'Politics of Love...'

************************ In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; blessings and peace be upon Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. ********************** Reflection ************************* The Declining Day (Al-'Asr) 1. By the declining day, 2. Lo! Man is in a state of loss, 3. Save those who believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to endurance. ************************* A day after the 13th general election on May 5th, a friend SMSed me a message which ended with the word 'sabar' (to be patient). Well, PAS-Pakatan Rakyat failed in its bid to take over Putrajaya; so please be 'sabar' with what Allah The Greatest (SWT) has bestowed upon us. ************************* To 'sabar' myself and to have guidance and raise my spirit, I had a quick look at Harun Yahya's book 'Learning from the Qur'an' (Masterpiece) on the subject regarding the believers who would never weaken in their fight in the way of Allah. ************************* Under this subject, Harun notes the words of Allah SWT; among others: "Do not give up and do not be downhearted. You shall be uppermost if you are believers." (Qur'an, 3:139) *************************** "So be steadfast. Allah's promise is true. Do not let those who have no certainty make you impatient and shake your firmness." (Qur'an, 30:60) ***************************** "Many a Prophet has fought, when there were many thousands with him! They did not give up in the face of what assailed them in the Way of Allah, nor did they weaken, nor did they yield. Allah loves the steadfast." (Qur'an, 3:146) ******************************* "Do not relax in pursuit of the enemy. If you feel pain, they too are feeling it just as you, but you hope for something from Allah, which they cannot hope for. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise." (Qur'an, 4:104) **************************** Reading slowly the last 'ayah' mentioned above "if you feel pain, they too are feeling it just as you...", I could not help but think about the fate of Umno-BN top leaders 'slayed' in the 'battle'; one fine example being Mohd Ali Rustam, the Melaka Chief Minister for more than a decade in his own 'den' of Bukit Katil. ****************************** In this Parliamentary seat of 99,438 voters, Mohd Ali managed to secure 40,720 votes while his rival, state PKR Chairman, Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin pulled 46,167 votes. ****************************** Before election, Shamsul had likened himself to the little known boxer Joe Frazier who took the stage against the renowned Muhammad Ali in their fight in Las Vegas in 1971, and amazingly Joe Frazier had Muhammad Ali on the floor. ***************************** In in 'this political battle' of May 2013, Shamsul had Mohd Ali down! And Mohd Ali who was feeling the pain; screamed aloud, among others accusing the Chinese (they comprise about 43 percent of the voters) of betraying Barisan Nasional and being ungrateful to 'all the good things' he had 'fed' and done to them. ************************** While writing this article on Wednesday evening (8th May), I had to stop as I had to attend to a funeral of a distant relative in Kampung Tun Razak in Bukit Katil. ************************** 'Alhamdulillah' (Praise to Allah SWT) at the 'kampung' masjid I met Cikgu Yusof Wahab, PAS Coordinator for the State constituency of Bukit Baru (a seat under Parliament constituency of Bukit Katil which PAS won this time for the first time in Melaka) who was beaming with delight when I congratulated him for 'the historical win'. *********************** In Bukit Baru, PAS candidate, Dr Khalid Kassim created history to become the first PAS 'YB' in Melaka. In the state constituency, he defeated Karim Yaakob of BN with a very slim majority of 48 votes. He secured 9,292 votes compared to Karim's 9,244 votes. ************************* Cikgu Yusof said as a seasoned and senior politician, Mohd Ali should not have vented his anger at the Chinese. "I would like to advise him to be calm and settle down and do some 'muhasabah' (soul searching). I believed Allah SWT 'still loves' him; He wants him to have some thought about his defeat; to repent for all 'ill things' he had done to the people, especially to the folks of Bukit Katil. *********************** "Remember the demolition of Pasti Jaya Insan in Bukit Katil a year ago for a road project; the 'rakyat' including children of the PAS run pre-school prayed and made du'a that those involved would be punished by the Almighty. The demolition of the Pasti building is unjust and cruel actions of Barisan Nasional government upon the people especially children as their place of learning had been torn down. *********************** Those in power too had carried out all sort of tactics including summoning the Pasti’s administrators to court, accusing teachers of preaching Islamic knowledge without permit from the Islamic religious council. But the cases are still pending, thus those in power have lost their patience in seeing that the Pasti’s activities ceased. Several other Pasti buildings in the state slapped with demolition orders by the city council, including those accused of not having Certificate of Fitness (CF). ********************** Cikgu Yusof said that the du’a (supplication) of those being oppressed would not be rejected by The Almighty for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had said to Mua’ad Ibn Jabal; “Beware of the supplication of the unjustly treated, because there is no shelter or veil between it (the supplication of the one who is suffering injustice) and Allah.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari and Muslim) ************************* But the retired teacher was quick to say that PAS was not practising politics of hatred and revenged. "We want all people to be safe in this world and Hereafter. For the Muslims we prayed they would be in His straight path while for non-Muslims we hope they would be shown the way by Allah SWT. "We are practising 'politics of love', we want everyone to be safe in their lives. **************************** "To leaders who have swayed in their lives, why not follow the footsteps of those who had repented such as Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib, the former Menteri Besar of Selangor who joined PAS recently? Let's do our bit for example in strengthening 'iman' (faith) of our young generation. Look, our life is too short....who knows whether we would still be alive tommorrow?" asked Cikgu Yusof pointing to the coffin that was being carried out of the masjid. ************************ At the entrance of the masjid, I was introduced to Dr Khalid Kassim, the new assemblyman for DUN Bukit Baru. This former assistant director of Hospital Melaka of 63 years of age was full of energy when he talked about his plans for his constituency and his role as the sole Malay/Muslim Opposition member of the Melaka State Assembly for the 'very first time'! *************************** He said as a person being trusted by the Islamic party, he must portray the Islamic way of conduct in the respectable 'Dewan'. "I must show what Islamic leadership is about; I cannot just follow the conduct of those 'Umno-BN' politicians; to me the saying 'if you can't beat them, then join them' could not be practised by me in the 'Dewan'. ************************** "The same could be said when dealing with the rakyat in my constituency. I must practise what Islam teaches us regarding the relationship of leaders and their people. We must show them the beauty of Islam, the bonding of love between people; when the rakyat realize this; 'insya-Allah' (God willing) we will be having more seats in the coming next election...but most importantly we would like to bring people to Islam and its fine way of life." ************************* He said by becoming the sole Malay/Muslim Opposition member in the 'Dewan', he was not only trusted to take care of the people in his constituency of Bukit Baru, but 'to have an eye' on matters regarding Islam such as the administration of 'zakat' (tithe) money and wakaf (property endowed for religious purposes), the administration of masjids and religious schools in the whole state. ************************ Dr Khalid took the opportunity to thank all especially the PAS task force of Bukit Katil, who had worked very, very hard for his victory; not fogetting the voters including the Chinese (in Bukit Baru, 40 percent of the voters are Chinese) who have faith in him. ************************** "This is our victory, 'insya-Allah', we will do the best for the people."