May 08, 2011

SELAMAT HARI IBU

IBU, Ibu Engkaulah Ratu HatiKu, Bila Ku berduka engkau ingatku selalu,,,
Tatap wajah ibu dikira sebagai kebajikan dan diberikan pahala; Teruskan membaca.

Setiap tahun pada hari Ahad minggu ke 2 dalam bulan Mei, Kita akan meraikan Insan teristemewa yang dipangil HARI IBU, Ibu,ada orang dipanggil Umi, ada orang panggil Mama, ada orang panggil Ma, ada orang panggil emak, ada orang panggil mamy, ada orang panggil mum, ada orang panggil bonda, Apapun namanya dipanggil DIA tetap satu, Yang melahir dan membesarkan:

Wahai anak sayangilah ibumu
Belailah dan dakaplah ibumu
Renunglah dan tataplah puas-puas wajah ibumu
Yang telah melahir dan membesarkanmu

Darah dagingmu dari air susunya
Jiwa ragamu dari kasih sayangnya
Kehidupanmu dari keringatnya
Kejayaanmu dari berkat doanya

Dialah manusia satu-satunya
Menyayangimu tanpa ada batasnya
Dunia akhirat tak putus kasihnya
Kasih ibu membawa kesyurga

Doa ibumu dikabulkan Tuhan
dan kutukannya jadi kenyataan
Kasih sayangnya jangan dipersiakan
Pengorbanannya tiada tandingan

Redza Ilahi kerana redzanya
Murka Ilahi kerana murkanya
Jangan sesekali kau menyakitinya
Sengsara hidupmu tak ada sudahnya

Bila kau patuh pada isterimu
Lebihkan sayang pada ibumu
Ingatlah akan kisah yang lalu
Kisah Alqamah jadi teladanmu

Bukannya matahari tempat kau meminta
Bukannya bulan tempat kau memuja
Bukannya dukun tempat kau menghiba
Bukannya jirat tempat kau mohon doa
Bukannya lautan tempat kau meneroka
Bukannya gua tempat kau betapa

Tataplah wajah tika adanya
Sebelum kembali ia untuk selamanya
Pergi menemui Tuhan yang Esa
Tiada keramat yang ampuh di dunia
Selain dari doa ibumu jua
Mohonlah belas kasih sayangnya

Al Fatihah untuk Almarhumah Ibuku (Asmah bte Lamsah)
Semoga Allah mencucuri Rahmat dan Rahimnya ke atas roh ibuku dan mengasihinya sebagaimana Ibuku telah mengasiku semenjak aku dari kecil lagi. Amin
F.A.S.T ;~)

May 03, 2011

Osama bin Laden Corpse Photo is Fake

Image of bloodied man picked up by British newspapers has been circulating online for two years; Continue reading ;~)

An image apparently showing a dead Osama bin Laden broadcast on Pakistani television and picked up by British newspaper websites is a fake.

The bloodied image of a man with matted hair and a blank, half-opened eye has been circulating on the internet for the past two years. It was used on the front pages of the Mail, Times, Telegraph, Sun and Mirror websites, though swiftly removed after the fake was exposed on Twitter.

It appears the fake picture was initially published by the Middle East online newspaper themedialine.org on 29 April 2009, with a warning from the editor that it was "unable to ascertain whether the photo is genuine or not".

Since then, however, the image has been claimed as genuine on a number of conspiracy forums and used to substantiate claims that the terrorist responsible for the 9/11 bombings had been killed.

The Guardian was one of the few sites to hold back from using the manipulated image on its front page, reporting the picture's existence in its live blog but questioning its legitimacy.

The image is based on a genuine photograph of Bin Laden taken in 1998 and used by the Reuters news agency.

guardian.co.uk.

F.A.S.T ;~)

IN MEMORY of OSAMA Bin LADEN

In a new book, Osama bin Laden’s fourth son, Omar, describes a father who always put jihad above family. Continue reading ;~)

MY FATHER WAS not always a man who hated. My father was not always a man hated by others. History shows that he was once loved by many people. Despite our differences today, I am not ashamed to admit that, as a young boy growing up in Saudi Arabia and Sudan, I worshiped my father, whom I believed to be not only the most brilliant but also the tallest man in the world. I would have to go to Afghanistan as a teenager to meet a man taller than my father. In truth, I would have to go to Afghanistan to truly come to know my father.
My father was accustomed to being No. 1 in everything he did. He was the most skilled horseman, the fastest runner, the best driver, the top marksman. Many people found my father to be a genius, particularly when it came to mathematical skills. He was so well known for the skill that men would come to our home and ask him to match wits against a calculator. He never failed.

His phenomenal memory fascinated many who knew him. On occasion, he would entertain those who would ask by reciting the Koran word for word. He once confessed that he had mastered the feat during a time of great mental turmoil when he was 10 years old, after his biological father had been killed in an airplane accident.

My father’s piety made him strict about the way we lived. In the early 1980s, when we lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, one of the hottest cities in a country known for its hot climate, he would not allow my mother to turn on the air conditioning. Nor would he allow her to use the refrigerator. He announced: “Islamic beliefs are corrupted by modernization.” He appeared to relish seeing his young sons suffer, reminding us that it was good for us to know what it felt like to be hungry or thirsty, to do without while others had plenty. Why? Those with plenty would grow up weak men, he said, unable to defend themselves.


You might have guessed that my father was not an affectionate man. Nothing sparked his fatherly warmth. He never cuddled with me or my brothers. I tried to force him to show affection and was told that I made a pest of myself. In fact, my annoying behavior encouraged him to start carrying his signature cane. As time passed, he began caning me and my brothers for the slightest infraction.

Thankfully, my father had a different attitude when it came to the females in our family. I never heard him raise his voice in anger to my mother or shout at my sisters. He reserved all the harsh treatment for his sons.

I remember one particular time, during the period he became a leader in resisting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, when he had been away for longer than usual. I was desperate for his attention. He was
sitting on the floor quietly studying intricate military maps when I suddenly ran past him, laughing loudly, skipping. He waved me away, saying in a stern voice, “Omar, go out of the room.” I darted out the door and stared at him for a few moments; then, unable to hold back my excitement, I burst back into the room, laughing, skipping, performing a few more tricks. Finally, after the fourth or fifth repetition of my bouncing appearance, my exasperated father looked at me and ordered me in his quiet voice, “Omar, go and gather all your brothers. Bring them to me.”

I leapt with glee, believing that I had tempted my father away from his military work. I gathered up each of my brothers, speaking rapidly: “Come! Father wants to see us all! Come!”

My father ordered us to stand in a line. He stood calmly, watching as we gathered, one hand clutching his wooden cane. I was grinning happily, certain that something very special was about to happen. He sometimes played a game with us in which each son’s goal was to pick up a hat from the ground and return to the starting line before my father could catch him. On this day, I stood in restless anticipation, wondering what sort of new game he was about to teach us.

There would be no game. Shame, anguish, and terror surged throughout my body as he raised his cane and began to walk the human line, beating each of his sons in turn.

My father never raised his soft voice as he reprimanded my brothers, striking them with the cane as his words kept cadence, “You are older than your brother Omar. You are responsible for his bad behavior. I am unable to complete my work because of his badness.” I was in the greatest anguish when he paused before me. I was very small at the time. He appeared taller than the trees. Despite the fact that I had witnessed him beating my brothers, I could not believe that my father was going to strike me with that heavy cane. But he did.

YEARS LATER, WHEN the government of Sudan in 1996 forced my father to leave the home we had made in Khartoum, he selected me, his fourth son, as the only member of the family to accompany him as he traveled to Afghanistan seeking a place to relocate. On Tora Bora mountain, at the primitive compound he chose as our new home, I served as his personal tea boy for three or four months. Believe me, I was happy to have responsibilities, for the boredom of life on Tora Bora eludes description. Being by his side for nearly every moment of the day and night gave me a good insight into my father’s true character. For all of my childhood, he had remained a distant figure, but in Afghanistan I was often one of only three or four people he felt he could trust completely. His trust was not misplaced, for though I hated what he did, hated the militant operations that he and his Egyptian allies endorsed, he was still my father, and I would never betray him. I learned more about my father’s life during those few months than during all the years of my early life combined.

My father kept two items with him at all times, his walking cane and his Kalashnikov. He demanded that other favored items be in easy reach: his prayer beads; a small copy of the holy Koran; a radio that picked up stations from Europe, including his preferred station, the BBC; and lastly, a small Dictaphone. While I was keeping him company, he would often spend hours speaking into the Dictaphone, recording his thoughts. When frustrated, he would thunder over past grievances or pose new ideas that he believed would alter the course of the world. He seethed over the disrespect shown to our Islamic faith.

Although my father was so serious that he rarely spoke of personal events, there were times in Afghanistan when he relaxed, pulling me with him into his early life.

“Omar, come, I want to tell you a story,” he would say, patting the cotton mat beside him. He especially enjoyed evoking memories of his mother, my Grandmother Allia. Anytime he spoke of her, a sort of glow came to his expression. But the stories I liked best of all had to do with his father, Mohammed bin Laden. My father kept the long-dead Grandfather bin Laden on a pedestal. “Omar,” he’d say, “your grandfather was a genius, who helped build the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, bringing the country out of the sand.”

My father did not know my grandfather well. In our culture, it is not uncommon for men, particularly the wealthy, to have four wives simultaneously. Since my father was not one of my grandfather’s eldest sons, he was not in a position to see his father regularly but instead saw him only when all of the sons were summoned at once. In addition, my grandfather’s marriage to Grandmother Allia was brief. At her request, Grandfather bin Laden granted her a divorce when my father was a toddler. She soon remarried.

Once, my father told me a story about his strict father striking him, almost knocking him down, because he had failed to line up in correct height order alongside his many brothers. “I never forgot the pain of that blow, both physically and mentally,” he said.

He told me that he spoke privately with his father only once. My father was 9 at the time and had decided that he wanted his own automobile. “I had an early love for cars,” he said to me. “I talked incessantly about automobiles, goading my dear mother and stepfather, Muhammad Attas, to desperation.”

“As you know,” he said, “Muhammad was never a man of wealth, and he could not afford to indulge me. But after months of my pestering my dear mother, Muhammad announced that he was going to ask for an audience with my biological father, so that I could express my wish to the only man who had the power to make it happen.”

My father said he was “devastated” when his father announced that he would buy him a bicycle instead. He said he rode the red bicycle only a few times before giving it to a younger brother.

Several weeks later, though, my father received what he called the biggest shock of his life. “A shiny new car was delivered to our home in Jeddah! For me!” he said. “That was the happiest day of my young life.”

THREE YEARS AFTER those unusual days we had together on Tora Bora mountain, my father called a meeting of all his fighters. By then, he had moved his operation to an old Russian military compound outside Kandahar. I was planning my permanent departure at this point, but when he called the meeting, my brothers and I tagged along, wondering what the urgency might be.

My father’s talk that day was about the joy of martyrdom, how it was the greatest honor for a Muslim to give his life to the cause of Islam. As he spoke, I looked around the room, studying the faces of the fighters. The older fighters looked a bit bored, but the men newest to al Qaida had a kind of glow on their faces.

When the meeting ended, my father called for all his sons to gather, even the youngest. He was in a rare good mood. In an excited voice, he told us, “My sons. Sit, sit, gather in a circle. I have something to tell you.”

Once we were at his feet, my father said, “There is a paper on the wall of the mosque. This paper is for men who are good Muslims, men who volunteer to be suicide bombers.”

He looked at us with anticipation shining in his eyes. No one spoke or moved a muscle. So my father repeated what he had said. “My sons, there is a paper on the wall of the mosque. This paper is for men who volunteer to be suicide bombers. Those who want to give their lives for Islam must add their names to the list.”

That’s when one of my youngest brothers, one too young to comprehend the concept of life and death, got to his feet, nodded reverently in my father’s direction, and took off running for the mosque. That small boy was going to volunteer to be a suicide bomber.

I was furious, finally finding my voice. “My father, how can you ask this of your sons?”

Over the past few months, my father had become increasingly unhappy with me. I was turning out to be a disappointment, a son who did not want the mantle of power, who wanted peace, not war. He stared at me with evident hostility. “Omar, this is what you need to know, my son. You hold no more a place in my heart than any other man or boy in the entire country.” He glanced at my brothers. “This is true for all of my sons.”

My father’s proclamation had been given: His love for his sons did not sink further than the outer layer of his flesh. At last I knew exactly where I stood. My father hated his enemies more than he loved his sons.

From the book Growing Up bin Laden by Naiwa bin Laden, Omar bin Laden, and Jean Sasson. ©2009 by The Sasson Corporation. Used with permission.

F.A.S.T. ;~)

May 01, 2011

PESANAN UNTUK ANAK

Wahai anak2 kesayanganku, dengarkanlan pesanan Ayahmu ini sesungguhnya dalam hidup ini, kita perlu membuat keputusan-keputusan penting yang akhirnya akan mempengaruhi kehidupan masa depan kita.

Sukarnya membuat pilihan ini dapat dilihat bila Nabi saw meminta supaya kita melakukan solat istikharah dan bermesyuarat sebelum membuat sesuatu keputusan. Sabda Nabi Muhammad saw., mafhumnya: Tidak rugi orang yang melakukan istikharah, dan tidak menyesal orang yang bermesyuarat, dan tidak miskin orang yang berjimat. (Tabarani dalam Mukjam Ausat; Durrul Manthur, jld 4, ms 88). Maka antara keputusan yang perlu dilakukan dalam hidup yang amat penting ini ialah memilih pasangan hidup. Memang diakui, soal jodoh pertemuan telah ditetapkan oleh Allah swt, tetapi sebagai manusia kita juga harus kena berusaha.

Pansangan hidup merupakan pasangan sepanjang hayat di dunia dan di akhirat, pasangan untuk selama-lamanya. Dalam hal ini, wahai anakku, Tuhan telah menganugerahkan kepada kita kebijaksanaan dalam memilih pasangan hidup. Berabad sudah lamanya manusia dari segenap kelompok bangsa di dunia ini melalui jangkamasa proses evolusi, kebanyakkannya berjaya memilih pasangan hidup yang sesuai dan kekal hingga ke akhir hayat, malahan membawa ke syurga. Sebab itulah mereka berjaya dipersada dunia. Sudah pasti disebalik kejayaan seorang lelaki itu terdapat seorang perempuan disampingnya, begitulah juga sebaliknya.

Sememangnya terdapat banyak perkahwinan yang gagal bertahan, ‘harapkan panas sampai ke petang, rupanya hujan ditengahari’. Tetapi secara keseluruhannya, perkahwinan manusia di seluruh dunia adalah berjaya. Buktinya, manusia dapat berkembang biak, jenerasi demi jenerasi dengan institusi kekeluargaan terus dapat bertahan tahun demi tahun, zaman berganti zaman.

Percayalah kepada ‘suara hati’ tanyalah hatimu terhadap siapa yang bakal dipilih sebagai calon pasangan hidupmu. Maka syarat pertama bagimu untuk memilih bakal pasangan hidupmu ialah, dia hendaklah benar-benar yang kamu cintai, tidak ada keraguan dan tidak ada rasa berbelah bagi, tidak kurang daripada 100 persen. Jika ada secebis keraguan, tangguhkanlah dahulu. Pilihan ini merupakan teman berteman untuk hidup sepanjang hayat didunia dan di akhirat (hingga ke syurga, InsyaAllah). Kerana kalau silap memilih, tidak ada jalan penyesalan yang boleh berpatah balik. Untuk bercerai dan berganti baru adalah jauh lebih sukar, jauh lebih susah, jauh lebih sengsara daripada berkahwin kali pertama. Terlajak perahu boleh diundur, terlajak perbuatan, buruk padahnya.

Apakah kriteria pertama yang harus menjadi pilihanmu ?. Ikutlah panduan yang telah disyariatkan oleh Nabi Muhamad saw. Dari Abu Hurairah ra. dari Nabi saw, baginda bersabda : “Perempuan itu dinikahi kerana empat perkara, yakni kerana hartanya, keturunannya, kecantikannya, dan kerana agamanya, maka pilihlah perempuan yang beragama niscaya kamu bahagia.” (Muttafaqun ‘Alaihi)

Sememangnya banyak faktor yang perlu diambil kira sebelum membuat keputusan berumahtangga. Ini bukan keputusan sembarangan. Ini yang bakal menentukan sama ada kita akan berjaya ataupun gagal. Berjaya dalam hidup di dunia hingga ke alam akhirat InsyaAllah. Dan kalau gagal mungkin akan membawa padah yang serupa juga. Dalam sebuah hadis, daripada Saad bin Abi Waqqas dinyatakan bahawa Rasulullah s.a.w bersabda yang bermaksud: “Kebahagiaan anak Adam itu ada tiga, manakala kecelakaannya juga ada tiga. Sesetengah daripada kebahagiaan anak Adam itu ialah isteri yang solehah, tempat tinggal yang baik dan kenderaan yang elok. Dan sebahagian kecelakaan manusia itu ialah isteri yang jahat, rumah yang buruk dan kenderaan yang buruk.” (HR. Ahmad). Secara mudahnya kebahagian, akan datang dengan jelas apabila kita mempunyai tiga perkara, yakni, isteri (suami/pasangan) tempat tinggal, dan kenderaan.

Calon pasangan hidupmu itu semestinya beragama (beramal dengan ajaran Agama Islam), daripada keturunan baik-baik, kecantikan dan yang berpendidikan. Sebagai tambahan, maklumlah dalam zaman yang penuh dengan cabaran sekarang ini, lebih baik pilih wanita/suami yang bekerjaya bagus di samping faktor kesihatannya, serta kampung halamannya di mana dia tinggal. Semua ini akan menentukan perjalanan hidupmu dimasa akan datang, (paling tidakpun masa berhari raya lebih mudah untuk balik kampung bersama).

Ya anakku, semua faktor itu perlu diambil kira. Tetapi ayah tahu, mana-mana lelaki/perempuan normal, yang cukup hormon, tidak kurang dan tidak lebih, serta tidak songsang, pasti akan mahukan wanita/lelaki cantik/kacak. Memang dari dahulu pun orang tahu, rupa paras yang cantik/kacak merupakan kriteria pertama bagi pilihan lelaki/perempuan. Sebab itulah rupa paras wanita manusia semakin lama semakin cantik. Bukanlah kerana semakin banyak ciptaan kosmetik baru tetapi kecenderungan lelaki untuk memilih wanita cantik, maka pastinya baka-baka yang diturunkan akan akhirnya lebih banyak cantik daripada kurang cantik.

Untungnya bagi wanita pula cantik itu subjektif dan relatif bagi seseorang lelaki. Ada perempuan yang dipandang cantik oleh lelaki tertentu, tidak pula menarik bagi lelaki lain. Begitulah juga sebaliknya. Dari kecantikan itu, barulah jatuh hati. Maka wahai anakku, pilihlah perempuan yang dirasakan tanpa was-was sebagai amat cantik bagi dirimu, dia yang bila kamu pandang akan memberikan kamu ketenangan hati. Memanglah diakui bahawa kecantikan akan pudar akhirnya. Tetapi hendak sampai kepada kepudaran itu memakan bertahun juga. Bila akhirnya pudar nanti, apa yang suami ingat ketika sudah berusia kelak adalah wajah cantik isterinya ketika dia muda dahulu. Ingatan itulah kenangan-kenangan manis, memori-memori indah inilah yang penting untuk dibawa ke hari tua.

Oleh itu, pilihlah perempuan/lelaki yang benar-benar berkenan di hati kerana kecantikannya/ketampanannya sebab setiap hari kamu akan menatapnya, baik siang ataupun malam. Pagi dan petang iaitu sepanjang hayatmu. Jadi apakah dia kecantikan? Maka orang kata kecantikan bukan saja rupa paras tetapi yang lebih penting ialah perangai. Itu kata masyarakat.

Islam turut menghormati taraf kedudukan seseorang, sebab itulah pemilihan pasangan hidup hendaklah juga mengambil kira taraf atau sekufu. Sekufu yang akan memberikan maksud bahawa engkau dan ‘sidia’ yang sepadan. Engkau memerlukan dia dan sidia memerlukanmu. Engkau dapat memenuhi kekurangan dirinya dan dia dapat menutupi kekurangan dirimu. Saling memerlukan antara satu dengan lain. Memang diakui bahawa antara kau dan sidia sememangnya tidak ada persamaan, Jangan sesekali cuba mencari persamaan, kelak kau akan hampa dan kecewa. Akan tetapi carilah keserasian antara kau dan sidia, nescaya kau akan ketemui hampir setiap perkara kau berdua akan ada serasinya. Percayalah semakin kau mencari, semakin lama hidup bersama, kau akan ketemui betapa banyaknya keserasian itu nanti. Kajian demi kajian menunjukkan bahawa rupa paras suami dan isteri hampir-hampir menyamai antara keduanya (suami dan isteri) semakin lama usia perkahwinan mereka hidup bersama.

Sekufu juga membawa pengertian seperti Firman Allah swt yang bermaksud: "Lelaki yang berzina tidak boleh berkahwin melainkan dengan perempuan yang berzina juga atau perempuan musyrik. Dan perempuan yang berzina tidak boleh dikahwini melainkan oleh lelaki yang berzina juga ataupun lelaki yang musyrik. Yang demikian itu haram terhadap orang yang beriman." dalam ayat yang lain, Allah swt. berfirman; "Wanita-wanita yang jahat adalah untuk lelaki yang jahat dan lelaki yang jahat adalah untuk wanita-wanita yang jahat, dan wanita-wanita yang baik adalah untuk lelaki yang baik dan lelaki yang baik adalah untuk wanita-wanita yang baik." … .” (QS. An Nur : 26)

Ayat di atas patut diambil pengajaran dan dijadikan iktibar, ‘apa yang kita semai, itulah yang akan kita tuai’. Pohonlah kepada Allah bagi disempurnakan Akhlakmu. Berakhlaklah dengan Akhlak Allah, (Jujur (Al Mukmin), Sabar (As Sobur), Pengasih (Ar RAhman), Penyayang (Ar Rahim), Pemaaf (Ar Gafar), Adil (Al A’dl), Penyantun (Al Halim), Berterus terang (Az Zahir), Bijaksana (Al Rashid), dan sebagainya. Sesungguhnya kamu akan diketemukan dengan jodoh yang hampir serupa perangainya dengan dirimu. Itulah ketetapan Allah swt. sejak azali.

Tugas Ayah dan Umi adalah untuk mendidik dan menanamkan Akhlak yang mulia dalam dirimu. Menyambung tugas Nabi Muhammad saw. Inilah sebenarnya kerja Nabi Muhammad saw dan atas maksud ini jugalah Nabi diutus ke dunia ini, Firman Allah swt. “Tidak Aku utuskan Engkau wahai Muhammad melainkan untuk menyempurnakan Akhlak manusia”. Dalam Al Quran Allah berfirman: “Sesungguhnya engkau (Muhammad) mempunyai akhlak yang sangat agung.” (Al Qalam: 4). Ayah Umi berdoa semoga Allah menyempurnakan Akhlaknya ke atas dirimu wahai anak-anakku. Doa Ayah Umi tak pernah pudar supaya Allah menzahirkan zuriat kami dengan ketetapan ini; “Sesungguhnya orang yang paling hampir dengan tempatku di kalangan kamu ialah yang paling cantik akhlaknya, mereka menghormati orang lain dan mereka senang bermesra dan dimesrai. Orang Mukmin itu ialah yang mudah mesra dan dimesrai, dan tiada kebaikan pada mereka yang tidak boleh bermesra dan dimesrai. Dan sebaik-baik manusia ialah yang banyak memberi manfaat kepada manusia.” (Riwayat Al Hakim dan Al Baihaqi). Tugas dan tanggung jawab ini tidak akan selesai selagi jantung ini berdenyut, selagi hayat dikandung badan. Dan apabila ianya selesai, dikala itu duhai anakku, Ayah Umi ingin sekali melihat bahawa hidupmu bahagia disamping isteri/suami yang menyayangi dan mencintaimu dengan Rahmat dan kasih Sayang Allah swt, dan Ayah Umi mengadap Ilahi dengan Hati yang Tenang dan Damai ‘di dunia’ sana. Amin Ya Rabb.

F.A.S.T. ;~)