- Monday Musings - (re-post)

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah and hello

Hopefully everyone is in the best of faith, and in the best of health, wherever you guys may be.

Today (Monday) is my tenth day back home in KL and by far the most meaningful. It marked my first ward round where the Head of Department himself attended, and also my first being the only student in the round. There were still 20 other people in it though, with the housemen making up half of the total strength!

As usual, it’s a half-day thingy, but this time I managed to speak with a couple of male patients before I left. One was a Malay film crew in his thirties (bukan artis yer!) diagnosed with query acute cholecystitis. The other was a 74-year-old Chinese gentleman from Alor Setar who just arrived via ambulance from Kedah before Fajr today. He was confirmed to have AAA, and present with him was his son who managed to make it to KL in the same ambulance.

It was quite satisfying when both patients admitted of being very pleased talking to me, and as the Chinese man (the son) put it, “cakap sama lu banyak shiok”. I think the only reason they said such things was that I actually had all the time in this world to spend few minutes engaging in conversations with them, compared to all the other members of staff in the ward, be it the Specialists, MOs, housemen, nurses, etc. Another plus point was that I didn’t “bullshit” the patients (quite a norm among students), always sticking to the fact, although there were obviously some assumptions here and there. The main thing is that we must never be afraid to say “afwan, laa adri / sorry, I don’t know / maaf, gua enggak bisa tau”.

I reached KLCC at about 12pm, just in time to become one of the first visitors to the Pameran Kegemilangan Sains dalam Tamadun Islam. It was launched by our YAB PM, although we (the civilian visitors) were not actually allowed in while the launching ceremony was taking place inside the main hall. The exhibition itself was quite good, although the “First Day Syndrome” did take place, just like in any other multiple-day events (minor glitches with the gadgets, tour guides messing up with the scripts, few loose screws here and there, etc.). However, credit should be given where credit is due, and I think it was a fine job by the organising ministry (MOSTI). Both thumbs up! (hehe dapat calendar, notebook and pen free, kena puji la sket beb, tanda terima kasih)

One incident ticked me off a bit (and deservedly so!), but it’s not about the exhibition per se. I was sitting all alone taking photographs near one of the big touch-screen information machine, when I overheard a Chinese man talking to one of the male staff and a nearby female visitor (both are Muslims). He claimed that he was a free-thinker and was asking to the other two younger Muslims of their thoughts about organised religions. I couldn’t hear any replies (they were standing behind me), and so the man went on a bit about his opinions, and I noticed that some words e.g. “Islam”, “Christian”, “Jews”, “war”, etc. occurred a number of times. I can safely say, however, that this man is not “against” religion, but he wasn’t happy with the actions of people who are known to embrace certain religions.

At this point, I became interested just to turn around and listen carefully (I strongly believe Messrs. Zaid Abdullah and Fawwaz from Manchester would have engaged this man in a conversation within no time!). And at the same moment he asked the two “unlucky” ones if they knew what does the word “Islam” mean. None of them actually answered, and upon completing my 180° rotation, he suddenly asked whether I’m a Muslim, in which I duly confirmed. He pointed the same question to me and I tried to answer properly, that Islam came from a root word and one of its meanings is “peace”. No sooner after I said that, the man replied, this time towards the two “bystanders”, “the root word of Islam came from the ancient Semitic language (where Hebrew and Arabic sprouts from), which also meant “submission” and “to surrender”."

He then asked the girl, “What does your holy book mean? What is the meaning of the word Quran?” I was trying too hard to listen to what she’s going to say that when she did, it sounded a little bit fuzzy, although she might have said something like “Quran is Quran”. And, obviously, the man answered that the word “Quran” comes from a root word which means “to read”. He carried on by commenting on people in the present era who are adhering to one religion, but never actually know the basics of the religion itself. He also said 90% of Malaysian Muslims (mainly youths) don’t even know or remember the 5 Islamic Tenets and the 6 Pillars of Faith. This guy must have been a priest or something!

Robert’s (I eventually managed to find out his first name) questions were, of course, merely from the language point of view, but his subsequent comments just confirmed one thing that I’ve only heard of before and yet to experience; that atheists and agnostics do know a lot about organised religions, and people outside Islam do study A LOT about our Deen. Whatever their intentions are, as the defenders of our own religion we must act fast to equip ourselves with knowledge of our own Way of Life. The stats that Robert provided might be a bit deceptive, but the results are all over the country for us to see. I also strongly believed that my two Muslim “friends” were merely awe-stricken during the whole conversation, and not actually being ignorant of their own Deen.

People who believed in capitalism fought, and still fight for it, because they understood what it meant and how it could benefit people. The same can be said about those who upheld communism, nationalism, fascism, imperialism, and all other secular ideologies and economic “-isms”. They embraced them whole-heartedly, learned about them and their opponents, even if they knew that such –isms also have their own shortcomings.

But why do we Muslims kept trying to “run away” from our own Destiny, from the Deen we should never ever have any doubt with? We were always proud of our fore-fathers becoming pioneers in the ever-expanding fields of knowledge, where they took heed of what was told by Allah in the Quran regarding the importance of thinking, learning and teaching. Alhamdulillah, nearly half of the global Muslims are doing fine at the moment in that aspect. But we never take into account that these people in the 9th-15th century got to achieve such results due to the social, economical, and political system that they were universally embracing during that time. Those generations were, literally, “living the Quran”, and with that I meant the whole Quran. Are we going to be like the Jews, where Allah mentioned in His Book,

“…Then do you believe in a part of the Scripture and reject the rest? Then what is the recompense of those who do so among you, except disgrace in the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall be consigned to the most grievous torment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.”

Al Baqarah 2:85

If those who only believe partially in the Taurat will be tormented in such a way, then how much more gruesome will Allah’s torment be for those who treat the Quran similarly, just as they like, based on their "basic instincts"? We are talking about the Quran, the “text” which will never change until the Day of Judgement, and which will be one of our “jury” during the Day of Gathering. And as Allah have described about these people in the very next verse,

“Those are they who have bought the life of this world at the price of the Hereafter. Their torment shall not be lightened nor shall they be helped.”
Al Baqarah 2:86

So, friends and foes (hope I have none!), props and ops (-ponent), with that I think I should leave it here just for now. Was thinking to add few more bits, esp. what was being delivered during the Kuliah Zuhr in Masjid KLCC, but will keep it safe till next time insha Allah. Till then, salaam ukhuwwah, salam imtihaan, and all the best to everyone, in life Herein and in the Hereafter.

Wassalamualaikum warahmatullah.

arip buff vasco abdussalam
Md Ariff Md Yusof
Year 5 MBChBThe University of Manchester
Elective Posting
– Dept. of Surgery, HKL –
012-6066704

"So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you will be superior (in victory) if you are indeed (true) believers"

Al-'Imran 3:139