I KNOW this is not Ramadan, a month when Muslims refrain from food and drink for the entire day. However, the wisdom that almost every ustaz or religious teachers keep telling us whenever this month is on our doorsteps is deeply etched in my mind. We fast, so goes the wisdom, because we have to [...]
Continue reading about Put yourself in somebody else’s shoe!
Sodara-sodara, Walau Turki kalah dalam semifinal Euro 2008 beberapa jam yang lalu, tetapi tim “pinggiran” ini telah menampilkan permainan yang mengesankan, jauh lebih baik ketimbang saat mereka melawan Kroasia. Jerman bermain hebat, dan layak menang. Tetapi, hal yang menarik perhatian saya adalah semboyan dalam pertandingan semifinal itu: UNITE AGAINST RACISM (Bersatulah Melawan Rasisme). Saya terharu [...]
THIS is a lingering question that keeps haunting me time and again: if I want to be a good Muslim, should I shut down my mind and submit myself totally to God? Can I be a good servant of God while still reserving some space for doubt, question, and skepticism? The way Islam is presented [...]
IF you think that a case can be won by shouting at your opponent, yelling frantically at his face, hurling desperately “holy” words such “allahu akbar” (God is great) at him, you are definitely wrong. What you need to win a case is a persuasive argument, valid data, and a sober reasoning. Yelling “allahu akbar” [...]
Continue reading about To be louder doesn’t make you “holier”
MY upbringing is far away from being “liberal” and latitudinarian. When I was a little child in “kampong” (village), my father was so harsh and strict in setting up a moral standard for me and my siblings. And this was not peculiar to my family; everybody else’s house followed the same rule. We lived in [...]