IQRAQ AND OTHER MANNERISMS

It is under the trying conditions of Africa and other far-flung places that ones hold on Islam and practice is fully tested. Conditions of poverty, harsh desert, turmoil don't make it easier. Malaysia and the Muslim world have not done enough for Africa.

Africa - Timbuktu

Afghanistan

Christmas Islanders

Africa - using wooden tablets.

Africa - open air trade

Praying times - Turkey (end of May)

Face the qiblat in the open desert.

Dervish sufism

MY BROTHER IN CONGO

Colonel Hassan passed away three years ago. He was my brother the eldest of eight siblings. I was never close to him but we maintained cordial relationship. I didn't like his temper. Moreover, we didn't get a chance to spent time to grow up together.  I am still indebted to him in a great many ways. Every month during my Form 6th years I would receive a registered letter and $60 in it.

Right from secondary school Hassan was away from home. When he completed his senior Cambridge he became a temporary clerk then as a teacher then joined the army medical in the dental section based at Penang. It seems he was popular among the amoys there as judged from pictures of picnics at the beach.

I could hear him singing 'Bangsawan Solo' sometimes when he came back home. After finishing his short-serive commission training at Sg. Besi he said about 'ilmu kebab' that had been tested on him with a parang. That was the start of him of 'Hidup untuk askar, askar untuk hidup' life commitment with Askar Melayu DiRaja. Friends, subordinates and regulars called him 'Hassan Mata Merah' for his eyes were always bloodshot.

Several years after retirement I asked about books in his keeping. He left a crate of them at his last posting at Majidi Camp and he assumed that they were already gone. I wanted to know more about his army experiences for he never talk about his career.

I cannot ascertain when he went to serve in Congo as part of the UN peace keeping force, most likely in the early 60's. I could only allude his experiences based on a book written by a Malayan Special Force (MSF) officer, Tan Siew Soo who served in that heart of Africa.

Artists were sent to Congo to entertain our Malaysian forces.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is now in turmoil of a rebellion.

APA DIA AMANAT PAS?

Amanat yang dicetuskan oleh Hadi Awang adalah cerita lama. Bila dihitam putihkan oleh pihak Pas ia menampakan hatiperut, tahap pemikiran dan anutan Islam mereka. Pasang jerat sendiri. Sehingga kehari ini belum dapat keluar dari jebak yang ideologinya tidak dapat dipertahankan oleh mereka yang  fanatik. Hendak menegakkan benang yang basah mana boleh. 

Politik menjatuhkan hukum agama sewenangnya? Akibah kekalutan pembawaan terpesong jauh ini makin lama makin nyata.

THE END OF NIGHT, DALI'S STYLE

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR

The last time I have seen Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was several months ago in a TV rerun of Bruce Lee's movie. It was a fleeting fight stint for him.

Very recently when I met Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (figuratively, inflight magazine) on the flight to Melbourne has shaved bald and clean cut. Does age makes him fairer?

The retired professional basketball player and celebrated athlete who won the NBA Most Valuable Player title six times said, " One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team".

Lew Alcindor before converted to Islam.

(AGE OF ALCINDOR, UCLA supershooter Lew Alcindor ended his collegiate career in style as he led the Bruins to their third straight NCAA championship. In his last game before graduation Alcindor scored 37 points as the UCLA team triumphed over Purdue).

He played professional first with Milwaukee Bucks and later Los Angeles Lakers. His advantage of height and the formidable sky-hook technique he mastered made it difficult to block the ball from getting into the net.

WHAT NAJIB SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PAPACY AND CRUSADES

The crusade against Islam is still ongoing but under various guises - fight against terror, bombings and missiles (drones), Guantanamo, government change, globalisation, currency manipulations, trade barriers ... What happened to Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Mali, Yaman, Mindanao, Patani ... Indeed, the US is the mother of crusader states.

After meeting the Pope at the Vatican Najib went to Mekah to make amends probably. What has he been doing for the past 11x3 years in politics to remain clueless of so many things? We are talking about putting things in the right perspectives, past and present.

Lest he forget history. What does he know about the papacy and crusades? Does he show cognizance of the millions that sacrificed their lives for Islam and the Muslim  civilisation - the Ayubbids, the Seljuks, the Ottomans?

Pope Urban II was the initiator of the 1st Crusade in 1096. Many Popes after him were crusaders.

The castle near Latakia, Syria where Salahudin al-Ayubi spent much the winter when not fighting against the infidels.
I visited the castle in 1999. The Aga Khan Trust has allocated funds to repair the castle.

Salahudin spent a total of 27 years on horseback to wage war against the crusaders. In 1187 he destroyed the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at the Battle of Hattin and recovered Jerusalem for Islam. Four years later he died poor in Damascus after giving away whatever he has to charity.

The Ottomans, the saviour of Islam.

Mehmet II captured Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine Empire in 1453.

Source: Geoffrey Hindley. 2004. A Brief History of the Crusades: Islam and Christianity in the Struggle for World Supremacy. Constable & Robinson, London 300pp

ART OF WAR - SIAM

Siam is the only nation in Asia unconquered. The people have been fiercely patriotic to the country and kings. Today, politics see Thailand divided.

Kedah was ceded to Malaya in 1893. Thanks to the British. Our kings were petty fighting among themselves.

Tamra pichai songkram - art of war.

Before going to war the country must be strong to defend itself against enemies within and without. Firstly, the country must be impregnable. To be so, the most strategic information needed is the layout of the country ie. accurate maps, and hence also of enemy territories and battlegrounds.

The fighting men well trained to be led into battle manoeuvres by hardened commanders.

The logistics and other paraphernalia needed for the fighting machine - elephants for transportation and battles.

(A reenactment of elephant battles at Surin, Thailand. Elepahnts were long used as pachyderm panzers and helped turned course of history in Thailand, Burma and Cambodia)

Advanced technology - ships and cannons.

Source: Santanee Phasuk and Philip Stott. 2004. Royal Siamese Maps: War and Trade in Nineteenth Century Thailand. River Books, Bangkok 208pp