrong sensation. When you praise your love, however, by saying “you’re the most beautiful woman in the world”, but your lover feels that she was ridiculed through those words, then your lover are in misperception. Wrong sensation may also cause misperception.

Misperception may happen due to personal, situational, functional, and structural factors. Factors having big impacts on perception among others are attention, functional concept, and structural concept.

2.1 Paying attention
Paying attention is a mental process in which awareness of one stimulus is more dominant and at the same time awareness of other stimuli is weak. For example, when the public attention is focused on what alleged to be corruption done by the present president, attention to the corruption done by other people weakens. Or, when a moviegoer’s attention is focused on a scene on the screen, his attention to other spectators around weakens. Attention has a big impact on perception so that there is a proverb says, “an ant in the middle of the ocean is seen (due to attention), while an elephant in eyelids is unseen (due to no attention). One intending to catch others’ attention should know that attention might come outwardly or inwardly. External factors may psychologically become attention getter usually since the stimulus has a striking nature compared to those of other stimuli. For example, one little moving object may catch one’s attention compared to other big motionless objects around it. Contrariety also may be the cause, for example, a sound louder that other sounds, a light in darkness, a new thing among old ones, or one thing seen or heard repetitively in a long time, so that it becomes familiar to the eyes or the ears.

Furthermore, internal factors influencing attention are biologic and socio-psychological factors. A hungry person is more interested to food, a thirsty person is more interested to beverage, and a husband missing his wife, since his wife is in a distant place, is more interested to women (biological factor). Meanwhile, for example, when a group visited victims of Bengkulu earthquake, it appears that doctors, veterinarians, ulamas, educators, politicians, and entrepreneurs who were members of the group had different interests or focuses in accordance with their own socio-psychological factors.

1.2. Functional and Structural Factors
Functional factors influencing perception among other are necessity, mental readiness, emotional condition, and cultural background. A thirsty person sometimes perceives liquid of storage battery as a beverage, a beggar may perceive 5000 rupiahs as a big amount of money, while a rich person perceives it as a small amount. An angry person may perceive gift as a humiliation, while a person in war may sometimes perceive a passing-by animal as an enemy that should be shot. To celebrities, cars are prestigious things, while for ordinary people, cars are more perceived as transportation.

Structural factor influencing perception in such a way that when one perceives something, he perceives it as a whole, not as parts. When we perceive a face as a beautiful face, actually we perceive not only the face but also the whole body of the face owner. When a pious kyai (ulama) was seen wearing a shirt full of patches, we may tend to perceive him as a modest person (positive perception), but if we see an artist wearing a cloth full of patches, we tend to perceive him as eccentric (netral perception), while a criminal wearing a cloth full of patches may be perceived as shabby hobo. One in close relation with ulamas are often perceived as a pious person, a person in close relation with the authority are often perceived as an important person, while a person having good relations with a corrupter are often perceived as a henchman

Lecturers tend to perceive books and rice as main necessities, but farm labourers in general don’t seem to perceive books as part of his main necessities. Those mentioned above are the processes of perception. Not all good-deeds are perceived as goodness, but we can consider things that enable other perceive them wrongly. One’s akhlaq credibility plays an important role in developing others’ perception of him.

Education of Akhlaq

2007-07-25T23:58:00.000-07:00

Akhlaq is one’s inner state that is the source of behaviours he does without calculating its advantages and disadvantages. One with a good akhlaq will do goodness spontaneously without any hidden purpose, while one with a bad akhlaq will do badness without calculating the impacts for him and for the victims. No man suddenly becomes a wise man or a big criminal. A certain process is required to become a wise man or a big criminal.
The process may have form of life’s dynamism, circumstances that are amazing, disappointing or designed to form certain patterns of behaviours.

Therefore, theoretically, any man can be formed to be a good person as he also can be formed to be a bad person. Since akhlaq is an inner state, then object of an akhlaq education is one’s inner state. It doesn’t mean that we should negate outer or external states of any person, since there is interdependent correlation between inner states and outer states of a person. One who has a good heart (qalb) or good akhlaq also has well outer behaviours (good manners), but not all who has good manners is a person who has a good akhlaq.

Building discipline or habituating a pattern of well outer behaviours (good manners) may be parts of a process of building a good akhlaq in a person, but in other person those may make him a munafiq (here means one who pretends to be a good person). Also, habituating a pattern of bad behaviours to someone may make him a bad person, but in other person that may generate an extreme resistance against badness. Those circumstances may happen since everyone actually has a capital in form of different personality or capacity. There is a person having a dominant drive to do good things and on the contrary, there is also other person having a dominant drive to do bad things.

Management of Shahwah (2)

2007-07-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

Controlling Shahwah
Buddhism teaches man to control shahwah through the concept of samsara. The formulation is as follow: Life is a samsara (misery). Samsara is caused by desires, then samsara is eliminated by eliminating desires and to eliminate desires one has to follow the method of eight paths of the truth: correct understanding, correct mind, correct utterance, correct behaviour, correct livelihood, correct effort, correct attention, and correct semedi (contemplation).

Meanwhile, in Islam the method of controlling shahwah is implemented systematically by means of teachings of shariah and akhlaq.

1. Sexual shahwah is controlled by marrying, closing aurat, and fasting. Free socialising among the opposite sexes is forbidden. living unmarried (celibacy) is not recommended although it is a human right.

2. Shahwah of stomach is controlled by not eating unless one is hungry, and stopping eat before one is satisfied, in addition to doing obligatory and sunah fasting..

3. Shahwah of properties is controlled by implementing a modest way of life and paying obligatory zakah, and paying recommended infaq and sadaqah. Modest isn’t identical with poor, modest in this respect is consuming things according to universal necessity standards. Therefore, we may have things as much as possible, but we should only consume things (foods, clothes, vehicles, housings, and so on) as required by universal necessity standards. A lot of rich people implement modest way of life, which some poor people live wastefully and luxuriously.

4. Shahwah of politics is controlled by stressing that basically a leader is a servant of people he/she leads (sayyid al qaum khodimuhum). Politic is a field of dedication; a leader is a struggler holding on to a principle of providing protection and well-being to people he/she leads.

5. Shahwah of prestige is controlled by realising that a car is a transportation device, a cloth is a body protector and closer of awrah, a house is a place to live and to rest, property is a means to reach excellence. In short, each thing has its own utility.

Shahwah and Passion
Our interest to the other sex is normal and blameless. If one follows up that interest by approaching, applying, and marrying the person he interests to and loves, then those things he does are excellent, and religious services, and will be rewarded by God. However, if he follows up his interest by seducing, deceiving, and raping the person or committing extra-marital intercourse with her, then the shahwah had changed into a thing called hawa in Al Quran (hawa nafsu in Indonesian and passion/lust in English).

We are also allowed to be rich, a regent, a member of House of Representatives, or even a president. Those desires are political shahwahs that are normal, humane, and blameless. It is also only normal that some people desire to be millionaires or tycoons. If a shahwah drive followed by obeying moral values, then it is a positive thing. If the shahwah drive is followed uncontrollable by moral, then it becomes a destructive hawa or passion. Becoming rich by corrupting and deceiving, becoming official by bribing, those will eventually lead to destruction.

Nature of Passion
Shahwah controlled by conscience and clear mind, let alone if it is also based on sharp conscience (nurani), will function as a motive of behaviour that leads to life’s excellence. In this circumstance, shahwah is like energy making a machine to be still in motion and warmth. This balance of shahwah cause one is able to suppress his shahwah when required (like putting on a car’s brakes), and to give the shahwah its right according to what it needs.

Meanwhile, one’s passion demands fulfilment at once without considering its impacts on other and him. The passion’s drive is so strong that Al Quran symbolises hawa of one who can’t control it as a god that is worshipped (ittakhodza ilahahu hawahu). One who serves his passion will do anything required to satisfy it, however it may be disgusting. One who indulges his shahwah will fall in glamorousness and hedonism, while one who always follows his passion’s drives will certainly fall in criminality and humiliation.

Management of Shahwah (1)

2007-07-25T23:46:00.001-07:00

People in general regard shahwah (or syahwat in Indonesian) as the same as sex, so that one will be embarrassed if others say that he/she has a big shahwah. Actually shahwah is one of subsystems in a soul system (system of nafsani) of man, together with mind, heart, and conscience. Shahwah is fitrah (natural dispostion), humane, blameless. We even need it, since one who doesn’t have shahwah any longer will also lose his spirit to live. We need, however, to have the capacity to manage shahwah so that it is controllable and becomes proportional motive of our behaviours. Uncontrollable shahwah may become a destructive hawa (passion or lust).

Definition of Shahwah
The word “shahwah” originates from Arabic syahiya-syaha yasyha – shahwahan, which in the perspective of lughawi means “to like”. Meanwhile, shahwah itself means soul tendency to what it desires, nuzu' an nafs ila ma turiduhu..
In a verse of Al Quran, the word “shahwah” denotes the desired object, but in other verses the word is used to mention man’s potential desires or wishes. Shahwah is used in Al Quran to mention things having something to do with sexual shahwah (Q: 7:81 and Q: 27:55), with following others’ opinion blindly (Q: 4:27) and with man desires of delicacy and enjoyment (Q:3:14 and Q:19:59).

One of verses mentioning the existence of shahwah within man is (the translation in English):
“The love of desires, of women and sons and hoarded treasures of gold and silver and well bred horses and cattle and tilth, is made to seem fair to men; this is the provision of the life of this world; and Allah is He with Whom is the good goal (of life)” (Q: Ali Imraan[3]: 14). The verse above mentions shahwah as potential man desires. In the verse, it is confirmed that basically man tend to love women/the opposite sex (sexual), children (pride), properties (pride, arrogance, utility), good vehicles (pride, convenience, and utilities), cattle (enjoyment and utility), and tilth (enjoyment, utility). Thus, according to Al Quranman tendency to sexual enjoyment, properties, and convenience, is humane.

If man loves to posses the things mentioned above, then the failure in possessing them is a misery for one really desires them, let alone if those things had been possessed and enjoyed by one but suddenly they are disappearing from his hands. If one’s shahwah is insatiable, especially if he is a narrow-minded person, then his behaviours may deviate.

Nature of shahwah
Since having shahwah is man’s nature and man will be delighted if his shahwah is satisfied, then shahwah should be a motive of his behaviour. If a man is hungry or thirsty then his behaviour is always oriented to how to get foods and drinks. If sexual shahwah is in dominance in his self, his behaviour is oriented to things giving sexual satisfaction. Hence, man’s behaviour is highly influenced by shahwah dominant within his self, such as sexual shahwah, political shahwah, shahwah of property, shahwah of convenience, shahwah of self-esteem, shahwah of delicacy, and so on. Shahwah is like a child, if he is released he will do anything uncontrollably, since a child only follows his satisfaction drive. He doesn’t understand any responsibility. If they are educated, children’s behaviours and even animal’s behaviours can be controlled. Indulged shahwah will lead to glamorous and hedonistic ways of life.

Functional and Structural Factors

2007-06-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

Functional factors influencing perception among other are necessity, mental readiness, emotional condition, and cultural background. A thirsty person sometimes perceives liquid of storage battery as a beverage, a beggar may perceive 5000 rupiahs as a big amount of money, while a rich person perceives it as a small amount. An angry person may perceive gift as a humiliation, while a person in war may sometimes perceive a passing-by animal as an enemy that should be shot. To celebrities, cars are prestigious things, while for ordinary people, cars are more perceived as transportation.

Structural factor influencing perception in such a way that when one perceives something, he perceives it as a whole, not as parts. When we perceive a face as a beautiful face, actually we perceive not only the face but also the whole body of the face owner. When a pious kyai (ulama) was seen wearing a shirt full of patches, we may tend to perceive him as a modest person (positive perception), but if we see an artist wearing a cloth full of patches, we tend to perceive him as eccentric (netral perception), while a criminal wearing a cloth full of patches may be perceived as shabby hobo. One in close relation with ulamas are often perceived as a pious person, a person in close relation with the authority are often perceived as an important person, while a person having good relations with a corrupter are often perceived as a henchman

Lecturers tend to perceive books and rice as main necessities, but farm labourers in general don’t seem to perceive books as part of his main necessities. Those mentioned above are the processes of perception. Not all good-deeds are perceived as goodness, but we can consider things that enable other perceive them wrongly. One’s akhlaq credibility plays an important role in developing others’ perception of him.

Benefit of Akhlaq in Daily Living

2007-06-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

As a social being, man can’t avoid from interacting with each other. In communicating with each other, man subject to intra-personal communication and interpersonal communication systems. Furthermore, as a psychological being, man don’t only absorb visible things, but they also perceive those visible things with their psychological devices, so that one’s performance is not only understood from visible things of his but also from things that are assumed to be also exist behind those visible things. People in general may tend to judge someone based on his outward appearances as the parameters. In judging someone, educated and civilised people, however, tend to put emphasis on his moral and akhlaq credibilities as the most important parameters among his qualities. They refer to those parameters in any social transaction. One’s akhlaq credibility is a very helpful and powerful factor in negotiating with others in various matters.

A. INTRAPERSONAL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
A party’s leader may say to his public that he is a honest person who never lies, but his public will not immediately conclude that he is indeed a honest person, since man isn’t a cassette recorder that record every sound it hears. Instead, any information received by a man is passing three phases: (1) Receiving the stimulus; spoken words are listened and the speaking person is seen. (2) Processing information; words listened are connected with the person uttering it, his present words are connected with his words in previous days, his words are connected with others’ words, and so on, then words of the party’s leader are concluded into an information in accordance with one’s perception. (3) Storing information, what had been concluded into an information is then stored in one’s memory. (4) Providing back the information. When one wants to respond the statement of the party's leader, he has to think about what responses should be given, what possibly will be the implications or impacts and so on. This process gives rise to a new information on the party’s leader. A same message may have different meanings for different persons and responded differently by different persons too.

According to Communication Psychology, the process of receiving information involves Sensing, Perceiving, Memorising, and Thinking:

1. Sensing
Sensing originates from the word “sense” that is the faculty of perceiving that connects man and animals with their environments. In Communication Psychology, sensation is the process of receiving stimuli. When two persons communicate near each other, they can perceive each other physically, seeing body of each other by means of sight, listening each other by means of hearing, smelling perfume used by each other by means of smell, feeling the smoothness of each other’s skin by means of touch. All that perceived by the senses are stimuli. Sometime people can perceive two stimuli at the same time, for example, when you are watching television (external stimulus), another stimulus comes inwardly in form of memory of your parents which are unhealthy in the village and waiting for you to come.
Different sensations of different persons may be caused by different senses’ faculties/capacities and by different experiences and environments. A food tasted very peppery by tongues of Yogya people is probably tasted normal by tongues of Minangese people. On the contrary, words spoken loudly deemed normal by Medan people may sound very disturbing or annoying to the ears of Javanese people.

2. Perceiving
Perceiving is a process of giving meaning to sensation so that one gains new knowledge. Perception is a process of changing sensation into information. When you think you’ve heard someone had said “silat” while in fact he had said “salat”, you are in wrong sensation. When you praise your love, however, by saying “you’re the most beautiful woman in the world”, but your lover feels that she was ridiculed through those words, then your lover are in misperception. Wrong sensation may also cause misperception.

Misperception may happen due to personal, situational, functional, and structural factors. Factors having big impacts on perception among others are attention, functional concept, and structural concept.

2.1 Paying attention
Paying attention is a mental process in which awareness of one stimulus is more dominant and at the same time awareness of other stimuli is weak. For example, when the public attention is focused on what alleged to be corruption done by the present president, attention to the corruption done by other people weakens. Or, when a moviegoer’s attention is focused on a scene on the screen, his attention to other spectators around weakens. Attention has a big impact on perception so that there is a proverb says, “an ant in the middle of the ocean is seen (due to attention), while an elephant in eyelids is unseen (due to no attention). One intending to catch others’ attention should know that attention might come outwardly or inwardly. External factors may psychologically become attention getter usually since the stimulus has a striking nature compared to those of other stimuli. For example, one little moving object may catch one’s attention compared to other big motionless objects around it. Contrariety also may be the cause, for example, a sound louder that other sounds, a light in darkness, a new thing among old ones, or one thing seen or heard repetitively in a long time, so that it becomes familiar to the eyes or the ears.

Furthermore, internal factors influencing attention are biologic and socio-psychological factors. A hungry person is more interested to food, a thirsty person is more interested to beverage, and a husband missing his wife, since his wife is in a distant place, is more interested to women (biological factor). Meanwhile, for example, when a group visited victims of Bengkulu earthquake, it appears that doctors, veterinarians, ulamas, educators, politicians, and entrepreneurs who were members of the group had different interests or focuses in accordance with their own socio-psychological factors.

Difficulty and Happiness (2)

2007-05-09T00:45:00.000-07:00

In Arabic (Qur’anic and Hadits) there are at least four words that have some thing to do with happiness. They are sa’adah (happy), falah (lucky), najat (secure) and najah (succeed). Saadah (happy) implies a gift from God after experiencing various difficulties, while falah is finding a thing that has been looked for (idrak al bughyah). There are two kinds of falah, worldly falah and otherworldly falah. Worldly falah is having happiness which makes living in this world comfortable, which are finding (a) (limited) eternality; long life, permanent health, always-fulfilled necessities, and so on, (b) wealth; possessing things more than what are needed, and (c) social honor. Meanwhile, otherworldly falah consists of (a) unlimited eternality, (b) wealth without requiring anything any longer, (c) honor without any humiliation, and (d) knowledge so that there is no anything that we don’t know.

Najat is happiness felt when one is free from a frightening threat, for example the feeling had by one when a judge pronounces him to be freed from a criminal sentence, when the president grants him a pardon, or when knowing one’s family had survived a tsunami. Meanwhile, najah, is happiness felt by one since things desired are obtained whereas one possibly had been pessimistic about obtaining them. For example, a poor family is najah (succeed) when all of its sons and daughter at last become bachelors

Gladness has a horizontal nature, while happiness may have horizontal and vertical natures. We will probably able to explain our gladness, but we will find it more difficult to explain our happiness. Tears of happiness may replace words that are unable to express happiness. Prof. Fuad Hasan in his book Pengalaman Naik Haji (Hajj Experience) admits that he can’t explain why he was crying in front of Ka’bah when he did hajj, since the happiness he felt was vertical, a form of gift not achievement.

A lot of spouses have their tears down their faces when saying marriage contract, and so do their parents, and they all can’t explain their happiness.
Happiness has something to do with difficulties experienced. The true happiness in a household living isn’t exist when a marriage contract is said, not in honeymoon, but when the pair prove that they have been able to sail across the ocean of life to reach the beach of destination and in their destination they see their children and grandchildren become successful and honorable persons.

A man will be very suffering if in his old age he sees his children and grand children suffering and humiliated, although previously his ship of household’s journey has been full of success stories. Happiness usually comes after successful people overcoming continuous difficulties, but not all difficulties will bring us to the true happiness.

According to a hadith of Prophet Muhammad, there are four pillars of happiness in a household living: (1) loyal wife/husband, (2) dedicated children, (3) healthy social environment, and (4) livelihood that is at hand (easy to obtain). Loyalty of one’s wife/husband makes one calm and proud, dedicated children make them one’s sweethearts, a good social environment eliminates one’s anxiety, and livelihood which is easy to obtain stimulates one’s optimism, idealism, and imagination.

Difficulty and Happiness (1)

2007-05-09T00:40:00.000-07:00

Anyone who decides to have a family clearly hopes happiness in his/her family, although we may have different perceptions on what happiness is. Happiness is highly subjective but universal. Some people become happy after getting something in abundance; while others become happy although they get something in less quantity. Some people become happy after getting something easily, while others only become happy after do some efforts to get something. There are temporary happiness, long lasting happiness, and permanent happiness.

Definition of happiness

There are two terms discussed here, glad and happy. Glad is our feeling when our syahwah (motive)’s demands are fulfilled. For example, we will be glad finding delicious food when we are hungry, finding fresh drink when we are thirsty, finding easiness after have been in difficulty, meeting a friend or a lover when we are lonely, and finding a good job after being unemployed for a long time. Meanwhile, happiness has something with a very subjective mystery, but in principle it is a condition when a divine aid is coming so we acquire a thing regarded as a divine goodness (al khoir).

We are happy, for example, when our first son/daughter is born after for a very long time we have desired for having a son/daughter. In general, having a child is not regarded as a special achievement. The father of the child may say that the son was born since he had the ability to “make” him. A father or mother, however, who at last has a newly-born child after almost feeling hopeless in desiring the baby would feel that the birth of the baby was an invaluable gift of God. As another example, a mother had brought up her daughter without husband and despite of difficulties she had always hoped that her daughter would have a bright future. She is very happy when a pious young man with a bright future marries her daughter. The bright future of her daughter is not claimed to be her achievement but is really regarded as gift or blessing of God.

Hence, this happiness comes after long difficulties but when it finally comes it isn’t regarded as one’s achievement. Others would also comment that the mother had worked very hard by facing various difficulties in bringing up her daughter alone, so she deserves a “perfect” happiness as a gift from God.

Self-concept (2)

2007-05-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

Self-concept and Etiquette

Wise men say that whoever understands his own self will understand his God. Anyone who understands his own anatomy, physically and psychologically, will conclude that however excellent human is, he has a lot of limitations. He will also realise that human excellence doesn’t exist without based on a concept designed by the Most Excellent or God. Man with all of his complexities is a manifestation (tajalli) of greatness of Allah The Creator, The Great, The Supreme Being.

Therefore, one who understands his own self will obey God, will feel equal to others, will respect older people and care younger people. One who negates God won’t know understand his own self. A person who is arrogant and who regards himself as the most excellent by underestimating others will be blind about himself. Only strong people can be modest and demeaning their own selves, since demeaning needs power. On the contrary, one can be an inferior person who doesn’t have self-confidence due to his lack of knowledge about potentials within his own self.

Self-concept (1)

2007-05-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

Concept is signs and symbols in the mind. Thinking is working by using those signs and symbols of a certain thing so that there’s no need to manifest the actual thing in the place in which the thinking person is present. In his mind, one can present so many things, beyond space and time. There are, however, people who can think big, and people who can think in a limited way. By thinking, we can answer questions, making decisions, and create new things.

Self-concept is one’s view and feeling about himself or herself. Self-concept may be physical, psychic, and social. For example, a girl who thinks she’s pretty confidently enters a party room, but a female-student that is lazy although beautiful feels unconfident when entering an examination room. A governor’s son doesn’t seem to be worry when he was stopped by a policeman for violating a traffic sign, but a “ojeg” driver soon asks for “underhand settlement” after stopped by a policeman. One, who feels that he is able to solve a problem, will probably actually solve the problem, while one who often thinks that he’s stupid will probably be a real stupid person.

Two things influence the development of self-concept:
First, people in general. For example, one who is often praised as a clever man and had received many certificates will develop a strong self-confidence and will be really a clever man. Meanwhile, another person who is often regarded as stupid and embarrassed in front of public will probably be a real stupid person who often feels inferior to others.

Second, reference groups. For example, some time in the past I was lacking of self-confidence in introducing Islamic (indigenous) psychology, since a lot of my Western psychologists friends regarded Islamic psychology as doesn’t exist. At that time I was only able to introduce a Psychology that adopts Islamic notions not exactly an Islamic indigenous Psychology. After I had been inaugurated as a Professor of Islamic Psychology and had been appreciated by the President of The International Association of Moslem Psychologist, Prof Malik Badri, who regarded me as the first Professor around the world on the subject of Islamic Psychology, I have enough self-confident to introduce and spread the notion of Islamic Psychology. Now I even intend to promote Islamic Psychology to be the Psychology’s Fifth School of Thought after previous schools of psychology: Psychoanalysis, Behaviourism, Cognitism, and Humanistic Psychology

Sufistic Healing (1)

2007-04-16T02:10:00.000-07:00

Introduction
Discourses of healing clearly have something to do with concept of health. In Islamic terms, in addition to word shihhat (healthy), word ‘afiat is also used which in Indonesian those two words are combined into sehat-wal-afiat. Shihhat has something to do with function, meanwhile afiat has something to do with creation. Healthy eyes are those which are used to see/read without any visual aid (functional), meanwhile afiat eyes are those suitable with their purposes(s) of creation which are to see permitted things and not to see forbidden things (values). Healthy ears are those whose hearing functions are well, meanwhile afiat ears are those which always hear words of truth and but are unable to hear misleading whispers. Those are meaning of healthy and afiat of ears, hands, legs, and most important body organs. Healthiness is matters of medicine, meanwhile things about afiat matters of values world, spiritual world, and tassawuf world.

Healthiness of Soul
Soul can be seen as a psychological organ whose principles and laws can be learned among others by Psychology. Hence, we know people who are mad or insane and those who are only suffering mental disorders. Mad people should be treated in mental hospitals; meanwhile people with mental disorders should be treated by psychiatrists or mental counselors.

In Islamic terms, soul (nafs) not only a mental organ but also a spiritual organ. Thus, we can observe and study its spiritual aspects, and there we will find its elements: qalb (heart), ‘aql (mind), bashirah (conscience), ruh (spirit), syahwat (lust or passion) and hawa (desire). Al Quran mentions qualities of soul in this perspective hierarchically: nafs zakiyyah (naturally holy self or soul). nafs lawwamah (soul trying to find identity), nafs ammarah (unhealthy soul), and nafs mutmaina (satisfied or calm soul)

We can achieve the level of calm-soul, by muhasabah and majahadah (calculating one’s self and training one’s self), and those are unable to do these may be assisted by spiritual guider (mursyid). The system is called tarekat. As we can see from prophets and from the disciples of Prophet Muhammad, there is a lot of way of achieving a calm soul, so there is also a lot of tarekats, a lot of mursyids, a lot of methods, but at the end we, especially Sufis, may find a very large spiritual field consisting of ridla (a kind of sincerity), makrifat, and love. From that level, a Sufi needs one more step to join the One and Only God.

Changing Human Behavior

2007-04-16T02:02:00.000-07:00

According to Qur’an, human behavior has characteristics as follow: (1) controllable (2) implying responsibilities, (3) internal and external, (4) individual and societal.

One’s behavior is subject to one’s motivation, orientation, and tendency, but they also have something to do with one’s intellectuality, logic, morality, and independence. If someone has decided to achieve something, then he will focus his attention and efforts on achieving the thing he wants. Based on this perspective, human behavior can be changed.

Qur’an implies that human behavior can be formed, corrected, and changed. The change may come from oneself or due to external factors. Regarding this matter, Qur’an gives an example of opportunity given to anyone regretting his wrongdoings to be repentant and opportunity for wrongdoers to return to the blessing of God. A repentant person will regret his past mistakes and then determines not to do his wrongdoings again. He also will attempt to do good deeds as manifestation of his will to correct himself. In this case, Qur’an states that God will accept his repentance and others who want to correct his behavior.

A strong will to correct oneself may be caused by one’s own wish or by good influences coming from external factors such as other’s persuasion or good social environment. Final decision to change one’s behaviour, however, still depends on oneself. Qur’an in Surah ar-Ra'd (Thunder/13): 11 states, “Surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition (their souls). Changing human behaviour is changing his way of thinking, mentality, and character. Way of thinking, behaviour, mentality, and characters of man are indeed can be changed, but the processes are complicated since those processes have something to do with self (nafs) aspect of man. According to psychology, there are two approaches that can be used to change human behaviour: reward and punishment. 9 The first approach states that a person should be punished after doing a wrongdoing with an assumption that he wouldn’t dare to do it again since he is afraid to be punished again.

Others witnessing or knowing that the person has been punished are expected to avoid doing wrongdoings since they are also assumed as afraid of being punished. The second approach states that to stimulate people to do good deeds, rewards should be given to those had showed their achievements, especially to the best ones. The rewards are given to make people compete to achieve the best level of their activities. By using this approach, teachers, Islamic preachers, and the government will be occupied in thinking what rewards should be given to the best people, and will not be occupied in thinking how to punish people who had done wrongdoings.

Behavior: in The Perspective of Islamic Psychology

2007-03-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

Man is a creature who is thinking, feeling, and having wills. His wills are guided by what he thinks and what he feels. Human soul systematically functions and is supported by following five subsystems. Nafs (Soul) is an inner side of man, it likes a very large room in which there are parts as its subsystems, which are `aql (mind), qalb (heart), bashirah (conscience), syahwat (motive), and hawa (passion). People have souls with different “sizes” depending on hereditary factors and psychological interactions during their lives.

1. ‘Aql (mind) has a capacity to solve problems; its function is to think. Mind can’t determine the truth, but it can find the truth. Intellectual truth is relative.

2. Qalb (heart) is a means for understanding reality. An irrational thing may still be understood by this qalb. In a nafsany system, qalb is a center that controls the system, leading the functioning of human soul. In qalb there are various “powers” (good things) and “illnesses” (bad things) such as faith, love, envy, courage, angriness, arrogance, peace, and infidelity. Qalb has the authority of deciding on an action, so that anything realized by qalb has implications in forms of good deed or sin, reward or punishment. Things had been forgotten by qalb enter memory of nafs (subconscious mind), and those things sometimes appear in dream. In accordance with its name, qalb is often inconsistent.

3. Bashirah, is an innate sight as the opposite of sight of eyes. Different to the inconsistent qalb, bashirah is always consistent to truth and honesty. It can’t be compromised to deviate from the truth. Bashirah is also called nurany from word “nur” (light). Bashirah is divine light in one’s heart. nurun yaqdzifuhullah fi al qalb. Introspection, crying of awareness, religiosity, God spot come from this source.

4. Syahwat is a motive to carry out behaviour. Almost all men and women have sexual motive to the other sex, are proud of their children, love valuable things, good vehicles, gardens, and livestocks.

5. Hawa (passion) is an urge toward a low and blamable object. Crime, angriness, frustration, arrogance, irresponsible behavior, corruption, and arbitrariness come from this passion. The character of passion is wishing to immediately obtain things desired by ignoring moral values.

Therefore, we may conclude that:
• A person whose subsystems are normally functioning has proportional behavior

. A person more often following his mind than the other subsystems of the nafsany system has behavior highly rational but his life tends to be “dry”.

• A person more often following his heart tends to have a calm life although he is sometimes irrational.

• A person more often following his bashirah is guaranteed that his choice is correct and his behavior will be correct vertically and horizontally.

• A person more often following his motive tends to be consumptive and hedonistic in his life

• A person more often following his hawa ( passion) tends to destructive to himself and to others.

Islamic Psychology: The 5th School of Psychology

2007-03-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

After Humanistic Psychology had begun to study spiritual intelligence having a vertical dimension, the notion of Islamic Psychology arises. Similar to notion of Islamic banking (shariah banking) which has been refused but which is now popular in some countries, the notion of Islamic Psychology is now also still refused by the community of Western Psychology. This notion, however, will be accepted at least in certain countries and will even become the fifth school of psychology.

Historically, Islam didn’t create separated sciences such as psychology, because, different to sciences in the western world which were made enemy by the religion (the Church), development of sciences in the history of Islam was inspired by the Holy Qur’an and promoted by ulamas. For example, Al Khawarizmi (mathematician), al Birruni (scientist), Ibn Sina or Averroes (physician) were also ulamas (experts of Islam).

Studies of human soul in the history of Islamic sciences didn’t give rise to psychology, but sciences of Akhlaq and Tasawwuf.

Differences between Western Psychology and Islamic Psychology

1. Western Psychology is a product of empirical thinking and researches, while main source of Islamic Psychology is revelation of Holy Qur’an, its statements regarding human soul, based on an assumption that God, as a Creator of human, knows best about anatomy of human soul. In turn, empiric researches assists in interpreting the holy book.

2. Western Psychology has only three aims: attempts to describe, to predict, and to control mental and behavioral events, while Islamic Psychology had two additional aims which are to create good behavior and to encourage people to be feeling that they are close to God.

3. Counseling in Western Psychology only discuses matters on healthy or unhealthy psychologically, while counseling in Islamic Psychology also gives advices on how to make people have a meaningful living, become good people, and feel close to God.

Psychological Concept of Man

2007-03-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

Psychology as a discipline wasn’t born until in the late period of the 18th century, but its roots can be traced back to the ancient period. Plato once stated that man is his soul, his body is only a means. Aristotle once stated that soul is a function of body as sight is a function of eyes. At present, there are at least four schools of psychology: (1) Psychoanalysis, (2) Behaviorism, (3) Cognitism, and (5) Humanism. The emergences of the four schools indicate a kind of trial-and-error development in attempting to understand man.

Freud with his psychoanalysis theory regards man as a homo volens, a creature whose behavior is controlled by his subconscious mind. According this theory, man behavior is a result of interactions among three pillars of personality: id, ego, and super ego, or biologic, psychological, and social components, or animal, intellectual, and moral components.

This theory is opposed by behaviorism viewing human behavior as not controlled by the innate factor (subconscious mind), but fully influenced by his measurable, predictable, and describable visual environment. According to this theory, man is named homo mechanicus, mechanical man. Machine is a thing that works without any motive and is fully determined by objective factors (such as fuel and its conditions). This theory doesn’t question goodness or badness of a man, he is regarded as very plastic and able to be formed into anything in accordance the environment experienced by or had been prepared for him

This behaviorist theory is opposed by cognitive theory which states that man do not fully obey his environment. On the contrary, this theory views that he is able to actively react to his environment by thinking. Man attempts to understand his environment and responds it with the mind he has. Therefore, according this cognition theory, man is a homo sapiens, a thinking creature.

The cognitive theory is continued by humanist theory. Humanistic psychology regards man as a positive and determining. Man is a unique creature that has love, creativity, values, means, and personal development. Therefore, humanism theory names man homo ludens, man who understands the meaning of life.

Psychology comes from secular culture, so that psychology doesn’t care about God, sins, or goodness/badness. This psychology only knows psychological health and psychological sickness. At present Humanistic Psychology, however, begins to enter a zone whose source is divine revelation. In other words, in addition to study intellectual and emotional intelligences, it also studies spiritual intelligence.

Human Behavior in Globalization Era

2007-03-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

Globalization enables us to know various human behavior in various regions of the earth, both those carried out by backward people in underdeveloped countries and those carried out by educated people in developed countries. We may easily understand strange behaviors of those backward people, but we often become greatly surprised by inhuman behaviors carried out by educated people in developed countries. Advancement of sciences and sophistication of technology do not necessarily improve life quality of an individual or society and may increase quality of crimes. There are a lot of advancements in the names of democracy, human rights, free trade, and other issues, but destruction of various infrastructures and cultural heritages, exploitations of natural resources, and even human elimination are also happening. Thinking all those things deeply, sometime we don’t understand who man really is.

Such a question also causes studies on human are always and will always be interesting. Discourses on man attract us because knowledges of living beings and especially human haven’t achieved advancements had been achieved by other fields of knowledges. Questions on man essentially haven’t answered yet.

Developing Muslim Personality (4)

2007-03-22T02:30:00.000-07:00

3. Selecting Idol Figures
In child and teenage periods, motives of imitation and identifying are in their peak of development. In child period, father is usually one's identification figure. To a child, his father's figure is the most marvelous figure in his psychological world. A father who can meet his child's identification motive until his son or daughter becomes a teenager will still be his child's idol. In his son's eyes, this father will still be a prominent figure although possibly he is an ordinary man in the society. On the contrary, a father who failed to be his son's idol in his son's children and teenager periods, still will not be a prominent one in his son's eyes although possibly he is a prominent figure in the society.

A child needs a father as his/her own father, not as a father of others. According this perspective, one who is not familiar with his father (or his mother) will suffer an identity crisis, since his loses an idol figure. To become his son's idol, a father should have certain concepts on his son, what he wants from his son, what he wants his son to be. Without such concepts, a father can't design capacity and characteristics of his son's morality. In school ages, parent's position competes with that of teachers.

When a child becomes a teenager, his identification figures possibly will be famous celebrities. In his college-student years, when one is able to think logically and to compare various thinking and literatures, he will choose as his idol a figure who has notions which are firm, unique, prominent, controversial or has been proven to create great works, whether the figure is still alive or has passed away. For adults in college student years, idols have an important role in determining objectives for their future.

The big thinking of the big figures inspires the young person to think big too. A big man in this case is a man whose scope of thinking is beyond social space, geographical space, and space of time in which he lives. The world's big and figures often idolized by the youth among others are Hitler, Napoleon, Gamal Abdul Nasser, Soekarno, Imam Khomeini, and Khadhafi One may be introduced to a big man by reading his biography or visiting his historical places. A big man is a man who "dreams" about something "impossible" and later realizes his dream(s) into reality. Many of great works were initially regarded as merely dreams.

4. Habituation to Patterns of Constructive Behaviors
Knowledge can be transferred by means of teaching. Meanwhile, creating a pattern of behaviors is an aim of education. Education is a form of culture transfer, meanwhile culture of any society contains following elements: (a) moral or ethic, (b) aesthetic, (c) science, (d) technology. On the other side, human behavior is not always logical. Instead, most of human behaviors are formed by means of habituation.

A person getting used to wake up early will still wake up early although he had slept lately at the previous night. The delicious of a spicy food doesn’t have something to do with logic but with habituation to taste. Furthermore, sense of cleanness, sense of orderliness and sense of discipline are also internalized by means of processes of habituation. A person who understands logic of honesty doesn’t necessarily becomes an honest person, on the contrary he may abuses that knowledge to deceive others who are honest. Good manners are not necessarily logic but obviously they are formed by means of habituation.

In forming character of a person, things that should be habits in his/her behaviors are (a) good manners or etiquette, (b) cleanness and neatness/orderliness, (c) honesty, and (d) discipline.

Personality is one of qualities owned by an individual, but it is also one of qualities owned by a group or nation. Consequently, we can say that there is personality of Indonesian nation or Indonesian personality. At present, Indonesian personality is seen as really in bad condition. This doesn’t happen suddenly due to reform, but it happens as a result of this nation’s mistakes in managing living as a nation and a state for 50 years. Results of developing the nation’s personality at present can only be known in one generation in the future. Wallahu a`lam

Developing Muslim Personality (3)

2007-03-22T02:27:00.000-07:00

Parents may have an obsession about developing their children (as individuals) to have noble personalities, a teacher have the same obsession about her students, one having a special attention have the same obsession about certain persons/children. Developing a personality is not an easy job, though. It requires psychological situation and suggestion conducive to internalizing moral values. Infrastructures that should be provided in order to developing a man with a noble personality among others are:

Knowledge of moral values
Human behaviors are influenced by cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects. If one has a balance proportion of those three aspects, then theoretically he is able to live in harmony with its environment and with himself since he is able to observe and respond various matters correctly and proportionally. Hence, knowledge of moral (akhlaq) values has a very important influence in developing a personality especially of a child who has a good fitrah (innate disposition towards virtue, knowledge, and beauty)

Knowledge of akhlaq values can be submitted (a) by one’s parent at home in one’s early years by means of tales told before sleeping, then by means of routine advices, special advices in relation with important events, for example when he/she will move to another area, is attempting to select a spouse, will marry, or will occupy a position; (b) by teachers at school in form of akhlaq science, although this way generally put more emphasis on cognitive aspect than on affective aspect, school discipline usually has a significant impact on students, at least it enters their subconscious minds. (c) by ulamas or wise men after praying, at meetings for reading Quran, at special meetings (d) by intellectuals at forums of discussion, (e) by means of programmed literatures, and (d) by means of events impressing one to be learned from.

Creating a Promoting Environment
According to a research quoted by Prof. Dr. Zakiah Daradjat, 83% of human behavior is influenced by what he sees, 11% by what he hears, and the rest 6% by combination of various stimuli. Hence, influence of environment on personality development is highly significant, at home and outside.
Metaphor of environment is mentioned in a hadith of Prophet Muhammad stating that socializing with a good-mannered person is like being near a perfume seller. Being near such a seller will make you fragrant since such a seller usually sprays his perfume to others near him (as a kind of promotion). Meanwhile, the same hadith also states that socializing with a bad-mannered person is like being near a smith at work. Sparks will possibly sprinkle you and ashes will probably make dirty your clothes.

Developing Muslim Personality (2)

2007-03-22T02:25:00.000-07:00

Religious Faith in Personality Structure
According to Islam, personality is an interaction among soul (nafs), heart (qalb), mind (`aql), and conscience (bashirah) qualities. Personality, in addition to being provided with inborn tendencies and genetic heritage from one’s parents, is also formed through a long process during his lifetime, including internalization of values, knowledges, and experiences in his self. In this perspective, religious faith one obtains from knowledges and experiences also enters his personality structure. A Muslim with a strong Muslim personality can’t enjoy the delicious of pork, although it has been cooked in accordance with his taste. A Muslim with a strong Muslim personality can’t enjoy the beauty of opened up awrah. He also always awakes from his sound sleep if he hasn’t done his Isha prayer yet.

Obviously, every Muslim has a different Muslim personality quality. That quality itself isn’t necessarily constant. Sometime it is firm, intact, and prime. But in other times it can be distorted by influences coming from sources other than his religion. In this connection, religious counseling may be given to reactivate innate impulses of faith of one which has been experiencing a spiritual disturbance making his personality no longer intact, so that with the innate impulses of faith his nafsany (self) system functions back by creating a synergy to result in positive behaviors. In certain conditions, religion is a huge power to motivate behaviors, as in other certain conditions, biologic motivations (such as hungriness) have important influences on human behaviors.

In sufistic perspective, consistent fasting (shaum), night prayers (qiyamullail), dawam al wudu, wirid are highly effective in developing one’s personality.

Developing Muslim personality
One is said as having a Muslim personality if, in perceiving, responding, or doing something, he is controlled by Muslim conception of life. One’s personality, in addition to being provided with inborn tendencies and genetic heritage from his parents, is also formed through a long process during one’s lifetime, including internalization of values, knowledges, and experiences in his self. In this perspective, religious faith one obtains from knowledges and experiences enters his personality structure. One who masters religious sciences or akhlaq (morals) science doesn’t necessarily have a noble personality, since personality is not merely an aspect of knowledge.

Developing Muslim Personality (1)

2007-03-22T02:23:00.000-07:00

Introduction
Anyone can be recognized by his/her identity, but our recognition of someone is often not complete so that his/her actual whole-identity is not known. For example, a wife had been married with her husband for almost 20 years, but she did not fully know his husband yet. Suddenly, in their 20th year of marriage she was shocked after finding out the true identity of his husband. The whole identity of a man is usually is known as personality (syahshiyyah). Personality of a man as a thinking-and-feeling creature can be developed by means of various forms of education. In other words, one's life experiences highly influence his or her personality.

Personality
One's personality is built from his temperament and characters. Temperament is mode of one's response to various stimuli coming from his environments and himself. One's temperament closely relates to his biopsychology conditions, so that it can hardly change and is neutral to good/bad judgements. Meanwhile, character closely relates to good/bad judgments of one’s behavior based on parameters held by the society. Character is formed during one’s life experience, so that it can change. Temperament has no ethical implication, meanwhile character is always be an object of ethical judgment. One can have a temperament that is in contradiction with his character.

A person can have a bad temperament while his/her character is good. If his temperament is at work, he tends to act negatively. Later he will regret it and ashamed of what he had done, although this bad temperament tends to reappear. Furthermore, a person who has a bad character but has a good temperament is usually able to hide his bad character from others. The worst is a bad-character person who also has a bad temperament.

Permanent characters will form a personality. According to Freud, man’s personality consists of three pillars, which are Id, Ego, and Super Ego, or animal, intellectual, and moral elements. Behavior, in Freud’s opinion, is an interaction among the three pillars. Freud concludes, however, that human is a Homo Volens, a creature who has wishes and that his behaviors are controlled by wishes hidden in his subconscious mind. This conclusion underestimates man’s dignity.

The Indigenous Psychology (2)

2007-03-22T02:19:00.000-07:00

The concept of Islamic Psychology
The mentioning of “insan” (human) in Al Quran denotes human as a psychological creature. Insan is derived from word “nasiya” which means “to forget”, from word “…uns” (tidak terbaca) which means “harmonious and intimate”, and from words “nasa yanusu” which means “to flare up”. Therefore, human psychology exists from aware to forget areas, from intimate to hate areas, and from flaring up to quiet areas. According to Al Quran, God had created design of human soul very perfectly, containing soul capacities: thinking, feeling, and wishing.

Soul is a system (called system of nafsani) consisting of Aql, Qalb, Bashirah, Syahwat, and Hawa:

1. Aql (reason) has a problem solving capacity. Its function is to think and it may differ good ones from bad ones. Reason can find truth but cannot determine whether a thing is a truth or not, therefore truth of reason is relative.

2. Qalb (mind) is the Prime Minister of the system of nafsani. It leads activities of a human’ soul. It can understand reality, a thing that is not easily done by reason. An irrational thing still can be understood by the qalb. In the qalb there are good things and bad things such as faith, love, envy, courage, angriness, arrogance, peacefulness, and disbelief. Qalb has the authority to decide to do an action. Therefore, everything that is realised by qalb implies rewards and sins. Things had been forgotten by qalb would enter memory of nafs (unconscious world), and some times things had been forgotten emerge in dreams. In accordance with its name, qalb is often inconsistent.

3. Bashirah “conscience”, is view of inner eyes in contrast with view of the head’s eyes. Different to the inconsistent qalb, bashirah is always consistent with truth and honesty. It can’t compromise to deviate from to the truth. Bashirah is also called nuraniy from wod “nur”, which becomes hati nurani in Indonesian. According to tasawwuf, bashira is the divine light that exists in the mind, nurun yaqdzifuhullah fi al qalb. Introspection, cry of contemplation, religiosity, god spot comes from this bashirah.

4. Syahwat (desire) is motive to behaviours. Almost all human have desires to the other sex (sexual desire), while almost all of us are proud of children and interested in valuable goods and things, such as good vehicles (due to their prestige and comfort), livestock, and gardens. Having the things that are desired rightly and legally according to Islam may be of religious services. Indulging desires may lead to sins and crimes

5. Hawa (lust) is motive to low and disgrace objects. Crime, angry, frustration, arrogance, irresponsible behaviours, corruption, despotism, and so on have this lust as their source. One characteristic of lust is interested to enjoy things wanted by ignoring moral values. One who indulge himself/herself with lust tends to carry out destructive actions. Hawa in is “hawa nafsu” in Indonesian, or “id” according to Freud.

Materials of Islamic Psychology are found in classic literatures of middle age. Processing materials with psychological nuance into Islamic Psychology requires hard works. If there is a person who still think that Islamic Psychology is not exist, it is due to he/she still doesn’t know yet Islamic Psychology. This can be compared to the situation when Islamic banking (banking without rate) was firstly introduced in Indonesia, in which the banking society negated without-rate banking. At present, however, all conventional banks open Islamic bank (or syari’ah bank in Indonesia)—the first Islamic bank in Indonesia is Bank Muamalat—mainly after it has been proved that syariah banks are the most strongest ones in facing monetary crisis (compared to conventional banks)