Category: Islam

I Felt So Insulted.

I recently stumbled upon someone I admired for a long time and one of my favourite comedy heroes. The funny and lovable Harith Iskander. 

I have always been a big fan of him. Attended his Netflix Special show in person (see if you can spot me in the show). I once got fired back when I was 19 years old. I was working as a banquet waiter. It was a corporate event in a room full of engineers at Palace of the Golden Horses. Harith was the stand up comic for night. He nailed it so hard that I neglected to do my job. Mesmerised by his funny jokes, I just stood there and enjoyed the performance all the way to the end. By the time the whole event ended, my supervisor told me, “Don’t bother coming to work tomorrow. You are fired”. But it was worth it to see Harith live for the first time ever in my life.

Recently, he got in a bit of a spat with the general public. To be blunt, I don’t find that it’s his fault at all. He made one funny joke about coffee. He also used a pretty “on point” word that somehow involved in a controversy about nothing. 

Here’s the funny joke in question. 

There are so many layers in this joke. But the message went over the head of soo many people. 

For me, that posting have some of the funniest jabs at things we can all relate to. The jabs..

  • Subtle but pretty obvious jab about the hullabaloo that is halal ham sandwich found at my Alma Mater where a non religions and racial issue is turned into one, 
  • A not so subtle jab at the ever so fragile religious scholar (should it be scholar or something else since they are so fragile when it comes to their ‘Iman’), 
  • A pretty on point jab to the politicians and politician wannabe who’s job is more often to make police report on trivial matters than to work on the big and important stuff for nation building, 
  • Lastly, a pretty cool jab on the ever Islamic Kopi Jantan, Kopi Songkok, Kopi Angguk, Kopi Malam, Kopi Abang Yes and many more Ham Sap type Kopi lah. These are what the Malay Muslims really love to have, if not why do we have so many of them?

I’ll comment on the whole halal ham sandwich situation separately. They involved some of the rather typical stupid politician type. It’s now stuck at my Editor (read: wife). When I can convince her that I won’t be thrown in jail for posting my comment, I’ll publish it.

Coming back to the topic at hand. We have this Shahrol Shiro guy, who is a fellow funny guy himself. He should have known that the number one rule of comedy is nothing is off limits. Especially joking about those in power like our politicians or the government. Especially on those in power. Who are ever so crazy in dividing our nation. Splitting the Rakyat between the right and left rather than uniting us.

But he, likened himself to be a politician. Kununnya, working for the public. Made such a big hullabaloo of the whole thing. Why is he making this such a big hullabaloo? For the simple reason of using social media for political clout, more like a religious and personal opportunism. I mean look at this follow up video he recorded. See that songkok next to him. That’s the trick lah. Songkok must be there in plain view.

He can hide it behind “I’m protecting Islam from being insulted” statement. But we all know that is a load of bulls. 

A load of bulls Shaik? Really? So you are saying protecting Islam from insults is a load of bulls?

My dear friends, here’s what the Quran said about protecting Islam from being insulted. I’ve provided several translations from some of those I typically read through to better understand verses from the Quran.

Quran 3:186

 You ˹believers˺ will surely be tested in your wealth and yourselves,1 and you will certainly hear many hurtful words from those who were given the Scripture before you and ˹from˺ the polytheists. But if you are patient and mindful ˹of Allah˺—surely this is a resolve to aspire to.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran

Ye shall certainly be tried and tested in your possessions and in your personal selves; and ye shall certainly Hear much that will grieve you, from those who received the Book before you and from those who worship many gods. But if ye persevere patiently, and guard against evil,-then that will be a determining factor in all affairs.

A. Yusuf Ali

Demi sesungguhnya, kamu akan diuji pada harta benda dan diri kamu. Dan demi sesungguhnya, kamu akan mendengar dari orang-orang yang telah diberikan Kitab dahulu daripada kamu dan orang-orang yang musyrik: banyak (tuduhan-tuduhan dan cacian) yang menyakitkan hati. Dalam pada itu, jika kamu bersabar dan bertaqwa maka sesungguhnya yang demikian itu adalah dari perkara-perkara yang dikehendaki diambil berat (melakukannya).

Abdullah Muhammad Basmeih

In essence, we will be tested with a loads of insults that will hurt our feelings. The word Azan in the verse means hurtful things or insults. But we must persevere patiently because that is the resolve that we must aspire to. Because that is what matters most and what Allah wanted us to do when we felt insulted. We just need to be patient and be reminded of Allah.

We aren’t supposed to go and insult others back or go make police report for the insult.

Another one…

Quran 2:262

Those who spend their wealth in the cause of Allah and do not follow their charity with reminders of their generosity or hurtful words—they will get their reward from their Lord, and there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve. 

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran

Those who spend their substance in the cause of Allah, and follow not up their gifts with reminders of their generosity or with injury,-for them their reward is with their Lord: on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

A. Yusuf Ali

Orang-orang yang membelanjakan hartanya pada jalan (ugama) Allah, kemudian mereka tidak mengiringi apa yang mereka belanjakan itu dengan perkataan membangkit-bangkit (pemberiannya), dan tidak pula menyinggung atau menyakiti (pihak yang diberi), mereka beroleh pahala di sisi Tuhan mereka, dan tidak ada kebimbangan (dari berlakunya kejadian yang tidak baik) terhadap mereka, dan mereka pula tidak akan berdukacita.

Abdullah Muhammad Basmeih

This is Quran telling us, don’t keep telling and reminding people about your generosity when you give them charity. And don’t go and insult (the word Azan again) the people when you give them charity. 

Example, we all probably have watched a lot of dramas where someone throw some money to the face of some poor guy. And then, he insulted the poor guy “Tu la, mati tak mahu, dah hidup ni nyusahkan orang. Amik duit ni pastu pi mampos”. We can’t do this folks. We can’t insult those we we give charity to.

What else does the Quran says about being insulted?

Quran 3:111

They can never inflict harm on you, except a little annoyance. But if they meet you in battle, they will flee and they will have no helpers.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran

They will do you no harm, barring a trifling annoyance; if they come out to fight you, they will show you their backs, and no help shall they get.

A. Yusuf Ali

Mereka (kaum Yahudi dan Nasrani) tidak sekali-kali akan membahayakan kamu, kecuali menyakiti (perasaan kamu dengan ejekan dan tuduhan yang tidak berasas). Dan jika mereka memerangi kamu, mereka akan berpaling lari membelakangkan kamu (kalah dengan sehina-hinanya); sesudah itu mereka tidak akan mencapai kemenangan.

Abdullah Muhammad Basmeih

Here, Quran clearly stated that an insult is nothing dangerous. It’s just a trifling or small annoyances, sakit hati hang sikit ja. Tak sakit lebih2 pun. Sikit2 ja. Takdak physical violence pun.

Quran never said that Islam is insulted when people say bad things about it. And again, Quran never said “Go make police report whenever someone is insulting you or Islam”.

I would like to stress again, an insult can never harm you if you are a mature person. A mature person understands what an insult is. They are just words with the intention to make us react the way they want us to react. You reacting immaturely, impatiently, and not persevering through the insult is the one in the wrong based on what’s in the Quran.

Grow up please.

But Shaik, what else can I do other than being patient? That can’t be all there is to it? Just be patient? There are so many things being thrown on the internet, YouTube and TikTok saying bad things about Islam. It can’t be that we just need to be patient and let it happen like that only? 

Ok lah, let’s read one more verse from the Quran. The answers are there if we read. We just need to read. Baca. Baca bagi paham. Don’t just read complete with tajwid mendayu2 but not understanding anything. Read to understand.

Quran 33:48

Do not yield to the disbelievers and the hypocrites. Overlook their annoyances, and put your trust in Allah. For Allah is sufficient as a Trustee of Affairs.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran

And obey not (the behests) of the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and heed not their annoyances, but put thy Trust in Allah. For enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.

A. Yusuf Ali

Dan janganlah engkau menurut kehendak orang-orang kafir dan orang-orang munafik dan janganlah engkau hiraukan usikan dan celaan mereka, serta berserahlah kepada Allah (memelihara keadaanmu); dan cukuplah Allah menjadi Pelindung (yang menyelamatkanmu).

Abdullah Muhammad Basmeih

Here, again Quran telling us to just ignore the hurtful talk of the unbelievers and the munafikun. Especially the munafikun I believe. Pakai songkok kopiah semua, but did not do what the Quran says. And the munafikun just continue to divide the Rakyat with stupid race and religion division tactics.

Not enough that we need to ignore, overlook, hiraukan their hurtful words and insults. We ALSO need put the trust that Allah will be sufficient in disposing our affairs and protect us.

This is not the first time I write about Islam being insulted and we ourselves feeling insulted. I’ve written about this before way back on 13 February 2020, Almost exactly 5 years ago. There is a nice video about how to handle insult at the end of that blogpost I made 5 years ago. Still very relevant today.

History tends to repeat itself. Don’t let the bad things happens again. Especially due to our own stupidity. Where we are not mature enough to handle insult. Or when we listen to and follows what the disbelievers and the munafikun wants us to do. Especially when what they want to do is to further divide the Rakyat even further.

Have a great weekend folks. Peace be unto all.

Malay Businesses are doing Far Better Than The Chinese

I just got back from my home state Kedah. Over the weekend we went up north to my second wife’s hometown in Alor Setar and Jitra. With MCO and whatnot, it’s been a while since we were back in Kedah.

An amazing photo of Jalan Raja Post Office in Alor Setar. Just a 5-minute walk from Pekan Rabu.

Growing up in Sungai Petani in the 80s and 90s, you get to see Penang progressed from where they were to northern economic powerhouse.

Of course growing up in the good old Kedah with 76% of the population are of rural Malays, spending more than a decade in government school with 90% of my friends being Malays, one tend to filter one’s view through a kinda racially-driven lens.

Growing up, we were made to believe that the Chinese took all the lands, buildings and whatnot in Penang and drove the Malays out of Tanjung, towards Balik Pulau. The Malays sold their lands to the Chinese as the Chinese made them an offer they can’t refuse.

I remember back in the day, I asked some of the elders around me, how come the Chinese can afford to offer the Malays that much money for their land?

The answer was simple, “Depa kapiaq takdak agama, depa menega boleh menipu. Kita Islam tak boleh menipu. Depa boleh rasuah sini sana, kita tak boleh. Sebab tu depa kaya pastu beli abih semua.”. Loosely translated to, “They (The Chinese) don’t believe in Islam so they can lie and cheat in doing business. We Muslims can’t lie and cheat. They can bribe here and there, we can’t. That’s how they get to be so rich and bought everything up.”

“Depa kapiaq takdak agama, depa menega boleh menipu. Kita Islam tak boleh menipu. Depa boleh rasuah sini sana, kita tak boleh. Sebab tu depa kaya, pastu beli abih semua”

I believed we Malays have caught up to the Chinese. We are now as good as them if not better, than the Chinese when it comes to running a business. Don’t believe me? Let me share with you some of the amazing success stories I’ve read in the news lately.

A business with people at the heart of it.

Let’s start with the proud folks from down south. Knowing that Malaysia is growing rapidly and in need of cheap labours, several high ranking government officials and high ranking uniformed officials banded together and started a business to smuggle Indonesian migrant. These astonishingly innovative businessmen and businesswomen are of course all Malays. Chief among them is the Asst’ Director of Immigration Department, a Malay lady, her right hand man, a Malay; Construction worker, a Malay as well; ferry ticket agent, also a Malay; and a security guard, you guessed it right, a Malay as well.

The poor Myanmar refugees can’t pay to be smuggled in so these Malay businesspersons, can’t make money that way. Hence they don’t really care about the Myanmar refugees lah. But the Indonesian can pay them good money, so they smuggled them in by the truckloads. These people smuggled into the country definitely helped the economy to grow. How else would we build the roads, houses and buildings? Of course they are taking valuable jobs for Malaysians in the country but the we the Malays make money in smuggling them so it’s okay lah. With the Myanmar, we can’t make any money. So this is better lah.

I’m pretty proud of them, they have successfully helped to grow Johor and supported the businesses there with cheap foreign labour by smuggling human beings into our country. This really is an import export enterprise here. Importing and exporting people that is.

Hidup Melayu! Long Live Malays!

A business with our children at the heart of it.

The second case, is close to all our hearts. It involves our kids and our schools. The schools has always been a Malay friendly industry. Canteen provider are mostly Malays. Security guard suppliers, Malays. Stationeries, Malays. Teachers, mostly Malays, Headmasters/Mistress, Malays. Officers in PPD and Ministry, mostly Malays as well.

So when I read in the papers that ‘Boarding schools supplied with food items past expiry dates, no expiry dates, no halal certification, non approved food supplies, dirty kitchen based on the recent Auditor General report’, I can only imagine that our Malay teachers, headmasters, assistant headmasters at government religious schools, technical, vocational, residential schools are doing a mighty fine job in inspecting and supervising the kitchen, stocks and purchasing from great suppliers. Let’s list down some of the innovations introduced by these contractors and school administrators that have catapulted the Malays to the forefront:

  1. 30% of the schools have expired food items more than 1.5 years past.
  2. 71% of the schools have food items that’s not certified halal by JAKIM.
  3. 55% of the schools have unapproved brand of food items.
  4. 21% of the schools have expired food items more than 1.5 years past.
  5. 30% of the schools have dirty kitchens.
Just a photo of a nicely cooked and arranged food in a canteen. Definitely not a photo of the non-halal certified, expired and non-approved food cooked in dirty kitchens.

And the suppliers to these government religious schools, boarding schools and other schools are mostly Malays as well. So these Malays business man are definitely upping the game to be on the same level as the cheating and lying Chinese businessman who aren’t Muslims. I’m incredibly proud of my Malay brethren here.

Especially when these brethren of mine are teachers and headmasters/headmistress and school administrators. Kudos to the Malay suppliers as well. They definitely got the contract after dealing the said Malay Headmasters, Teachers, PPD and Ministry Officers and probably a few Division Heads of a certain political party. They are definitely people with super strong fibre optics cables. They are not people like you and me ladies and gentlemen. They are folks with connections to those in power.

In any case, they are really doing a mighty find job of educating our kids on the way to run an enterprise and get rich faster. May our brights kids who are eating non-halal certified, non approved and expired food cooked in dirty kitchen get all the blessings and barakah from the teachers and school administrators.

Hidup Melayu! Long live Malays!

A business that is definitely made in heaven up above.

The last one is the most successful of the three examples I’m sharing. It is none other than the business ran by our Mama-san. The business of “makan atas angin” or “Ali baba”. This is where the Malays excel way better than the Chinese. In fact, it’s probably the only industry where 100% of ownership of all “makan atas angin” businesses belong to the Malays.

Based on the ongoing trial involving the ever lovely Kak Mah, the court was told that Kak Mah “makan atas angin” RM5,000,000, while her aide RM500,000 for helping a company secured a RM1.25 billion diesel solar hybrid project. Court was also told that the company has been paid RM63 million in July 2017 to start the project but nothing had been done since then.

A Malay consultant between Kak Mah and the company also “makan atas angin” RM1,000,000. He was promised another RM10,000,000 by the company director (Saudi Abang Samsurijal, Malay?). Court was also told that, Kak Mah demanded 15% or RM187,500,000 worth of “makanan atas angin” to help the company secure the project to supply solar hybrid energy to 369 schools (Awwww, it’s for the lovely schools AGAIN. They really do love schools) in Sarawak. Then the aide to Kak Mah, an amazingly talented business negotiator named Rizal, also demanded more “makanan atas angin” of RM 25,000,000 in instalments of RM5,000,00 a year, over 5 years.

These are some incredible state-of-the-art business deal techniques employed by Mama-san and Co. Great negotiation skills to get better deals, even Trump who wrote the book “Trump: The Art of the Deal”, could not have closed the deal the same way Mama-San, the aide and the consultant did.

Not only do these towering Malays did better than the Chinese, they did better than Trump!

Back in the 50s, P. Ramlee has us in stitches with the famous scene below:

Now Kak Mah gave us the sequel,

  • RM5,000,000 untuk aku
  • RM500,000 untuk engkau
  • RM63,000,000 untuk engkau dan tak payah buat apa-apa
  • RM1,000,000 aku terima
  • RM10,000,000 engkau janji
  • RM5,000,000 engkau bayar dulu
  • RM500,000 aku bagi dulu
  • 15% atau RM187.5 million aku mintak
  • RM25,000,000 engkau mintak
  • Nah beg penuh dengan RM1,500,000 untuk engkau
  • Nah rasuah untuk aku RM5,000,000
  • Amik ni 10-15% bayaran untuk engkau
  • Eh…“Actually it is a commission but it is not nice to say that…” untuk aku
  • Eh…“Actually it is a commission but it is not nice to say that…” untuk engkau

If it’s not commission, it’s political donation. Donation for what? Untuk kerajaan isle la.

Hidup Melayu! Long live Malays.

The Malay businesses have progressed to a new level that has far surpassed the Chinese. Not just the Chinese but the west and Jews themselves can’t do things like these. This is the art of the deal! I’m incredibly proud to be a Malay.

Peace be unto all.

Let’s Think It Is Enough

Editor’s Note: It’s been some time so as you may have guessed, this will be a long one. Perhaps my long time friend Mat Not will be able to draw this whole for the challenged readers.

I don’t comment much on politics nowadays. It seemed there’s already so much going one where the country’s government changed hands, state governments changed hands, more than 70 ministers and deputy ministers get appointed, more than enough politicians get appointed to professional positions, people with political connection gets away from being charged, motion of no confidence, and so many more politicking.

With this much politicking going on, we can pretty much ignore the calling for less politicking since the leaders in the country are pretty much ignoring the call as well. Nothing is further than the truth when it comes to the Malay saying, ‘Abah borek, anak rintk’, right?

At this point, I think that ‘enough is enough’. Let’s all follow ‘Abah’ footsteps and let’s all all ignore the call to stop politicking. Just like ‘Abah’, the right way to go is “ALL IN” and make the change you wanna make.

Okay Abah, let’s all follow your footsteps in igoring the calling to stop politicking.

One thing that apparently is not enough and really grabbed by attention is how most Malaysians reacted to the issue of refugees from Myanmar. Granted this is an old topic but the solution is something that is apparently new to everyone. Pray to read on till it’s the part where we talk about solution to the problem.

The hatred seeps in.

A huge majority of Malaysian, and to my surprise, even the Malay Muslims reacted the same. I expected differently from my Muslims brethren since majority of the displaced refugees are fellow Muslims. Majority of the general public felt that the Myanmar Refugees, The Rohingyas to be specific, overstayed their welcome. More than that, many felt that it’s better to kick them all out of the country and let them be somewhere else. Here are some example what the netizens are saying.

This guy got 14.4K likes. You can look at the replies of the tweet above and see how racists we can be even to folks of the same religion. To illustrate, let’s change some words,

Aku dulu kesian la jugak dengan Melayu ni cam oh shit miskin kesian depa ni. Tapi bila duduk KL, bersepah Melayu curi Obike la curi pokok orang la, mintak sedekah lepastu bila orang tak bagi dia maki dalam bahasa dia(ini jadi kat aku) dia siap ludah lagi. Jadi? Makanya?

Let’s take a look at another one. This is a story that make the rounds in WhatsApp groups and Facebook postings.

Dulu ada satu orang tua pernah bagi tahu saya, ada 3 bangsa dalam dunia ni yang takkan ada negara sampai bila-bila

1. Bani Israel
2. Gipsi
3. Rohingya

Rohingya ni bangsa tak ada maruah, tak ada harga diri. Apa yang jadi pada diri mereka sekarang adalah balasan kerana lari dari perang. Mereka pernah lari tinggalkan raja dan ulama mereka di Bangladesh, mencari kesenangan hidup di Burma. Tergamak buat macam tu. Lepas tu Burma bagi senjata suruh lawan musuh, mereka jual senjata. Mereka pernah jadi talibarut British lawan Burma. Sebab tu orang Burma (nama baru Myanmar) berdendam.

Kita orang Melayu mana pernah buat macam tu kat raja kita. Apa yang kita nikmati hari ni mungkin balasan baik dari Allah atas pengorbanan tok nenek kita yang tak pernah lari dari perang walaupun asik kalah.

Bermula dari serangan Chola, Siam, Burma, Portugis, Belanda, Inggeris, Jepun, Komunis, militan Sulu, terbaru virus Covid 19, kita tak pernah lari. Kita lawan walaupun ada polis dan askar kita terkorban.

Tak macam Rohingya, sikit-sikit lari, sikit-sikit lari..

Bayangkan lah di Langkawi nuu.. orang kita bagi rumah atas bukit kat Rohingya ni, dibakarnya rumah tu, taknak, takde standard katanya. Dia orang demand nak duk rumah taman ada aircond. Mujur jauh, kalau depan muka saya, memang saya terajang tang muka tak kira jantan betina, tua muda.

– copy paste –

You guys can do the same exercise, change some words and replace it with Melayu. See if it sounds racist.

Apparently Rohingya is now at the same level of the Israelies. They hated the Rohingyas so much that they grouped the Rohingyas together with Israelies. Oh my…That’s one way to rile up the Malay Muslims. They immediately gobbled it up. It’s so easy to get under the skin of the Malays.

Remember when this was making the rounds. That is why now no Mulsims consume any of these products. Eh…Wait, did the Muslims really boycott these brands?

I’m also mildly entertained by the fact that the story above conveniently forget about our own history as a nation. With Malayan Union, we go against the what the Sultans and Rajas have decided. Of course we make it nicer by telling everyone that we are protecting the royalties lah. When in fact, we didn’t like what the royalties was doing and we were going against them.

Talk about “bangsa takdak maruah”, the Malays are well know to be running RM2 Alibaba businesses, well known to be oh-so-easy in accepting bribes. But I guess when the Malays are doing it it’s not an issue. We Malays give and accept bribe in full dignity. It’s so full of dignity that we call it ‘sedeqah’. We runs RM2 Alibaba businesses proudly without any shred of shame. But the Rohingyas…they are a shameful bunch.

Not Hatred but it’s the limited resources

Now, In my ‘debates’ or ‘discussions’ with my fellow friends on the topic, they denied they are being racist. They flat out denied. Okay, let’s agree to disagree there. So I asked why are you so hung up about helping the Rohingyas? They claimed it’s about resources. Our country have limited resources, those resources must be spent on Malaysian instead of the refugees.

The first of the resources the Rohingya Haters claimed is limited is Job Vacancies. One of the request from the refugees is to be given some form or permit to work here in Malaysia so they can get some form of income. Rohingya haters claimed that we have limited jobs hence we shouldn’t offer these jobs to them. So many Malaysian have yet to secured any employment so why are we giving these jobs to them. More so during this Covid-19 period. We shouldn’t give them things that even we ourselves don’t have enough. That’s what the Rohingya haters are saying.

Second example, money. Governments have limited amount of money. Hence if we spend the monies on the Rohingyas, there would be less money for the Malaysian people. Government doesn’t even have enough for us Malaysian, so again, we should not give them things that even we ourselves don’t have enough. That’s what the Rohingya haters are saying

Then a good friend of mine said this;

Minta kat ayah sendiri x dapat… Pas2 dengar cerita ayah jiran sebelah baik… Try pi minta.. dapat la plak… Nak buat camna dpt ayah baik… Syukur la… Harap2 ayah ingat/bantu anak sendiri dulu… 😁

Harap2 ayah x bagi ayam panggang jugak la… Nant tersalah anggap plak anak sendiri… Anak pun manusia jugak… Ramai plak tu… Susah jadi ayah ni… Kena adil..

Some folks claimed that it’s a matter of resources and not race.

Many of the Rohingya haters felt that they themselves didn’t get enough from the government so why should the government give to others than Malaysian?

That is the crux of the matter. We always feel that we don’t have enough of something, everything, anything. Mind you the people that I debated/discussed with are people who are educate and have university degrees, own house(s), families, a stable and good jobs/businesses, have a good future waiting for them and their kids, and clearly are in the M40 and a bunch of them are in T20.

Yet compared to the Rohingyas who only have the clothes on their back, no home, not even a rented home, no education for them and their kids, no jobs, no country to go back to and worst of all, no future for their kids.

These haters feel that they still deserve more compared to the Rohingyas. They still feel they don’t have enough things yet especially compared to the Rohingyas. They still feel that they must get what they wanted first before giving to the Rohingyas.

Among the most viral and verified demand of the Rohingyas was the letter by MERHROM. It’s mainly revolves around them wanted to earn a living in Malaysia with proper permit and with proper insurance paid by the employer along with lower treatment charge at government hospitals. You can see the scanned letters here. I purposely linked it to a website that echos the Rohingya haters so you can see just how bad these website that promote hatred against Rohingyas.

The real problem

Now that’s a long intro to come to a point that I want to make. We need to change our minds from this ‘scarcity mentality’ to ‘abundance mentality’.

Let’s try to understand the two mentalities. First up is Abundance Mentality. This is a state of mind that believes ‘there is more than enough’. And because there is ‘more than enough’ we can all enjoy the what we’ve been given by Allah. Since we can all enjoy it, we can all win. It’s Win-Win for the both of us.

The second one, the bad mentality that we want to lose is ‘Scarcity Mentality‘. They believe that ‘we only have so much of this pie‘. ‘If you take some, there will be less for me‘. So in their mind, they will lose if they give it away, or if they other party get some, the other party wins. It’s a Win-Lose or Lose-Win situation.

The scarcity mentality is what these Rohingya haters really believed in. They believed that we don’t have enough on this world. And that God didn’t give them enough to live on this world so they can’t share. If they share this wealth, they will lose out.

Let’s examine what Islam says about these two states of mind. Let’s look at Quran 2:268

Syaitan itu menjanjikan (menakut-nakutkan) kamu dengan kemiskinan dan kepapaan (jika kamu bersedekah atau menderma), dan ia menyuruh kamu melakukan perbuatan yang keji (bersifat bakhil kedekut); sedang Allah menjanjikan kamu (dengan) keampunan daripadaNya serta kelebihan kurniaNya. Dan (ingatlah), Allah Maha Luas limpah rahmatNya, lagi sentiasa Meliputi PengetahuanNya.

Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to immorality, while Allah promises you forgiveness from Him and bounty. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing

Quran 2:268

Here the Quran likened scarcity mentality as the devil’s tricks or threat. It causes us to feel jealous, hate, anger and pettiness. The Quran condemns these feelings as the trick of the devil.

In the example of the Rohingyas haters I shared above, they are jealous of Rohingyas to get a work permit? Pettiness of the Rohingyas to get more affordable hospital treatments? Just how much hatred are in your heart my dear friends? You have a job, you have a house and a family. You have a country that loves you and takes care of you. None of the Rohingyas have these. Will we lose our work permit? Will you lose your homes? Will you lose your country? Do you feel threatened? by the devil? and you succumbed?

In the same sentence, Quran highlights the abundance mentality through His bounties and forgiveness. The Quran promises abundance if we’give’ and ‘share’ His wealth. Not if you ‘keep’ and ‘hoard His pie just for you’. Here the Quran stresses that we should discard the scarcity mentality and adopt the abundance mentality so that we received God’s forgiveness and unlimited bounties.

For comparison sake, Let me also share what the Bible says about the same abundance mentality.

Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full–pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back

Luke 6:38

Even the Christians preach the same thing. Give and you will get God’s unlimited bounties.

The solution

I don’t want to talk about the isolated cases where the Rohingyas, were found to steal, rob and behaving in a bad manner. These occurrences do not represent the whole of the Rohingyas. Moreover, these are the symtoms of a larger problems. If there are those who break the law, take them to task. It doesn’t matter if they are the Rohingyas, Malays, Chinese, Indians or even the Martians. Take them to task. we have the police to take care of these issues. Don’t use this as an excuse to succumb to the trick of the devil.

My dear friends, you all pray 5 times a day, you all say your prayers. Some of are are teachers, headmasters, business owners, government servants, and some of you even lead the prayers at your congregation and yet you easily succumb to this simple trick of the devil. Don’t talk and preach the devil’s trick. Stop.

Start talking about giving more to the Rohingyas because they need it more than us. Then don’t stop there, give more to those in need no matter if they are the Rohingyas, Malays, Chinese, Indian, Caucasian, heck even if they are the Romulans. And in turn, you will get Allah forgiveness and his bounties. Quran guarantees it.

Please read up more on Abundance and Scarcity Mindset. I love what Stephen Covey wrote in his book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people’. It changed my world when I first read it during my college years. Let’s hope it’ll do the same to you.

Peace be unto all.

Yup, even the Romulans.

To Continue the Fight or Put Nation’s Interest Above All Else?

I was driving home from our escapades to the countryside farm together with my better half’s school mates. Their group of probably around 10 close-knit friends since they were teenagers. The almost always have two gatherings a year, one during Hari Raya and another to spend the night somewhere talking about the good old days. Although they are friends of my better half, they have been so nice to me that they have included me in their group to talk about stuff. Throughout the years, it now felt like I was there in the same school with them back in the 90’s.

Among the group, we have one guy whom I actually have little respect back in the day (him as a politician) but now have enormous respect. As a friend, he’s the best you want to have around. Funny as hell, love to feed his friends with great food, love to gossip about old friends, always there if you need help, and never stingy when it comes to money. A great guy all around. Currently he’s a staunch supporter and is a personal aide of one of the President of a party in PH.

That Sunday morning was a power breakfast morning. We exchanged stories about the going on in PH. Stories from a few months ago, stories of what happened during the eventful PH Presidents Council Meeting where everybody came out agreeing that it’s up to Dr. Mahathir to decide when to step down as PM. The meeting was said to be a very very hot meeting. It was hot because of the pressure within PKR for Dr. Mahathir to step down and Bersatu being defensive about it. Stories from PH President Council meeting where Dr. Mahathir did not attend and they decided to have Anwar as PM. Stories when Dr. M again became PH choice of PM. Stories of how Muhyiddin and co orchestrated the play between PH parties. Fascinating stuff indeed. We all agreed that, if it’s not because of Bersatu and PKR camp just can’t seem to agree when Dr. M should step down, all of these could’ve been avoided, among other things lah.

My friend agreed that both sides were not of their right mind. The other parties in the coalition realised it as well. But politicians being politicians, they will still fight about it. True indeed, that I agree with him. They won’t be politicians if they aren’t fighting for power.

We can’t deny that there is still bad blood between Dr. Mahathir and Anwar camps dated since 1998, much more between the two gentlemen themselves. I personally am happy to see them reconcile their differences and can only hope they will really let bygones be bygones. But one can only hope. Deep down, both my friend and I agreed that there will forever be bad blood between them.

So where do I stand? he asked. I told him, I’m torn. On one had I feel PH needs to fight one last time when Parliament reconvened. PH have fought too hard to back down now. There are still a lot of things to be done and reforms made. Get enough numbers and motion for parliament to decide the next PM based on numbers of MP supporting the current PM. This is the easier way for PH to be the government again. PH already have 92, add Dr Mahathir, Warisan+Upko and lost Bersatu lot (Saddiq, Maszlee and etc), that’s 108. Just another 4-5 seats to close the deal. It’s the easiest way to win without a doubt.

If PH goes for snap election, PH would lose in a big way. I told him, the typical Malay folks would vote for PN in a heartbeat. Why? For Abata lah. That will be the raison d’etre for the typical Malays. Even now these Malay folks are jumping with joy since the two biggest Malay-based party joined ranks. Do you think by simply branding them “pengkhianat” will win them support? The typical Rakyat don’t see the party hoppers betraying their wish, they see it as the Malays coming together. They see two biggest Malay based parties who have been at war with each other for a long, long time, working together again for a better Malaysia. The typical Rakyat don’t see them betraying the people’s mandate because the mandate has always been for a better Malaysia and Islam. This may not necessarily how I see it, but it’s definitely how a typical Malay is seeing it. So yeah, if PH goes for snap election, PH would lose in a big way.

My barometer is simple, let’s look at some hard data, and some soft data. Hard data would be the results recent by elections. Let’s just take 2019 onwards. There has been 6 by-elections from 2019 onward. Four Parliament seats and two state seats. Of these six, PH lost five of them. Two of the lost seats were actually PH seats. These hard uncontestable data shows that PH is on a losing streak. PH were the government of the day. Promised millions of development projects for the constituencies and yet PH still lost 5 of these seats. People hate PH that much.

Tanjung Piai by election.

Soft data is easier. Look at social media timelines and WhatsApp group chatter. There are way too many talks of people hating PH and whatever it is that PH do. This is way different that the euphoria of 2018 where there were so many praise coming through the timelines. Remember Tabung Harapan? People actually give politicians money. Yeah, now you see it right? I will not get into the why because that’s for PH to find out and fix. They can read my previous posting if they need some pointers where to start looking.

So, to me, if PH wants to get the PM position and cabinet back, the best way to go is to get a vote of no confidence going in Parliament.

That’s on one hand. But I’m torn, remember?

On the other hand, this will put the country back into a state of disarray. We will then have another round of drama, u-turn, back stabbing and frog-hopping. More money and promises will be dished out and more under the table dealings will be dealt. This is so that they can secure the number of seats required. And it’s all to get that PM and cabinet power in their hands. This will happen in both camps.

The stock markets and economy will once again plunge into the abyss. Oil prices have already hit rock bottom with the largest one-day percentage decline since 1991. Ours is an oil-based economy, where some 30% of government revenue are oil related. A 25% reduction in oil prices means government may not have a huge chunk of that 30% revenue anymore. Coupled with our declining export in Palm Oil, which saw a 42% decline in palm oil shipment export values over the last five years, and of course the impact of Covid-19 across the world economy. We are in no position to be have our politicians fighting each other and forgetting about the nation and the impending multitude of issues.

Being different is beautiful.

We also have lots of local problems, we still have race relation issues to fix. There has been way too many Malay vs Chinese, India vs Malay, Semenanjung vs Sabah/Sarawak, Islam vs Non-muslims situations. Even within Islam, Sunni vs Syiah, Wahabbi vs whatever that is not Wahabbi and so many other. I don’t have to link them. I would hate myself for linking them.

Is another power struggle the answer? That is why I’m torn. That was why I stated in my last posting that these leaders need to put away their differences and find a workable solution. I meant Unity government. Work together to solve immediate problems. It’s not that hard.

Should we have another power tussle? Is this the best for the country at the moment?

Thank god I’m not a politician. I don’t have to burden myself with these decisions. However, we can’t really trust the politicians to make decisions that will put the country first and foremost right? They always put themselves first right? Quite a conundrum we are in.

I’ll leave you guys there. Think hard and then tell your representative what you think they should do. Think really hard.

A friend once told me, “Politik ni kena tamak dan gamak” (In politics, we must be greedy and have what it takes to do something that might be bad). Another good friend (which I really need to connect back with) told me this saying from China “If you wait by the river long enough, you will see the body of your enemies come floating down”.

Peace be unto all.

Oh Royalties, Politicians, Religions and Racist Parasite; Where the Bull ‘Art’ Thou?

Editors Note: It’s a long one this round. Please bear with me.

We all know by now that for the first time in Academy Award History, a non English movie won the most coveted award Best Picture. Not only that, it won arguably second most coveted award Best Direction as well. Altogether, it won 4 Oscars (the physical award itself, the gold bald standing guy, is nicknamed Oscar) including Best International Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

It also won Golden Globe Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language award, BAFTA Best Screenplay (Original) and Best Film Not in the English Language, SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or, Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement and many more awards from the world’s film industry. To date, the total awards have reached 202 Awards in various categories. It’s such an achievement.

Bong Jun Ho with his Oscars.

Personally, I love Parasite. I’ve watched 7 out of the 9 nominations for Best Picture and in my non-academic and non-expert opinion, it deserves the Award. They are all great films but Parasite is indeed on top of the heap.

Not everybody agrees with Parasite being a great movie though. Flipping through social media timelines and talking to friends, many believed 1917, Joker, Marriage Story or the Irishman should’ve won instead. Many saw Parasite as something you can get easily on TV3’s Cerekarama slot. Not even good enough for a proper film. Just a telemovie.

I don’t know much about Malaysian movies to be completely honest. I do however have a few favourite Malaysian Directors. They are P. Ramlee, Mamat Khalid, Yasmin Ahmad and Aziz M. Osman. That’s all I will say about Malaysian film industry.

This creation of Mamat Khalid really hit me hard. I love it so much.

The Politics Surrounding Our Arts

On the politics surrounding our art however, I have much to say. Let’s start with the big elephant in the room. Censorship. This has been the bane of art and freedom of expression in Malaysia since forever. I still remember in my younger days when Malaysian can no longer appreciate ghost movies just because someone in FINAS/Jakim/Cabinet believed watching ghost movies can somehow cause Muslim’s to distort their belief in God. This is a load of bulls

I’m sure those who lived through the 80’s and 90’s remember the time when we can no longer enjoy those great Chinese ghost movies from the 80s. I was too young to understand politics back then but to have ghosts stories banned is still something that I feel was unwarranted.

The great Lam Ching-Ying as the One Eyebrow Priest. He was in so good in many of these Hong Kong horror movies that everybody in school wanted to be him back in the day. We all wanted to either be him or Jackie Chan.

Fortunately today we no longer have that ban in effect. Since the ban was uplifted we had an explosion of creativity with all those Blok 404, Kem 505 and more recently with Hantu Kak Limah franchise.

Ghost stories is a part of our culture here in Malaysia. Ever since we were a small kid, our parents would tell us, “Haaa! Pi la kat situ, ada hantuuu”. During slumber parties we exchanged ghost stories with our friends. During our days in boarding school we heard lots of ghost stories, some even dated back during Japanese occupation of Malaya. Everybody must’ve heard of Hantu Jepun (Japanese Ghost) in the form of dead Japanese soldiers marching down the street. We have all sorts of ghosts. These ghosts in our culture is very charming and interesting to me.

Hantu Pocong, one of the many types of ghosts in Malay culture.

It’s not so much the ghosts that fascinates me but it’s more of the expression of creativity. How one sees horror, how one interpret these ghosts and how it interacts with our daily lives. How much they influence the way we lives. From there we would have the Pawangs, the Bomohs, the good and the bad. It’s nothing more than an expression of art.

People would ask, what if people really believe in ghosts and bomohs and pawang Shaik? Well, we have been having ghosts movies and stories since the beginning of time. If we were to compare current situation to say 50 or 100 years ago, we actually have less and less people believing in them. Is it because we have less ghost movies in cinemas and TV?

No, it’s because of the advancement in technology. We now have lights, camera, and all sort of technological advancements. So much so that ghosts are finding it hard to exists. That’s why. We are more educated. We now realised it’s not what it is. No amount of movies will change our mind. And we certainly don’t need someone in Finas/Jakim or Cabinet to protect us from these ghosts movies.

The Royalties, Politicians, Ulama and Race censorship

The second part of censorship, which has a bigger impact on our lives, is of those people who have a higher status or caste in our lives. God forbid if we do a story, movie, book or even painting on the politicians, royalties, ulama and race.

These four topics are off limits even today. There are so many ways we can express ourselves with these four topics and from there everybody can learn a thing or two. Unfortunately, nobody can come close to these four topics. Till today have not seen much art concerning some of the more pivotal times in politics, be it during Malayan Union times when the people opposed what has been agreed and approved by the Royalties and British nor the more recent stuff like Memali. I hope we will one day have a movie with Malayan Union and the royalties as the central theme.

Similarly, God forbid if we ever make movies on corrupt politicians of yesteryear or even of today. Some of these stories we hear could really make it big in the movies. Some of the big corruption and abuse of power cases would’ve made some darn good movies. If you complained about our film industry not making enough money, these are the stuff that will make the money rains.

Then we have the issue of equality among the people of different races. There has been many work of arts regarding the conflict between the black and white in Hollywood. Stuff like blacxploitation and black power. Change it to Malay, Chinese, Indian. Heck, we should have more coming out from Sabah and Sarawak fighting for their rights to be equal on all field. All of these are off limits it seemed.

Why are these topics off limits?

One has to wonder, why are these off limits? Politicians keep saying we are not there yet as a society. We, the rakyat, apparently, can’t handle it yet. We apparently will start killing off each other if we have all of the above topics be made movies the way we want it.

Are we really that weak that we can’t handle any of these stuff? Let’s take a look at some of the more contemporary art that may help to tells us whether we can handle it or not.

First up, Drama Band performance during AJL. It has a spin on social and political commentary touching on Najib and Rosmah and their handbags, PU Abu and the issue of him leaving his wife while she’s still pregnant with his child. Dai’e Farhan who got married with his second wife in Makkah and lastly all the people who love/hate the above folks.

The public were up in arms about the show. Furious! TV3 took down the Band’s performance on their YouTube channel. Censored. Saying they are checking with MCMC if this is in their performance is against the code or not. Just tell the truth that you don’t want to piss off your lords Najib and Rosmah please. This is just a load of bull.

Next, we have these art pieces by Ahmad Fuad Osman. Apparently National Art Gallery (Balai Seni Negara) removes 4 pieces of art that portrays Anwar Ibrahim in it. Ahmad Fuad learned that National Art Gallery justified its decision based on the complaint of a single board member who found the works obscene and political. One person of power didn’t like what he sees and he removes them. Censored. Again, this is a load of bull.

One of the four art pieces taken down. This is entitled ‘Missing’.

Fortunately, Deputy Minister of Arts, Tourism and Culture have instructed NAG to reinstate those art pieces.

Next, who can forget the shitstorm that Fahmi Reza had to go through for the infamous Clown poster of Najib. He was expressing his politically charged opinion of what a clown Najib is. That is all. And yet the shitstorm he has to go through is crazy. Censored. A load of bull indeed.

On the subject of race, we have Engku Iman excellent experimentation on labeling our beloved Lee Chooong Wei as Jaguh and/or Pendatang. This is an excellent piece of art experimentation and how it makes us think and react. Quite a few folks were taken aback by her experiment. Why were you taken aback? Triggered? And she was called out on it. It’s a load of bull.

One of the few local authors and writers I like, Dr. Faizal Musa or his pseudonym Faisal Tehrani. He has written several books and many of his books has been banned by Jakim on the basis of having Shia elements. He has denied it multiple times but you know lah. Censored. It’s all a load of bull.

Lastly, the drama caused by a movie made by the wealthy businesswoman Sajat while she was in Mekah performing umrah. The whole nation went apeshit. Everybody talks about her. I don’t need to share more as the whole nation just went totally apeshit and I’m sure you got to see it all unfold as well. People were and still are so angry because she has apparently insulted Islam, Mekah and the whole ritual of umrah all in one fell swoop. Everybody was asking for Sajat to be taken out of Mekah. And they succeeded. Sajat Banned. Censored. It’s a load of bull indeed.

Apparently the politicians are correct. The Rakyat can’t handle it.

Let’s prove we can handle it

It’s up to us, the Rakyat, to be able to be clear-minded and be open. Many believes to be open is a western thing, hence not a good thing. Being open is often labelled as liberal and it carries this negative connotation with it. What many ulama have said is Liberal Islam is bad. I’m not sure if there is such a thing as ‘Liberal Islam’. Islam is Islam, there shouldn’t be anything else right?

Now to me, Liberal is a good word. To me, liberal means the notion or idea of liberty and equality. Anas Zubedy have written about how Liberal in Islam is a good thing. Go read it. The point is, we need to encourage others to be able to listen better and be emphatic to others. Encourage others to explore and discover their potential.

What if the art insult YOU Shaik?

What if that piece of Art is an insult to you Shaik? Would you just listen and be emphatic still Shaik? Well, I got a simple answer for that. Islam teaches us how to handle insult. It’s very easy to follow.

The Quran tells us how to handle insult in 33:48.

And incline not to the disbelievers and the hypocrites. Disregard their noxious talk, and put thy trust in Allah. Allah is sufficient as Trustee

Quran 33:48

So easy right? We just need to disregard their noxious talk. We just need to ignore their insult. It’s so easy, we basically just need to DO NOTHING. Just a simple nothing. Ignore them. It can’t get any easier than this. Literally do nothing.

Then what do we do?

The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one which is better, then lo! he, between whom and thee there was enmity (will become) as though he was a bosom friend

Quran 41:34

It’s so easy, repel, push away, reply the bad deed with a good deed. If you do this, you and the person who insults you will become good friends. When someone insults us, we shouldn’t go and kick him in the balls. We shouldn’t scold him/her. We also of course shouldn’t jail the person. Those are not a good deed. We just need to reply the insult with good deeds. Very easy to do as well.

This is exactly where the problem lies

The problem lies with us the Rakyat. Quran tells us to ignore the insults. Quran tells us to repel bad deed with good deeds. However we continue to not ignore the insults and use more bad deeds to repel bad deeds. We continue to care about the insult and throw some more insult back to them, ban, scold, get angry, hit them, or worse threatened to kill the person who insulted us through their words, movies, paintings, comics and whatever form of art they use.

Let’s all learn to ignore these insult and repel bad deeds with good deeds. Rise above enmity and insult. Go back to what the Quran says.

So the next time you read a comic, or watch a movie, or see someone performed some form of arts in a manner that insults you, your religion, your mom, your family, your whatever lah. Remember, to ignore them and reply the bad deeds with good deeds.

Take a look these non-believers, non-muslims. They actually do what the Quran says and see how it results in something great.

It’s great to see what Allah says works on everybody be they muslims or non-muslims. But we, decided not to do what Allah have said. That ladies and gentlemen, is where all bullshit is.

Peace be unto all.

Editors note: If you made it here, a big big thank you. I apologise for the super long one this round. I’ll try to keep it shorter next time.

China Eats Bat while We Muslims Do What!? Not So Different Eh?

I really need to get better at being inspired to write. Currently, I only am inspired or motivated to write whenever I find something that irks me. Things that make me anxious and frustrated. I’m now irked with this small-ish issue, hence I’m writing a little bit about it.

Since the recent outbreak of Novel Corona virus. Much have been talked about the fake news, false news, I-told-you-so-because-I’m-a-know-it-all-rich-boy news. I don’t have anything more to say on the issue except maybe on the last bit but that’s in another post. The guy needs a separate post just for him.

What I to share today is just how easy it is, we Muslims, find fault in others but not in ourselves. We then call them out to show that we are better than them. This is typical of Muslims in who live in a Muslim majority countries. Like us in Malaysia or the folks in the Middle East. Since I’m Malaysian, let’s talk about ourselves. As Malaysian Muslims it’s our duty to always look at ourselves and see how can we be better. Before looking at others and telling the how can they be better.

Let me start by sharing what Muslims in Malaysia has been saying to the Chinese regarding Corona Virus.

These are just a glance of what folks are sharing on social media. It’s typical among humans to compare between themselves and show that they are different or better than others. We like to show other people that we are indeed better. To always try to spot the differences and try to one up each other. We do it all the time, we probably just didn’t realise it.

This is a bad practice. At least, in the grand scheme of uniting the people. This practice divides us. I like to bring some balance and show to all that we Muslims aren’t any different. Once we know that we are not that different, then the magic happens. Let me share with you that we too, are similar to the Chinese in consuming stuff that cause harm to our body. But we choose to only point our fingers to non-Muslims.

Let me take you back to 2014, There was an outbreak of Mers-Cov, causing what was know at the time Middle East respiratory syndrome. It partly shares the same name with the more recent Wuhan Corona Virus outbreak. Both have the word Corona in it. I’m not a virologist, so I’m not going into the similarities and differences in detail. Suffice to say that the one from Middle East have were transmitted through contacts with camels and later through humans albeit with low possibilities. Mers-Cov have a mortality rate of about 35%. This means 35 deaths in 100 cases of MERS-Cov. In Contrast, Wuhan Corona Virus mortality rate as of 30 Jan is just under 3%. Of course this will change as time passes.

What irks me is that we Muslims have the same habit of consuming stuff that harms us. And we also believe that it’d do great for our health. Science have proven that it’s dangerous but yet we still do it.

A few friends of mine who just came back from their Umrah trip shared their experience in drinking Camel’s urine. You heard it right, Camel urine. More specifically Susu Tarik Kencing Unta. Camel urine mixed with camel milk. I’m not kidding. Here is a video about it.

Where does this come from? It came from a Hadith. It’s an authentic hadith and not a weak one. To confirm this you can find it on Federal Territory Mufti Page. Let me quote a few lines from the page.

Terdapat dua pandangan ulama’ dalam hal ini. Pendapat yang pertama, bahawa air kencing unta bukanlah najis di sisi Imam Malik, Imam Ahmad dan sebahagian salaf. Pendapat ini juga disokong sebahagian ulama mazhab al-Syafie seperti Ibn Munzir, Ibn Hibban dan lain-lain.

Pendapat yang kedua mengatakan air kencing unta adalah najis. Ini adalah pendapat Imam al-Syafie sendiri dan jumhur ulama’. Lihat Fath al-Bari (1/338).

Taken from muftiwp.gov.my

It is very interesting that ulama from Mazhab al-Syafie went against the opinion of Imam Syafie itself. This proves that one can go against or disagree with one’s Ustaz or Imam without much scientific proof.

The page above continues and I quote:

Air kencing unta ini dipercayai mempunyai kelebihan yang banyak sepertimana dibuktikan dalam kisah kumpulan arab badwi berdasarkan hadis yang dinyatakan.

Selain daripada bukti yang disebut di dalam hadith, terdapat banyak kes-kes yang membuktikan air kencing unta ini mampu merawat penyakit. Air kencing unta ini dikatakan mengandungi kalsium yang tinggi. Lihat al-sunnah al-Muthaharah (79), al-Tib al-arabi (1/278) al-I’jaz al-Ilmi fi Sunnah Nabawiyah (833)

Taken from muftiwp.gov.my

So, the Fatwa said you can drink it if it’s for treatment. We are not that much different from the Chinese in China. They believe that eating some of the weirder stuff are to treat themselves, or to make them healthier and with more vigor. You can google why are some of them eating those weird stuff like snakes, certain types of bats and whatever other weird stuff.

I am writing say that it’s not helping to point out that just how ‘kafir’ the Chinese are just because they eat those things. That is bordering gloating. Gloating is to dwell on one’s own success or another’s misfortune with smugness or malignant pleasure. Nothing good can come out of this. It’s not going to help the situation. Gloating is bordering insult. Don’t insult other people belief or be ready to have them insult your own religion.

Quran 6:108

And do not insult those they invoke other than Allah, lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge. Thus We have made pleasing to every community their deeds. Then to their Lord is their return, and He will inform them about what they used to do.

Dan janganlah kamu cerca benda-benda yang mereka sembah yang lain dari Allah, kerana mereka kelak, akan mencerca Allah secara melampaui batas dengan ketiadaan pengetahuan. Demikianlah Kami memperelokkan pada pandangan tiap-tiap umat akan amal perbuatan mereka, kemudian kepada Tuhan merekalah tempat kembali mereka, lalu Ia menerangkan kepada mereka apa yang mereka telah lakukan.

Quran 6:108

As much as the Chinese have some things we consider to be weird, we too have the weird things we do day-in and day-out. Not all of China do the stuff we find weird. So stop all these holier-than-thou acts and let’s pray for ALL to be safe and take precautions to stop this Wuhan Corona virus outbreak from spreading further.

Peace be unto all.

The Malays and Our Dignity to be Stupid

2020 starts of with a bang on the news front. It gave me a great sense of pride for the wild things the Malays have somehow achieved within just weeks of the year 2020. No other race in Malaysia can come close. Not the Chinese whom common knowledge have pegged them as the Race of businessmen and owns most of the wealth in Malaysia. Even the Indians can’t top the Malays in this area, even though we all know that The Indian and Singhs are the doctors and lawyers of Malaysia.

Malays have finally grasped the epitome of achievement in upholding our dignity to be stupid with all our might. To be exact, the leaders of the Malays. Since the Malays elect and continuously support these leaders, by proxy, they are of the same quality. Mind you I am a Malay as well. It’s the box I tick every time I fill a form that asks for my race at the very least.

Dengkil assemblyman Adhif Syan Abdullah said he has never denied being arrested by the police during a raid at a private party.

Let me present my case. First, PPBM Dengkil Assemblyman who was caught together with a group of men and women having a wild party fueled drugs and gambling. Social media was buzzing at full capacity when the news hit the public. He was caught red handed however, he denied it. On the same day later, he then claimed he was among those in the party. He claimed to be “at the wrong place and at the wrong time”. Yup, blaming the situation. Blaming the police for being there and caught him. Blaming the drugs for existing. It just baffled me to say something like that. He’s just bereft of accountability.

Where is his dignity of being the leader of Armada Selangor? And Syed Saddiq should’ve just sack him and the lot instead of just suspending them. He admitted to be there, allegedly involved with drugs, gambling, women and drugs. Just bloody sack him and ask him to resign from holding any post other than being the Assemblyman and be done with him. But then again it’s politics, once can just get away with it oh so easily. Bro Syed, if by any chance you read this, don’t be like the very politicians you despise.

YB Ostard Dato’ Haji Mohd Amar. Deputy MB of Kelantan who equates himself and the rest of the 14 new Mercedes ‘owners’ to be of the same level as Prophet Muhammad.

Just not two weeks before the above happens, we have the Deputy Menteri Besar of Kelantan making excuses and equating their misplaced priorities with Prophet Muhammad’s Camels.

The Menteri Besar nonchalantly said it was well within their rights. Their cars are old and ageing and costs a lot of money to maintain. So buying a not one but 14 Mercedes is to save money. He also dared to make fun of the Viva. They are too good to be in a Perodua Viva. This is a classic. This is why I don’t believe Ulama adalah pewaris Nabi.

It’s not about whether you have the right to buy them. Whether you can afford it or not. It’s about what are your state’s priority in spending money. It’s about your need versus your rakyat’s need. What are your priorities my dear Menteri Besar? If you can’t decide between these, then you are not fit to be leaders. I’m always fascinated with these PAS leaders and more fascinated with their hardcore followers. They claimed to be well versed in both Islam and Politics but time and again it’s proven that they aren’t really that well versed in both.

Additionally as usual, these Tuan Guru, Ustaz, Ulamak equate themselves to the Prophet. So selfishly telling everyone that they of the same level as our Prophet. This is totally unacceptable in my book. However to their supporters, it’s the righteous way to justify themselves. It’s in the books of the every politician in Malaysia to make use of Islam to justify they are right. Even in the case of buying truckloads of Mercedes. This is so stupid that even the kafirs are laughing as just how stupid Islam works out to be. And the Pas leaders have the dignity to do this. That is why he received this zero dignity award from me.

Najib looking confused with whatever that is going on in his SRC case.

Politicians with stupid statement as an excuse is no stranger to us. Even our Ex PM were not spared with this No Dignity Disease. In the ongoing court battle, he has been quoted, “Suprised to see RM42 Million in his account but didn’t return it”. He was also quoted, “I’ve spent millions but I didn’t know that the money belongs to SRC”. Most recently he was also quoted saying “He can’t readily verify his signature”. There are way many more things Najib said that is baffling to my ears. Let’s not forget the now infamous audio clips where “He basically begged a foreign Royal Highness to backdate a loan to clear his son’s name”.

Najib’s Darling there. Can’t take my eye’s off of her so some reason.

As you probably know, Najib used the sanctity of Islam to prove his innocence as well. It’s typical of a Muslim to “sumpah” that he’s innocence. We all know that there’s no such thing as “sumpah Laknat” in Islamic law. Federal Territory Mufti said the same thing. To me, the only value in Sumpah Laknat is the one where P. Ramleed did with his “Sumpah makan sate 30 cucuk”. This was way better and way more meaningful than Najib’s.

As usual the Malay folks gobbled it up as the gospel truth. Some even defended Najib’s action and spoke against the Mufti. So easy to play-up the Malays nowadays, just use the race and the religion card. Najib should head the list of the award but I’ll let it slide because I’m pretty sure we get to see more of his antics later. He’s of course the President of GTB (Geng Takut Bini). So it’s kinda guaranteed that we will see more.

2020 just started and we have a shitstorm of stupidity all in the same month. Where is our dignity my dear malay politicians? Where is our dignity my dear malay supporters of these politicians. If you love and support your malay politicians, tell all and sundry that they are wrong. Tell everyone that it’s not acceptable. Show the politicians that you have the dignity. Don’t be so blind to their antics and let them play you like a fool. That is if you have the real Malay dignity. Not the dignity to be stupid.

Peace be upon you.

Masyallah, Muslims Not Buying From Muslims Anymore?!!

What have happened to the campaign? Why then the MARA Digital Mall that is built for Malay Muslims is closed?

Ever since the announcement was made, I have my reservation. Those close to me would’ve probably heard my grouses or my frustration why I think MARA Digital Mall will not work. Today, my frustration and grouses were proved true. In a written response to a question by the previous Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Rural Development Ministry said, that slow-moving sales coupled with disproportionate operating costs caused tenants to cease operating at the premises. It really is disheartening when you hear businesses failed. People put in the time, and money, some put in their life savings and all went down the drain.

There are many reasons why I believe that it won’t work. First, it was born out of spite. That is right, the MARA Digital Mall was born of spite after the infamous issue involving a guy who claimed to have been cheated after he purchased a phone from a seller in Low Yat Plaza. The issue later spiralled to a full blown riot in and around Low Yat Plaza. Why I say that it’s born out of spite? Low Yat Riot happened on 13 July 2015. Ismail Sabri was made as the Minister of Rural and Regional Development on 29 July 2015. and he proposed Low Yat 2 in early August 2015. No a month passed after the riot and he proposed Low Yat 2 for Malays. Just because there’s a fight between some Malay men and Chinese traders over a handphone. It’s time for Malay to fight against the Chinese. It may be a business fight, but it’s a fight nonetheless.

The information and communications technology (ICT) centre at MARA Digital Mall. (Photo by NST)

And just like that, Ismail Sabri got MARA working overtime to get a Mall set up for all the Malay traders. I’m sure hundreds of thousands or even millions were spent to set it up if we include the 6 months rent free period for all the Malay traders there. Mind you, these millions could’ve been spent on MRSM, or a real rural development project that would uplift the rural Malays who needed help the most. But nope, it’s better to pay the contractors to remodel the mall so that other urban Malays can open a handphone or IT shop. Sorry my dear kampung folks, the bandar folks is more important lah after the riot.

Second, the business environment was a bit off (by a bit I mean a lot) to begin with. MARA Digital Mall was planned to be opened early 2016 planning starts in August. 2015 was the year that Lazada saw the big explosion in their sales. They recorded US$1.3 billion of annualised Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in 2015 across its six markets in South-East Asia. At this point, millions of us have already got a Lazada account and other online shopping platform accounts, and the biggest dollars was spent on electronics. It’s already telling at this point but of course Ismail Sabri don’t know any of this. He only knows that we Malays must fight the Chinese. Just fight, no need strategy, no need to make sure we win, just fight lah, and it’s okay because it’s not our money to use to fight anyway.

Electronics has been the biggest category in e-commerce and it’s expected to continue to be the main drivers of e-commerce. But of course Ismail Sabri don’t know this.

Of course you want to see consumer trending in spending before you spend millions of ringgit for a 5-7 years project. By 2015, we can see brick and mortar retail spending in electronics have trended down while online sales for the same category have rocketed. We see retailers like Seng Heng, and Other electronic stores open up shops in Lazada. We also see manufacturer like Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and many others doing the same. But not Ismail Sabri, he wants to spend millions to open a brick and mortar digital mall instead. Not really a fully researched business venture indeed. And it’s all because his rather short sighted views of the whole thing, being clouded by Malay versus Chinese sentiment.

The above two reasons are good enough to see why the venture would fail. now that the venture failed, who lost the money? First and foremost my dear readers, it’s you and me. All the monies used to set up MARA digital mall are our hard earned money, the taxpayers money. Not Ismail Sabri’s but our money. He got the benefit or riding the UMNO branded Malay versus Chinese bandwagon while it’s the taxpayers money that is spent. And these money was taken away from other projects that may uplift the poor rural Malays life. It’s so disheartening.

Typical logo for BMF Campaign. Notice the present moon and green colour palette. More on this later.

I’d like to take this opportunity to bring our attention back to Buy Non-Muslim Last Campaign that is going on right now. Let’s face it, it’s not a Buy Muslim First Campaign. It’s a Buy Non-Muslims Last Campaign. Say it like it is lah. Have some balls lah. Don’t be such a kitty cat. At least Dr. Mahathir back in the 1980’s is honest enough to call his Buy British Last Policy, “Buy British Last”. He didn’t name it “Buy American First, or ‘Buy Malaysian First’ or whatever name that is politically correct. So first of all my dear Muslims friends, please have some balls and call a spade a spade lah. I thought Berani Kerana Benar?

The Good ol’ Dr Mahathir doesn’t need to be side stepping much because he have balls. He called a spade a spade. Unlike the Buy Non-Muslim Last folks, them balls not so big..

The point I’d like to stress is Islam is very inclusive. Islam can’t be exclusive. We can’t treat Islam like this exclusive club where only the Muslims can join and enter or prioritise muslims first. If Islam is exclusive, then Prophet Muhammad would be the only Muslim because it’s exclusive to Muslim only, and since anybody else can’t join, he’d be alone. That is why anything Islam, shouldn’t not be exclusive.

That is why I despise mosque or offices that mandated all to wear hijab or cover their aurat to enter their premises. We need to be inclusive. There’s this situation where a person who’s not wearing hijab but just started praying 5 times a day. One day, She was on a long trip and stopped at a mosque to pray. She saw a sign that says she can’t enter a mosque without hijab, she entered anyway as it’s to conduct her prayers, she was scolded by a Pakcik there for not wearing hijab. How can we perform dakwah if non muslim and muslim who’s not fully practicing Islam can’t even enter the mosque? I’ve been to numerous mosque in other countries and very hardly I see this rules. they would welcome everyone no matter who and they would use the opportunity to perform dakwah during the visit. Islam must be inclusive. It’s for all, be it Arab, Malays, Chinese, white, blacks, brown, yellow or even purple. Islam is inclusive, no matter who you are, you can join the club. I’m sure I’ll get some backlash on this it’s oh-so-typical to get backlash on stuff like this.

You’d sometime see sign like this in mosques and some part of government offices.

Now back to this campaign, this Buy Non-Muslim Last Campaign. This is an exclusive campaign targeted for muslims only. They are telling people to make the club exclusive to muslim only. Brand it as Muslim first, Malay First and whatever first lah. This is not a sound business practice. You don’t learn from the very people that you despise. I saw many posts shared by the proponents of this campaign, they are trying to crate this list of non-muslims products that look like a muslim’s product. For example the name would be using a Malay word like Ikhlas, Murni, Bersih, Sufi and the likes. On top of that, the packaging would be in green and have a muslim-friendly logo. For example, using jawi font, cresent moon logo, batik pattern and the likes. These are the product that they despise as they are from non muslim’s but portrayed to look like a muslim’s, they felt cheated.

What you need to learn is to outbrand them, be inclusive. Include everyone and show to everyone that you are the most honest, the most value for money, the best, the fastest and whatever that is inclusive to all. Don’t just stop at being muslim and that is it. A muslims means nothing, a muslim still can end up in hell ya lest you forgot. We have Muslims thief, a muslim murderer and worst of all, a muslim child rapist. So, a muslims means nothing. If you have a shop selling phones, don’t just be a Muslim shop selling phones. Be something that is inclusive and have value to all, best value phone shop, best customer service phone shop, cheaper phone shop, most variety phone shop. Whatever tickles you fancy lah. Just don’t stop to be Muslim only. Must be good muslim ya, not just muslim.

So, I suggest to stop this nonsense of buy non-muslims last campaign and start a new campaign. I suggest a campaign of “to be the best in the the segment that you want to be”. The segment must be inclusive and universal. No such thing as Malay first, chinese first or gay first. An example would be best value grocery store. I want to go to that store because it gives me best value. If there are two stores, one belongs to a muslim and another is non muslim. Assuming the Muslim store is the one that give more value while the non muslim not so much. I can guarantee that both muslims and non muslims will go to the store that gives more value in the long run. Why? because that nobody wants to waste money down the drain. Heck, even the Chinese wouldn’t want to buy from another chinese who charges more than he should because Chinese are good with money. They don’t waste money for nothing. The Chinese are good at that.

Another example would be best quality and design tailor. No matter if you are muslim or not, people would go to a tailor that have the best quality tailoring and design. No point going to muslim shop and at the end of the day got a lousy design and tailoring quality. High quality and good design are universal, everybody wants high quality and good design, especially if they are affordable.

So remember, don’t do something out of spite, start a digital mall out of spite lah, start a “Buy non-Muslim last campaign” out of spite lah and whatever else out of spite. Just be a good muslim and practice all the universal values that Islam preach. Start a business that have a universal and inclusive purpose. Don’t have a business who’s purpose is to kill the other guy. The purpose of the business is to provide the best service or product for the customer. The byproduct of that successful business might be the closure of your competitor shop and another byproduct can be you making millions of ringgit in profits. That’s good right?

If we can do the above, and coupled it with a good business sense and great work ethics, perhaps we can have a successful Digital Mall or any other business for that matter. Inshallah, Muslim and Non-Muslim will buy your product.

Peace be unto all.

You Gotta Go Fast…You Gotta Spread Love Not Hate

As prescribed by my doctor, to live longer with my rather delicate heart, I need to read less national and world news; read more books and watch less movies to take my mind off things that would made me feel restless. Also to meditate, that helps a lot too.

So, about the movies, when Sonic the Hedgehog movie was announced I was super excited. Being a kid who grew up with a Sega Mega drive. Sonic is THE mascot not only for the console but for Sega itself.

Sega Mega Drive Box for Japan Market

I remember buying this Mega Drive console with my ‘hard earned’ duit raya at the age of 12. It was probably 300 or 400 hundred bucks at the time. I’m sure I didn’t have enough but somehow my mom chipped in I guess. Things our mom would do for us is unbelievable.

So, back to the Sonic Movie. Being a Sonic and Sega fan, I am so happy about it of course. Who wouldn’t right? People are never logical, we are psychological so we tend to be nostalgicaboutw things we love when are are kids.

But, the whole of the internet isn’t happy at all. Sonic has always been compared to Mario. Partly because of the consoles rivalry between Nintendo and Sega back in the days. Nintendo fans would shit on Sega and vice versa. Nintendo continued their success in the console and games industry, while Sega stopped their console business and focused solely on games. It broke my heart, a large part of it.

Since the movie trailer been released, the internet has showered it with…yup, you guessed it right…HATE. You can see hate after hate after hate after hate after hate being thrown at Sonic movie trailer.

Then I saw this photo uploaded by one of IGN editors.

There is so much hate across the internet for a simple movie about Sonic. The movie is not for them in the first place. The movie is probably aimed for kids!

Yup..Slow down games and movie critics.

We love to spread hate more than spreading love. Even a good movie like the recent Avengers: End Game. Article after articles came out talking about just how many plot holes are there in the movie. I won’t spoil them here though.

It’s always fun to hate stuff. It’s always easier to hate stuff. People can easily relate to hatred so it gets shared and spread faster.

The point is, we love to spread hate and we love to spread it fast. Look at your Facebook timelines, out of 10 posts, there will be 4 that are about how much we should hate the Chinese, the christians, hindus, non-muslims and so many other groups.

We see the death of Adib being used to stokes the fire or racial hatred against the Indians and religious hatred against the Hindus. Blood has to be paid by blood being posted and shared and reshared.

We see the issue of an independent muslim preacher being arrested being used to stokes the fires of religious hatred. We see the ICERD ratification being branded as against the Monarch and thus against Islam and the Malays as whole. There are points to ponder and details to listen to, but it should be about stoking the fires of hatred agains one another.

What we actually seeing is people being used on both sides of the divide, be it Malay, Chinese, Indians, Muslims, Christians, Hindus or any other group. We forgot that we are never logical, we are psychological. We forgot that we are easily manipulated by either side of the divide if we became too emotionally invested. Politicians prey on the people who are easily influenced.

We must all realised that politicians are always, always working doubly hard for MONEY and POWER or POWER and MONEY only. They are always chasing these two things and these two things only.

RELIGION and RACE are the platform that these politicians use to achieve money and power. Until the Rakyat understands this, the power will never be in Rakyat’s hand. It will stay in their hands and forever the rakyat will be fooled.

So let’s not be macai on both sides of the divide. Let’s think more and read more and spread love. Not hate.

Thanks and peace unto all of you.

Iqra’ – Any Fool Can Know. The Point Is To Understand

Had this sudden impulse to write again. Just like exercising, it’s so hard to start but once you got it going, it felt so good and you would want to do it again. Also, reading and writing is actually exercise, for the mind. Our very own Dr. Mahathir said it. It’s the very reason I started this blog.

Earlier today I read an article on PPSMI, our good Doctor is on it again.

Screenshot 2019-04-08 at 21.13.01.png

Huzzah! PPSMI is back. I was disappointed when it was withdrawn and now that it’s back perhaps my kids can savour Math and Science in English.

In the article the good Doctor made another interesting comment.

Mahathir was asked in the interview what he would have done if he were the education minister, a post he stepped back from due to Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto pledge barring the prime minister from holding other portfolios.

“We need to teach science and mathematics in English. The idea that the Malays cannot learn in English is stupid. It’s not true at all.

“I am a Malay, I can speak reasonable English. Why can’t other people?” he said.

Here’s a guy from a kampung and yet he is able to speak English so well. Add to that, my English isn’t that good but I can tell you that being able to read and speak reasonable English, have enabled me to learn from so many sources and earned me interview spots and great jobs. And I am from Kedah, among the poorest state in Malaysia. So I believe in PPSMI and really am glad it’s back.

Our good Doctor made another a MORE interesting comment.

Mahathir, who served as education minister from 1974 to 1977, also told NST that while schools should provide religious and moral education, it should not be at the expense of other subjects.

“With regard to religious education, we believe schools should provide religious education, but it should not encroach on the teaching of other subjects.

“We find that in the curriculum, so much (time) is given to religious education at the expense of other subjects – science and mathematics,” he said.

Now, let me give a little bit of a preamble, I’m a product of our national school. I believe I did okay up till now, so in that sense, I trusted our school system and decided that it’s okay to send our kids to national school. We were planning to send our kids to a private school but in the end, decided against it (my wallet was so relieved, I was told). So yeah, I trusted our school system. That is till I read the above comment by Dr. Mahathir.

I quickly called my daughter Alia, Primary 6 now, and asked her to read to me her weekly class schedule and total up the hours per week spent on each subject. Here’s the breakdown in hours:

Screenshot 2019-04-08 at 21.30.59.png

Pendidikan Islam, Tasmik and Bahasa Arab altogether take 5.5 hours a week. Let’s break it down. Pendidikan Islam 3 hours, Bahasa Arab 1.5 hours and Tasmik 1 hour. I did a bit of google and found out that Tasmik is basically reciting Al-Quran. And yeah, I was clueless what Tasmik was before this.  Here’s the objective of Tasmik as taken from the link I found above.

  • 3.1 Murid dapat membaca al Quran dengan bertajwid.
  • 3.2 Murid dapat mengkhatamkan bacaan al-Quran 30 juzuk.

It’s just that, able to recite (not read) the Quran. Recite the Quran and that’s it. 1 hour a week. Half the time allocated to learn Science.

Then, we have another 1.5 hours for Bahasa Arab, officially it’s allocated for Bahasa Tambahan but somehow my daughter’s school only have Bahasa Arab to choose from. What did she get from Bahasa Arab? You guys can probably guessed it, almost nothing. If any of you guys have a kid in primary school, talk to them, find out what have they learned and how that will help in shaping their future. Combine Bahasa Arab and Tasmik and it’s 2.5 hours. More than Science, more than Sejarah and just half an hour short to equal Math. Personally, it’s way too much time allocated for those two things.

We also send our kids for Quran recital class outside of school and that’s another 1-2 hours weekly. I know many parents send their kids to Kelas Agama outside of school for several hours a week. It’s our responsibility as parents. If we can’t or are not capable to do it, get someone to help us teach them that outside of school. It’s not the school’s responsibility. It’s ours.

It should not take the time in school, that is much better spent to learn Math, Science, Accounting, Commerce and many other subjects, a typical parent can’t teach. A typical parent can’t for the life of them teach their son complex math or science stuff. That’s why there are schools, trained teachers and a fully developed curriculum. So let’s not let these subject time taken by things that we can teach them ourselves and should not even be in school official hours.

Finally, since we are on the subject of reciting the Quran, I implore all muslim parents out there, go a step further. Don’t stop at teaching our kids to recite the Quran, go on a step further and teach them to READ the Quran. READ and UNDERSTAND it. Read it in a language that you and the kids can understand. Be it in Malay or in English. It’s so much more meaningful to READ and UNDERSTAND it.

And for us, read it like you would read a book. Read it to understand it. Learn it, study it and make sense of it.  Not just recite and sing it along and not understanding a word of it.

Quran has been forgotten by many muslims. It has been relegated to a book we singalong with. Open it up weekly, singalong the notes and later close it. That’s all it has become nowadays. It’s so true. Think about it. When was the last time we read a surah and understand it? How often we open it up and search for something to guide us? When was the last time we open it up and learn about a topic that is of interest to us? What does the Quran say about that topic?

We read the hadith in a language we understand but not the Quran? Why is that? Which one is firman Allah? Hadith or the Quran? And yet we relegate it to just a singalong book.

I leave you guys at that and end this article with the title of this article, Albert Einstein said it, “Any Fool Can Know. The Point Is To Understand”. Let’s change it up, “Any Fool Can Recite. The Point is to Understand”

Peace be unto all of you.