Mehnah Dan Tribulasi Dalam Perjuangan

April 10, 2008 oleh Muhtar Suhaili

Allah SWT berfirman di dalam Al-Qur’an, Surah Al-Ankabut, ayat 2-3:

(Maksudnya): Apakah manusia itu megira bahawa mereka akan dibiarkan (begitu sahaja setelah mereka) mengatakan: “Kami telah beriman”, sedang mereka tidak diuji? Dan sesungguhnya Kami telah menguji orang-orang yang sebelum mereka, maka sesungguhnya (dengan itu) Allah mengetahui orang-orang yang dusta (di kalangan mereka).

Sebagai muqaddimah, marilah kita memahami maksud mehnah terlebih dahulu. Ramai yang amat suka menyebut ayat bombastic mehnah dan tribulasi yang sedap didengar ini di dalam ceramah-ceramahnya, tetapi sejauh mana hadirin dan kita benar-benar faham akan pengertiannya?

Secara ringkas, mehnah berasal daripada perkataan Arab yang membawa maksud ujian atau cabaran. Tribulasi pula berasal daripada perkataan Inggeris tribulation yang membawa maksud kesengsaraan atau kesusahan. Tribulasi juga boleh membawa maksud ujian, cuma ianya adalah dalam bentuk kesusahan.

Sememangnya telah menjadi lumrah dan fitrah dalam perjuangan menegakkan agama Allah ini, para pejuang pasti berhadapan dengan pelbagai ujian dan rintangan. Istilah yang sering kita gunakan adalah mehnah dan tribulasi. Sejarah telah membuktikan bahawa semua pejuang Islam yang benar-benar ikhlas dan berada dalam jalan yang benar tidak mungkin terlepas daripada dikenakan ujian. Para Nabi, para Rasul Allah, sahabat-sahabat mereka, para ulama’ pewaris Nabi dan sekalian da’ie. Secara umum pastinya ditimpa ujian yang datang menguji. Perkara ini sudah menjadi suatu kemestian atau prasyarat kepada pejuang Islam bagi melihat sejauh mana ketahanan dan istiqamah mereka dalam perjuangan.

Sejarah Perjuangan Islam

Sejarah perjuangan Islam bermula dengan lahirnya Nabi Adam a.s. Perjuangan beserta mehnah dan tribulasi ini kemudiannya terpaksa dihadapi oleh Rasul-rasul dan pejuang-pejuang Islam selepasnya. Contoh-contoh perjuangan yang perlu dihadapi oleh nabi-nabi dan Rasul-rasul terdahulu adalah seperti:

Nabi Musa a.s. yang menghadapi kezaliman Fir’aun dalam melaksanakan dakwahnya sepertimana yang diceritakan di dalam Al-Quran:

“Sesungguhnya Fir’aun telah berbuat sewenang-wenang di muka bumi dan menjadikan penduduknya berpecah-belah, dengan menindas segolongan dari mereka, menyembelih anak laki-laki mereka dan membiarkan hidup anak-anak perempuan mereka. Sesungguhnya Fir’aun termasuk orang-orang yang berbuat kerusakan” (Surah Al-Qasas, ayat4).

Nabi Luth a.s. juga menghadapi cabaran dalam menyebarkan da’wahnya apabila beliau dikelilingi oleh umat-umatnya yang tidak mahu mengikut sunnah kejadian manusia. Mereka hidup dalam kemungkaran iaitu mengamalkan tabiat homoseksual. Ini jelas dalam firman Allah yang bermaksud:

“Luth berkata: “Sesungguhnya mereka adalah tamuku; maka janganlah kamu memberi malu (kepadaku)”” (Surah Al-Hijr, ayat 68).

Rasulullah Nabi Muhammad SAW juga tidak terlepas daripada menerima tentangan musuh-musuh Islam yang mengingkari da’wah Islamiyyah yang ingin baginda sampaikan. Segala bentuk komplot, penghinaan, cacian, makian, fitnah dan penyeksaan fizikal dan mental baginda diuji. Namun, segala cabaran dan mehnah yang datang tidak pernah menggentarkan Rasulullah SAW untuk terus menyebarkan risalah Islam bersama para sahabat baginda pada ketika itu.

Cabaran Masa Kini

Setiap zaman akan lahir pendokong-pendokong agama Allah. Imam Hassan Al-Banna (Mursyidul Am Ikhwanul Muslimin) ditentang hebat atas alasan mengganggu-gugat kelangsungan perancangan penjajah-penjajah Barat. Beliau ditembak dan (mudah-mudahan) syaheed pada tahun 1949 kerana membangkitkan kesedaran dan kebenaran di kalangan rakyat. Syed Qutb dihukum bunuh pada tahun 1966. Institut perisik negaranya telah menyusun pelbagai fitnah untuk menimbulkan kebencian terhadap gerakan dan penyokong-penyokong beliau. Zainab Al-Ghazali, srikandi Muslimat, diheret oleh pihak kerajaan ke penjara dan dikurung di bilik yang penuh dengan anjing-anjing liar semata-mata kerana da’wah Islam yang ingin beliau sebarkan.

Bentuk-bentuk Mehnah dan Tribulasi

Hadis Rasulullah SAW bermaksud:

“Orang Mukmin sentiasa di ambang lima dugaan yang susah; mukmin yang dengki padanya, munafik yang benci padanya, kafir yang memeranginya, syaitan yang menyesatkannya dan nafsu yang sering bertarung untuk mengalahkannya”.

Terdapat beberapa halangan dalam dunia Islam. Pelbagai cabaran yang menghalangnya menuju puncak kegemilangan. Di antara contoh-contohnya ialah;

a) Perancangan mantap oleh Yahudi (Zionis) untuk menghancurkan Islam

- Membuat strategi untuk mencabul nilai-nilai ketuhanan dan kehambaan kepada Allah. Buktinya, berlaku pada tahun 1895, apabila kongres pertama orang-orang Yahudi telah menetapkan untuk menghancurkan umat Islam di seluruh dunia dan menjadikan mereka hamba-hamba Zionis

- Membudayakan orang-orang Islam dengan materialisme sehingga mereka sanggup menukar prinsip yang ditetapkan Allah untuk mencapai kemewahan dan memenuhi hawa nafsu.

b) Umat Islam lupa diri dan berada jauh dari nilai-nilai Islam yang sebenar

- Berpecah-belah sesama sendiri

- Mengutamakan kepentingan diri lebih daripada kehendak Allah.

c) Kelemahan pemikiran umat Islam

- Meniru dan meminjam idea-idea asing

- Prinsip berpada dengan apa yang ada menyebabkan tiada inisiatif dan usaha untuk menghasilkan benda baru untuk dunia Islam.

d) Keruntuhan akhlak dan iman umat Islam

- Anuar Al-Jundi, ahli fikir dan pengarang Islam menulis bahawa mereka telah memutuskan bahawa peperangan yang bakal dilancarkan ke dunia Islam ialah peperangan idea dan kata-kata kerana aqidah umat Islam tetap teguh walaupun mundur pada aspek yang lain. Oleh itu, perlu dilemahkan aqidah tersebut dan inilah agenda evergreen mereka seantero dunia.

Hikmah Mehnah dan Tribulasi

Antara hikmah mehnah dan tribulasi yang akan dapat dikecapi oleh para Mukmin termasuklah:

• Menunjukkan sifat kehambaan, tanggungjawab serta pergantungan kepada Allah SWT
• Menampakkan yang haq dan yang batil
• Sebagai satu bentuk pentarbiyyahan diri
• Melahirkan individu yang berjiwa besar untuk kebangkitan Islam
• Membersihkan diri orang-orang yang beriman supaya keimanan mereka semakin mantap
• Mendidik generasi menjadi sabar, tangkas dan mempunyai azam yang kuat.

Cara-Cara Menghadapi Mehnah dan Tribulasi

Akhir sekali, berikut disertakan beberapa cara menghadapi mehnah dan tribulasi sebagai panduan. Semoga ia bermanfaat buat diri(ku) yang sentiasa lupa dan alpa. Bimbinglah kami Ya Allah!

• Ikhlas dalam perjuangan
• Mendidik jiwa dan ketahanan menerusi latihan kerohanian
• Berada dalam jamaah
• Sabar dan gigih dalam menghadapi musuh-musuh Islam
• Meletakkan cita-cita tertinggi “syaheed dalam perjuangan” sebagai matlamat utama!

“Ya Allah, andainya hari ini hari kepulanganku, maka jadikanlah semua aktivitiku sebagai kebaikan di sisimu”. Amiin Ya Rabb!

Wallahu a’la wa a’lam.

60 kali mohon bina kompleks Kemas, guru

Oleh Ramli Hussin

PASIR PUTEH: Jabatan Kemajuan Masyarakat (Kemas) masih gagal mendapatkan tapak dan kerjasama bagi membina sebuah kompleks untuk kegiatan guru dan kanak-kanak di negeri ini yang bernilai RM24 juta, walaupun lebih 60 permohonan dikemukakan kepada Kerajaan Pas Kelantan.

Pengarah Kemas negeri, Dr Sanusi Mohd Yazid, berkata disebabkan masalah itu, pihaknya juga tidak dapat membina kompleks yang sama di setiap jajahan di negeri ini bagi menampung keperluan 682 kelas Taman Bimbingan Kanak-Kanak (TBK).

"Kita sudah membuat permohonan lebih 60 kali sejak 2006 kepada kerajaan negeri untuk mendapatkan tapak bagi membina kompleks terbabit, tetapi semua jawapannya mendukacitakan iaitu - permohonan tuan tidak diluluskan," katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian pada sidang media selepas majlis penyerahan komputer kepada TBK Kemas di Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Aman, di sini, semalam yang disempurnakan Ketua Umno Bahagian Pasir Puteh, Datuk Kamaruddin Mohd Noor.

Dr Sanusi berkata, pembinaan kompleks itu penting bagi membolehkan pelbagai aktiviti berfaedah kepada kanak-kanak dijalankan selain melatih guru meningkatkan keupayaan pengajaran.

Beliau berkata, cadangan pembinaan kompleks di kawasan seluas lebih satu hektar itu antara lain turut mengandungi dewan serba guna, bilik latihan amali, asrama, padang permainan dan tempat riadah.

P.Pinang hulur beras kepada golongan kurang mampu

09-05-2008 05:57:29 PM

PULAU PINANG: Kerajaan Pulau Pinang akan melancarkan skim pemberian bantuan beras kepada golongan yang kurang berkemampuan bagi menampung kenaikan harga bahan makanan tersebut.

Ketua Menteri Lim Guan Eng berkata mesyuarat exco kerajaan negeri hari ini memutuskan sumbangan beras itu akan diberikan mulai Sabtu depan kepada 7,635 orang penerima bantuan Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat (JKM).

"Setiap seorang daripada mereka akan menerima sekampit beras seberat 10 kilogram sebagai tanda prihatin kerajaan negeri kepada mereka," katanya kepada pemberita selepas mempengerusikan mesyuarat exco di pejabatnya.

Beliau berkata skim pemberian beras itu yang bernilai RM130,000, hanya akan diadakan sekali sahaja dengan pengedarannya kepada kumpulan berkenaan akan diuruskan oleh JKM secara berperingkat.

"Kita amat mengambil berat terhadap nasib golongan berkenaan yang mungkin tidak mempunyai kemampuan untuk membeli beras kerana harganya yang semakin meningkat.

Bukan setakat beras, malahan harga bahan makanan lain seperti susu tepung dan juga tepung turut meningkat," katanya.

Lim berkata kerajaan negeri juga akan melihat dari semasa ke semasa terhadap keperluan untuk memberikan bantuan bahan makanan yang lain pada masa akan datang jika dirasakan sesuai.

Katanya pengerusi Jawatankuasa Kesihatan, Kebajikan dan Masyarakat Penyayang Negeri, Phee Boon Poh dipertanggungjawabkan untuk mengendalikan skim itu.

Selain itu, beliau juga meminta kepada rakyat yang benarbenar memerlukan bantuan JKM supaya mendaftar dengan jabatan itu untuk dipertimbangkan bantuan.

Ketua Menteri juga mahu Bernas menggunakan keuntungan yang diperolehinya saban tahun untuk memberi subsidi kepada harga beras agar bahan makanan utama rakyat negara ini tidak naik terlalu tinggi.

"Bernas tidak harus diberi lesen untuk memonopoli pengimportan beras dan jika urusan itu dibuka kepada lebih banyak syarikat, harga beras akan lebih kompetitif dan tidak akan meningkat begitu tinggi," katanya.

"Pada pendapat saya, Bernas telah gagal melaksanakan tanggungjawabnya," katanya.

Sehubungan itu, beliau mahu kerajaan persekutuan memikirkan cara yang berkesan untuk menangani isu inflasi, kenaikan harga dan kekurangan bekalan makanan bagi memastikan rakyat boleh mendapat bekalan makanan dengan mudah, mencukupi serta dengan harga yang berpatutan. BERNAMA

The new paradigm: PAS and DAP as friends

Tuesday May 6, 2008

CERITALAH
By KARIM RASLAN

Many have looked to Pakatan Rakyat to revive Perak’s fortunes, but the challenges are formidable.

PERAK was once a proud and prosperous state whose tin mines and rubber plantations made it Peninsula Malaysia’s commercial engine.

Its people were so wealthy (some would say profligate) that a thankful Mercedes-Benz car dealer fixed a large five-pointed logo on a limestone hill above the main road into Ipoh to show his undying appreciation.

But those days have passed, and Malaysia’s Silver State has become little more than a place between Kuala Lumpur and Penang, somewhere you drive through with your foot firmly on the accelerator.

Perak is in a state of near terminal decline as towns shrink in size, young people leave in search of jobs and the population continues to age.

One cannot help but feel that decades of lacklustre, if well-intentioned, Barisan Nasional leadership have failed the state. In KL we joke about our “Ipoh mari” friends without understanding the socio-economic and human impact of this diaspora.

The state has never quite overcome the failure to diversify its natural resource dependant economy.

On the political front, the weakness of the state’s Umno leaders has meant that they’ve never been able to compete against the strong Johor and Pahang axis within the party, which has in turn led to a relative neglect of Perak’s economic interests.

As one local businessman explained: “Umno reigned in Perak, it never really governed. There was just too much petty politicking: economic issues were neglected.”

Given all these problems, it is perhaps unsurprising that the state didn’t fall any earlier to the Opposition.

Indeed, the state’s non-Barisan, opposition tradition is proud and deep, with solid PAS vote-banks in Parit Buntar and DAP enclaves in the Kinta Valley building on the anti-establishment sentiment fostered by the charismatic Seenivasagam brothers in the 50s and 60s.

Many have looked to the new Pakatan Rakyat government to revive Perak’s fortunes, but the challenges are formidable. The alliance is fragile, having a slim two-seat majority in the State Assembly, not to mention a supremely confident and vigilant palace.

All eyes, therefore will be on new PAS Mentri Besar engineer Nizar Jamaluddin and the two DAP strongmen/lawyers in the Exco, Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham (reputedly the first ever Datuk in the DAP) and Nga Kor Ming, also the head of the party’s youth wing Dapsy.

The men have started with a bang, shaking up the state’s moribund administration. Of course, too bold an agenda can have its detractors.

Nonetheless, in one dramatic move and taking a leaf out of Hernando de Soto’s poverty alleviating agenda, they announced a plan to issue permanent land titles to the residents of Perak’s many Emergency-era new villages, thereby reinforcing the new administration’s pro-rakyat focus.

I had the chance to speak to Nizar on Friday just hours after he had been summoned by the palace – presumably over treatment of the state’s religious department director Datuk Jamry Sury.

Despite the gathering storm, Nizar remained cool if forceful, being careful to steer the discussion away from contentious issues like the “Islamic State” debate to more manageable, common ground.

Still Nizar’s diplomatic manner belies his delicate political position. With only six state assemblymen (DAP has 18) PAS is the smallest party in the ruling coalition.

Nizar affirms the strength of the bonds he has with his DAP partners, saying: “We’ve been working with each other for the past 10 to 15 years. Now, we meet regularly both in formal state meetings as well as informally.

“Besides that, we SMS and talk on the phone a lot. I’ve also hosted badminton games at the residence and we all get a very good workout.”

When I met Ngeh later, he similarly reinforces the bonds. “We have no problems working together. We’re focused on the rakyat. Ours is a government for all.”

This ability to cooperate in Perak has national ramifications. With two atypical leaders – a DAP Datuk with a keen business sense and a PAS engineer (the UK-educated Nizar is not an ullama) sensitive to non-Malay feelings – there is a distinct possibility of progress.

Could this be a possible way forward, by-passing the tension PAS and DAP are experiencing at Federal level as Karpal Singh, Nik Aziz and Abdul Hadi Awang trade barbed comments?

Both Nizar and Ngeh stress their shared professional ethos.

Nizar adds: “I am an engineer, while they (Ngeh and Nga) are lawyers. Besides we’ve often worked in similar non-governmental organisations and spoken alongside one another at various forums.”

When asked whether it would be correct to categorise him as a technocrat (along with Husam Musa and Nasaruddin Mat Isa), he pauses before answering: “I suppose so but there is a difference. They are dealing with a state that’s over 95% Malay. Perak is a very mixed environment. We can’t approach governance in the same way.”

Despite his reassurances, the fragility of the links between PAS and DAP is clear for all to see.

The following months will see whether or not Pakatan can maintain its unity in the face of controversies like the never-ending debate over the Islamic State.

Pakatan leaders like Anwar Ibrahim will do their utmost to hold the coalition together at the national level, but what happens “on the ground”, especially in places like Perak, may well end up being more important, as the reality of the two quite separate socio-political visions comes crashing together.

On the other hand, Perak needs a shock to the system in terms of administration, and someone with Ngeh’s level of energy is bound to produce results. His prior experience with the business world will serve the state administration well as they seek, in his words, to “enrich, empower and liberate Perakeans”.

Surely, the new team can’t do worse than their predecessors.

And Umno? Well a sustained period in opposition will give the party a chance to reinvent itself.

It needs to focus on the “rakyat” instead of itself. This will free up the talent that does exist at the state level with men like Datuk Dr Zambry Kadir.

Let’s hope that in doing so it’ll present the voters with a genuine alternative, and Perak with a real chance for the future.

Is there an ‘-ism’ uniting the Pakatan Rakyat?

Ceritalah
By KARIM RASLAN

After 50 years of Merdeka the people deserve to have choices, and hopefully a two-party system divided by some kind of ideological difference will emerge.

MANY people feel that the Pakatan Rakyat is nothing more than a cynical “marriage of convenience,” an alliance fuelled by a lust for power and money that will crumble within a couple of weeks.

While I have to agree that the Pakatan’s increasing proximity to the apex of power – namely Putrajaya – has made it more united, I’d also argue that there are some powerful ideological forces at work in the three component parties, and that these political philosophies do mesh.

If I am right (but let’s face it, I have been very wrong in the past!) the Barisan Nasional must respond to the Pakatan in an ideological and philosophical manner as well as politically.

Essentially, the Barisan has to figure out where it stands and what it stands for. Mere “politicking” – scare mongering, cancelling and or delaying federal development projects and threatening racial strife – is old school.

Such primordial, Mahathir-era strategies will not work going forward.

Indeed bullyboy tactics will only allow the Pakatan to stress its victimisation – thereby aligning its treatment at the hands of a mean-spirited, ungenerous Barisan with the rakyat’s sense of marginalisation.

This combination could prove fatal for the Barisan’s chances going forward.

Of course, the obstacles dividing the three Pakatan parties are formidable and we are right to be sceptical, but only up to a point. In the past, the Gagasan Rakyat and Barisan Alternatif withered under Mahathir’s scorn and the sheer brute force of the Barisan directed administration.

Certainly, the DAP, PKR and PAS’ difficulties over the formation of the Perak government and the ongoing Karpal Singh vs ‘Everyone Else’ spat over the Islamic State suggests that the Pakatan is by no means out of the woods.

There is no doubt that the “Islamic State issue” will remain the core ideological challenge facing the Pakatan.

Now, all of these concerns are perfectly valid, but a deeper analysis of the historical and ideological roots of the three parties reveals that they have much more in common than we give them credit for.

Let me begin with the DAP. We are all familiar with the DAP’s social democrat origins. As the “Malayan” half of the PAP after the 1965 Separation, the DAP inherited the socialist rhetoric without Lee Kuan Yew’s mean-spirited real politic.

Moreover the DAP has been a long-term member of the Socialist International, the worldwide grouping of socialist political parties that includes both the British and Australian Labour parties.

PKR’s socialist roots are even easier to identify.

The party came about after a merger between Keadilan and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) in 2002.

The PRM itself was a successor of the old Malay leftist parties, such as the Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) and Socialist Front of the Merdeka era – the late much-loved writer/academic Rustam Sani being an important link in the chain.

The presence of the old PRM leadership within the PKR (such as Deputy President Syed Husin Ali) shows that the latter has more capacity for “socialist” thought then we are willing to acknowledge.

Its worth mentioning at this point the obsessive focus on Umno in our mainstream media has side-lined a newly emerging force, namely, the Malay “left”.

If one wants to understand this world, it’s worth reading work by writers such as the late Rustam Sani, the historian Farish Noor and watching Fahmi Reza’s ground-breaking documentary.

At the same time we shouldn’t forget Anwar Ibrahim and his friends and allies from ABIM (including Kamaruddin Jaffar who’s since become a prominent PAS leader) have had a deep and abiding commitment to social justice and equity, albeit with an Islamist tinge; witness their protests back in 1974 over the poverty and hunger of Baling’s rice-farmers.

While the PKR’s socialist roots are relatively well documented, PAS’ connection with these political ideas is less well known.

The party is often mischaracterised – incorrectly – as a purely Islamicist political force.

However, a deeper examination of the party’s roots will reveal that pre-Hadi Awang, PAS had strong leftist inclinations.

Certainly, it’s often forgotten that prominent Malay “alternative” leaders such as Burhanuddin Helmy once played a major role in PAS.

Today’s PAS is dominated by the ulama and they are generally wary of all “-isms” with the exception of Islam-ism.

Figures such as Nik Abdul Aziz, Abdul Hadi Awang and the much feared Harun Din have done their utmost to eradicate Burhanuddin and his successor Asri Muda’s contributions to the party.

Nonetheless, the younger generation of PAS leaders – technocrats like Husam Musa, Nizar Jamaluddin and Nasaruddin Mat Isa – are clearly more attune with left of centre issues.

They’ve been careful to identify with the oppressed and the marginalised – the many Malays left behind by the Umno juggernaut – formulating their party’s manifesto around populist issues that resonate on the ground.

Of course over the past decades there has been an on-going vilification of socialism and other leftist ideas, often in the name of “defending” Muslims against the concept of atheism inherent in more extreme political ideologies such as communism.

Still, socialism, populism or social justice – call it what you will – is a vital unifying theme for the Pakatan.

Moreover this kind of rhetoric cuts across racial lines, since the dispossessed are themselves ethnically heterogeneous.

As this becomes the core ideology around which the Pakatan coalesces, I hope that we will in future be able to talk about a “Social Democratic” Pakatan which will in turn force the Barisan to respond by finding its own political “centre”.

Interestingly, the Barisan with its more moneyed, property-owning, aristocratic and traditionalist ethos will evolve hopefully into a Malaysian version of the British Conservative party or indeed the American Republican party – both of which are enormously successful political organisations.

I know this all sounds slightly far-fetched but the prospect of a genuine two-party system divided by some kind of ideological difference is a very exciting prospect and after 50 years of Merdeka the people deserve to have choices.

Ideologies aside though, the final lesson is that both coalitions will need to gradually make their way to the centre if either is to capture enough of the “middle ground” to rule effectively.