THE THREE ATTRIBUTES

Assalaamualaikum to everybody who come by this Blog of mine. Here, in this space I let my reasoning, my searching, my questions, my findings roam around. So for anybody who is looking for authoritative works on Islam, this is NOT THE PLACE to refer to. I dont profess to be a learned person, let alone an authorithy of any kind. I am just a person in searching, and I question even the commonly held true practice of Islamic learning. However, let it be made clear here that I am a Muslim who held fast to the fundamental of Islam, ie; There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger and I have respect for the authoritative works of early Muslim scholars. Those who feel that I have something to contribute or question to share are very welcome to browse these pages and leave comments. I also welcome counter arguments backed by logical reasonings and facts. However those who wish to use vulgar language and cheap pranks in alternative to intellectual reasoning, please be known that you are not welcome here.

Here I would like to put forward the question as to why out of 99 attributes of Allah s.w.t, only 3 He chooses for us to repeat daily at regular intervals. Those attributes are as shown below;

• Allahu Akbar ( Allah is Great)
• Bismillaah ir Rahman ir Rahim (In the name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful)

These are repeated in daily solat; 20x of Basmalah (4 times each solat), and Allaahu Akbar = 11 in Subuh, 21 in Zuhur, asar and isyak, 16 in maghrib = 90X in daily solat.

Apart from that, Basmalah is said at every start of good activity and Allaahu Akbar at every occurence of significance. When we see something that awe us we say Allaahu Akbar. When we are enchanted with something we say Allaahu Akbar. We say Allaahu Akbar when we see the great forces of nature at work, seeing beautiful creations such as rare butterflies or beautiful horses. As we say these we give attention to The Most High.

Why are these attributes so important for us to keep reminding ourselves? Those who have lost the significance of these are to be symphatised with, their mouth wet with zikr but the essence of it does not seep in beyond the speech and citation. We are supposed to say these with full consciousness and not just chantings like a mantra.

When we get up in the morning the first thing we do is Subuh Solat. We start each day by saying ALLAAHU AKBAR... Before anything, any mundane works, any task, any job, we proclaim Allah is Great. Before we face the world, people, works, bosses, Tuankus, our family, we declare that Allah is Great. We set our mind at the start of the day that Allah is Great; nothing worthy of awe, fear, intimidation, utmost loyalty but Him. Allah is the Greatest, nothing else matter but Him and our devotion to Him. These we say every day but how much impact does have on our lives?

Immediately after that we proclaim the 2 other attributes of Him; Beneficent, Merciful. We remind ourselves 20 times daily that whatever we do, whatever the outcome of our labour, whatever went wrong or right in our daily chores, Allah is Beneficent and He is Merciful. We say this CONCIOUSLY and not just a chanting to be counted in numbers. We remind ourselve that Allah gives and Allah have mercy on His creations. But how much does it motivate us to do good, how much effect does it has on us upon facing calamities and trial of life?

Saying these daily consciously should have tremendous effect on how we live our life, on our balance in life?

How does the ritual reflect on our countenance? Are our faces perpetual clowns in ugly grimace or in perpetual sadness if these are said in full consciousness 20 times daily at intervals? What about those that perform all the daily solat plus other sunat solats but these words have no effect on his countenance nor his soul and he goes about daily as grumpy individuals seeing threats at ever corner, suspicous of all people not in his group, his family always suffering from the lashes he gives out with that organ Allah give for speech. Are they really reciting the Basmalah or not?

It is really hard to convince myself that these people really feel what they recited daily and put beneficent and merciful attitude in their daily life...

Similiarly those who say every now and then that Allah is Great but kow tow to every evil deed their bosses asked of them, political bosses or bosses at work. Similiarly chickening out of every job needing courage and persistence but daily chanting Allah is Great is making a mockery of Allah. Also those given the amanah to uphold Justice, failing to act in justice when the catch is big enough to jeopardise his 'periok nasi' but acting like a big tiger upon small pawns is also mocking the Allaahu Akbar.

It is time to realise and come back to the basic of the Teachings. The Teachings are actually simple but we make it complicated. The rituals are simple and heart touching but we make it a ritual of habit with some esoteric aim rather than the simple practice that it is, customised to help us in daily life. No wonder we gain little from the the ibadah required of us...

BAHASA KETUHANAN

Saya rasa terpanggil untuk menulis tentang perkara ini kerana selalu mendengar perkataan-perkataan berkaitan sifat Ketuhanan digunakan di dalam bahasa seharian dengan konteks yang salah sehingga terasa seriau di dalam diri. Antara bahasa keharian yang disalahgunakan untuk merujuk kepada Sifat Ketuhanan ialah 'Allah memahami'... `Allah Mengerti'

Contohnya adalah lagu popular 'Pada Syurga di Wajah Mu' oleh Nash

Kan ku tahan apa hukuman
Di hati hanya berdoa
Biar aku cium tangan mu
Sekali lagi bersama
Bukan sekali jalan berduri
Hanya tuhan yang pasti
Mengerti…

Ini adalah satu contoh penggunaan bahasa seharian yang merujuk kepada Ketuhanan dan melahirkan makna yang pincang. Amat tidak kena sekali bila kita menyatakan bahawa 'Allah Mengerti' atau "Allah memahami'. Perkataan yang betul untuk merujuk kepada keTuhanan ialah Allah Mengetahui. Mengetahui memberi maksud Ilmu yang Penuh sedangkan memahami membawa konotasi bahawa ilmu berkenaan belum sempurna sehingga perlu di interpolasi oleh rasa untuk menghampiri maksud mengetahui.

Apabila kita menyebut memahami atau mengerti, ia membawa maksud bahawa kita mempunyai pemahaman terhadap hakikat sebenar sesuatu ilmu itu (bermaksud tidak sama dengan PENGETAHUAN penuh). Ini adalah stesyen makhluq kerana Ilmu itu hanya ada pada Allah s.w.t sahaja sedangkan kita makhluq hanya mempunyai cebisan pemahaman terhadap ilmu berkenaan. Apabila kita sebut Allah memahami maka pincanglah maksudnya kerana Allah s.w.t adalah PEMILIK PENUH terhadap Ilmu berkenaan. Di TanganNya adalah ILMU YANG PENUH tanpa cacat cela atau kekurangan sekumitpun. Oleh itu mana mungkin Allah s.w.t memahami kerana ini menjejaskan martabat Ketuhanan yang mempunyai Ilmu dan Kudrat Penuh.

Selain dari itu ada kecenderungan artis-artis mengucapkan 'terima kasih kepada Allah' yang telah memenangkan artis berkenaan dalam pertandingan. Ini adalah juga satu kepincangan bahasa bila merujuk kepada Allah s.w.t; Zat yang Maha Besar lagi Berkuasa Penuh di atas semua makhluq dan kejadian. Terima Kasih hanya layak ditujukan kepada makhluq sahaja. Bahasa yang betul untuk merujuk kepada Allah s,w,t adalah SYUKUR.. Syukur membawa maksud kita menerima dengan penuh rendah hati terhadap pemberian dari Allah s.w.t dan pemberian tersebut tidak mengurangkan sedikit pun kekayaan dan khazanah Allah s.w.t

Oleh itu berhati hatilah kita bila menyebut sesuatu yang merujuk kepada Sifat-sifat Allah s.w.t kerana perkataan kita mungkin tidak sesuai dengan Sifat-sifat Allah yang Maha Sempurna... Wallaahuaklam...