Life Choices

Have you personally feel that the "angel" and the "devil" inside of you are having a deadlock argument on what action should you take ie the "bad" or the "good"? I'm sure most of us will encounter this kind of situation if not always, at least one time or another.

When we are having this internal dilemma, it is always good to have a voice of reason giving us a third opinion; the good, the bad and the in between. It is not easy to make everyone happy, infact this is one of the most daunting task when you are at a cross road or having split thoughts on what is the best action to take to make this world or more specifically your life a happier place to be in. This is where the "voice of reason" plays a very vital role. Therefore, your "the voice of reason" should be someone who has an objective, positive and unbias opinions on things in general. Finding the best "voice of reason" is not an easy task, but I believe that we should trust our gut feeling as over the years we have or "should" have mastered the art of seeing a person beyond skin deep or evaluate a person. If you just do not have a gut feeling or any basic sense of evaluating a person, then I suggest the "voice of reason" should be a person that you have known your whole life, like your guardians, parents, grandparents, close and trusted family members or friends.

At the end of the day, as a normal human being we will be facing every types of challenges every day of our life. For someone who thinks that they have never had to evaluate anything or never had to face any difficulties in life, I shall say that good for you... but just be prepared as you may not be well equipped to handle the complexity of the world of the common people.

Nonetheless, whether you are well equipped or not, I believe that one has to choose wisely as you are what you choose to be.

Happy Friday!

xoxo :)

Reluctantly Skinny

Most people adhere to the code that it is very impolite for one to comment on a person's weight. But this would normally be referred to comments being made to people who are overweight. It would be deemed very cruel, discriminatory and inhumane to make a person feel that their excess weight is not an acceptable standard of aesthetic appearance a person who is deemed normal be perceived.

However, this is not an article of that sort. On the flip side, this is an article about common people who generally thinks that it is OK, acceptable, funny or some may think that their being nice and kind by commenting or trying to be blunt to an underweight person about their ermmm... lack of weight. The common people that I am referring to here is normally random person, person that you have never met before, person that you hardly know, person that don't know you, that don't care about you, people who is deemed a STRANGER. Yes, this type of person.

No, I am not trying to whine and complain about my weight here as I have learn to accept the fact that I have always been underweight since I can remember. It has never been a problem to me and I am quite happy and feel blessed as I know some people who are struggling with weight is having a really hard time trying to keep fit and keep their weight in control to avoid any diseases or health issues which is related to overweight.

Having said that, my main point in writing this article is that I an frowning upon people who freely give their unwarranted comments on one's lack of weight by saying such as "you will look prettier if you put on a few kilos" or "you must eat more, as you don't look good being skinny"etc. Commenting or I even dare call it criticising a person underweight-ness is as cruel as discriminatory and as unacceptable as doing the same to an overweight person. It is bad enough that being underweight has always been associated with overzealous dieting and exercising, self destructing, refusing good food, vain, selfish and all the other negative connotations that come along with it, people assume that all skinny people do this willingly. The fact is that, some people are just born skinny and have high metabolism which make their body process all the fat intake quickly than some other people.

This is just the reality of life that some people are skinny and some are overweight. I advocate that each one of us appreciate our own body shapes, sizes and weights and just concentrate on maintaining a healthy lifestyle instead of trying to be some one that we are not meant to be.

Yes, everyone has their own vision of a perfect body and the media is not helping by parading the blessed supermodels with the perfect face, body and skin as the ultimate beauty hence the ultimate goal that everyone must wish to replicate and dream for. I wish that all of us can digress from all that superficial portrayal of beauty. As I believe that everyone is beautiful in their own way no matter how much one weighs.

And I also advocate that if you have nothing good to say, you better say nothing at all.

Happy Friday everyone. When you feel content on the inside, your beauty will transcend in the outside. And yes, I will eat a bar of chocolate after this. :)

xoxo

Disclaimer

I've written some articles for the purpose of completing my assignments as part of the requirement for a subject in my MBA course. I am publishing it in my blog to share my views with people who came across my blog.

Nonetheless, please note that the contents of my articles are basically based from my research and my personal opinion. It may not be 100% accurate and further research and reading should be done to verify the contents. It may also be modified, rectified, amended, revised from time to time should I encounter further knowledge from more research and studies.

Hope people who are doing research on the same topic find my articles useful and/or may assist them to probe further on the issue or to encourage them to conduct more research on the same subject matter.

xoxo

“SHARIAH” PERCEIVED NEGATIVELY BY MANY PEOPLE INCLUDING MUSLIMS. WHY IS THIS SO? HOW CAN THIS PERCEPTION BE RECTIFIED?

Shariah is strictly defined as the straight path (Surah An-Nur 24:46) of the divine law. The sources of Shariah comes from the Quran and Hadiths (Prophet Muhammad’s explanations and examples). Surah An-Nur 21:46 states that “We have certainly sent down distinct verses. And Allah guides whom He wills to a straight path”.

There are tremendous amount of discussions and debates on Shariah as it covers the whole spectrum of the Islamic believes, practises and way of life. Shariah deals with subject matters such as crime (Jenayat), politics, economics (Muamalah) as well as the interaction of one human to another (Fiqh). Islam in itself is the definition of “the way of life”. Islam is a preactical religion and as agreed by most scholars Shariah is the formal code of conduct or a set of defined rule of law for all Muslims.

Eventhough Shariah has always been a debatable issue, the implementation of Shariah is a long term goal for some sections of people from Muslim countries, including Malaysia. However, attempts to impose Shariah laws have been accompanied by high degree of controversies, violence and in some countries such as Sudan, war has been waged because of this issue. These oppositions on the implementation of Shariah Laws do not only come from the Western countries but by the Muslims as well.

Studies have been conducted to evaluate this issue and the general consensus or misconception derived from all of these studies is that Shariah Laws is perceived to be oppressive, draconian, rigid and do not perform well in a modern society.

 PERCEPTION TOWARDS SHARIAH

Shariah has been receiving negative lights not only by non Muslims but also by Muslims. This perception has been widely discuss not only by scholars but by the Muslim and non Muslim societies alike. One of the reasons that may be wrongly highlighted in all of these discussions are the heavy penalty of the Hudud Law.

Hudud literally means “limit” or “restriction”and the word is often used in Islamic literature for the bounds of acceptable behaviour and punishments for serious crimes. In Shariah law, hudud normally refers to the class of punishment that are fixed for certain crimes which include theft, fornication and aultery (zina), consumption of alcohol or other intoxicants, murder and apostasy. As with any legal system, it is very common to have a set of punishments for certain crimes committed, and even in our currrent legal system, there is a codified act of Parliament which is known as the Penal Code. The problem arise is when Hudud Law is potrayed as an archaic and draconian form of law which puts its emphasize on the heavy and “inhumane” penalty as expressed by some. The penalty of cutting of hand for thieves, stoning of adulterous and other form of punitive capital punishments was put in the crux of the discussion and was always made as an example ever so often.

Not many discussion would emphasize on what is the underlying objectives of these punishments and higlight on how hard it is for a judge (Qadhi) to pass a judgment due to the high degree of certainty and accuracy sought by the Hudud Law before a prima-facie case is proclaimed and thus a judgment can be passed. Requirement such as confessions from four eye-witnesses of well respected men, free (not a slave), adult Muslim, in a healthy state of mind must be presented in court as the basis in forming a judgment by the Qadhi. The four men must make an oath under the Quran that all of them saw with their own eyes that such crime had happened. If there is even a a small discrepancy or slight differences in their testimonies, the Qadhi should do nothing else but acquit the accused. With this high degree of liability and accuracy required by the prosecutor in order to pass a judgment, a crime under the Hudud Law is not an easy case to proof let alone to execute the accused.

Another misconception towards Islam which was highlighted in great length is on the rights or to be more precise the lack of rights of women and children in the society. Shariah law was presented in such a way that it is oppressing, backwards and do not have any protection to women and children. This matter is somehow accorded when laws such as; it is acceptable to beat wives, child marriage, perceived unfair distribution of inheritance to women, to name a few was always highlighted in discussion against Islam worldwide. The discussion on these issues would normally end in a bad note for Shariah law implementation as concentration was always focussed that men have the right to exercise these laws as it is already stated in verses of Quran or quoted from Hadith. These samples of Shariah laws have imprinted a negative impression towards not only to the non Muslim but to the Muslim as well especially to those who do not have enough knowledge in this area or those who are ignorant of the Shariah law.

The underlying reasoning for the introduction of these laws was rarely discussed objectively. All parties should discuss this issues by presenting arguments and evidences that can support both arguments. For instance, in relation to issue regarding that a husband is permissible to beat his wife, there are some rules before this right can be exercised. However, most of these rules are from the interpretation of Scholars based on their research from Quranic verses and Hadith. In reliance to these Scholars interpretation, some men have abused this right to the extent of beating their wife at their whimp and fancies in the name of exercising their rights.

To illustrate further on the issues that was highlighted above, it is fact that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has never beat any of his wives. Nonetheless, there are contradicting views on a hadith quoted from Sahih Muslim, Book 004, number 2127, which is quoted as follow:

Muhammad b. Qais said (to the people): Should I not narrate to you (a hadith of the Holy Prophet) on my authority and on the authority of my mother? We thought that he meant the mother who had given him birth. He (Muhammad b. Qais) then reported that it was ''A''isha who had narrated this: Should I not narrate to you about myself and about the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him)? We said: Yes. She said: When it was my turn for Allah''s Messenger (may peace be upon him) to spend the night with me, he turned his side, put on his mantle and took off his shoes and placed them near his feet, and spread the corner of his shawl on his bed and then lay down till he thought that I had gone to sleep. He took hold of his mantle slowly and put on the shoes slowly, and opened the door and went out and then closed it lightly. I covered my head, put on my veil and tightened my waist wrapper, and then went out following his steps till he reached Baqi''. He stood there and he stood for a long time. He then lifted his hands three times, and then returned and I also returned. He hastened his steps and I also hastened my steps. He ran and I too ran. He came (to the house) and I also came (to the house). I, however, preceded him and I entered (the house), and as I lay down in the bed, he (the Holy Prophet) entered the (house), and said: Why is it, O ''A''isha, that you are out of breath? I said: There is nothing. He said: Tell me or the Subtle and the Aware would inform me. I said: Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be ransom for you, and then I told him (the whole story). He said: Was it the darkness (of your shadow) that I saw in front of me? I said: Yes. He struck me on the chest which caused me pain, and then said: Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you? She said: Whatsoever the people conceal, Allah will know it. He said: Gabriel came to me when you saw me. He called me and he concealed it from you. I responded to his call, but I too concealed it from you (for he did not come to you), as you were not fully dressed. I thought that you had gone to sleep, and I did not like to awaken you, fearing that you may be frightened. He (Gabriel) said: Your Lord has commanded you to go to the inhabitants of Baqi'' (to those lying in the graves) and beg pardon for them. I said: Messenger of Allah, how should I pray for them (How should I beg forgiveness for them)? He said: Say, Peace be upon the inhabitants of this city (graveyard) from among the Believers and the Muslims, and may Allah have mercy on those who have gone ahead of us, and those who come later on, and we shall, God willing, join you.

From the hadith above, a few interpretations have been formed. Some of the Scholars believed that this is the Hadith to show that it is permissible for a man to beat his wife as it is practised by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) himself. However, this is not an absolute truth as there are differed explanations that can be derived from this Hadith.  It was explained that the word "struck" as used in the translation of the Hadith is a bad translation in this context. The Arabic word used in the actual Hadith is 'lahaza' , which could also be translated as "push" and at most "slap with an open palm" but not a hard, violent slap (and note translating it as "slap" is weaker and less probable). It was agreed by some Scholars that the correct translation would be: “He pushed me (lahadani) in the chest (fi sadri) with a push (lahdatan) which made me sore (awja'atni)”. It is also very interesting to note that "pushing" of the Prophet does indeed convey the meaning that it is usually mean to drive away evil influence and thought.  Therefore, from the explanation of this Hadith, it is quite clear that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) himself has never beat his wife and therefore for a man to proclaim himself as a devout and pious Muslim, he should not beat his wife.

The misconception or rather misinterpretation that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) advocates child marriages should also be cleared. This is because there are a few conflicting interpretations of Hadiths in regards of Aisya (Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) purported child wife) age when she was married to the Prophet (pbuh). Some interpreted that she was a child of the age of 6 or 9 when she was married to the Prophet (pbuh). However, the general consensus is that it is agreed that Aisya may have been young when she was married off but she was not younger than what was the norm of a marriageable age at that point of time. The accuracy of Aisya’s age is questionable by a lot of scholars and historians as the reliability of the source is also in doubt. We are talking about a scoiety which have yet to have a proper record of registry of birth and where people do not celebrate birthdays and age of a person has always been only an estimation, and to this, Aisya would have been no different. Also, we should also point up the fact that Aisya had already engaged to be married to another person before she was married to the Prophet (pbuh), suggesting that she had already been mature enough to consider marriage for a while, therefore it is difficult to reconcile the fact that has been circulated around that she was 6 or 9 when she was married to the Prophet (pbuh) and thus negates the believe that Islam advocates child marriages.

HOW CAN THIS PERCEPTION BE RECTIFIED? 

Based on the arguments above, perception towards Shariah law should be rectified in order for Islam to be potrayed in a more accurate light which is a religion of peace, harmony and love. In order for this to be achieved, there is a lot to be done by not only the Scholars and Jurists but by all Muslim as a whole.

Focussed should be made on the right area which is for a Muslim to act in a more Islamic way so as to be a role model to the non believers. Encourage more studies and researches to be conducted on Shariah matters for the public to have better understanding of the religion and what is the accurate Islamic ways.

Muslim Scholars should have more open minded discussion regarding to controversial issues as discussed above and should not take the easy way out in dismissing the issues on reliance that it is a divine law and therefore should not be questioned at all. Sincerity in tackling these issues should be shown as eventhough there are Quranic verses and/or Hadiths stated in relation to some controversial issues, interpretation of Scholars play a very vital role. Arabic language is very extensive and immense, it can easily be wrongly interpreted and understood.

The fact that Shariah law is not static and its interpretations and application have changed and continue to evolve over time need to be highlighted and communicated to change the negative perceptions. Everyone must be made to understand that there is no one thing that defined Shariah; as variety of Muslim communities exist and thus each understands Shariah in a different way. There is no one official document that encapsulates the whole of Shariah laws, it is however a divine law from Allah and interpreted by Muslim Scholars over centuries aiming towards justice, fairness, equality and mercy.

CONCLUSION

Islam is a beautiful religion should people take time to learn more about it. The more time spent learning Islamic teachings and Shariah law, one will appreciate more of its beauty and feel the miracle of the Quran. Shariah law is not meant to oppress or undermine people but more of a prevention. Even people from the Western world believes that “prevention is always better than the cure” and it is the time to put this into action.

 

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ISLAMIC BANKING AS CURRENTLY PRACTISED IN MALAYSIA IS NOT NECESSARILY BENEFICIAL TO THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY

Islamic banking in essence for Muslims is “the way to the source of life” which is to live in a way that is in conformity with the Shariah law which is the divine law. Today, Islamic banking has grown by leaps and bounds in Malaysia and its rules and principles have been codified to the  current legal system.

The underlying intentions or objectives of Islamic finance can be stated as follow:

·         for the elimination of riba’ (literally means increase of addition) i.e. usury or rent on money in all forms  and intents which is the very opposite of conventional banking;

·         prohibition of involvement in haram or non-permissible transactions or economic activities such as alcohol, non-halal food, pork production, gaming/ number forecasting, prostitution;

·         prevention of excessive leveraging;

·         strong, direct linkages to productive economic activities;

·         avoidance of maisir (speculation or gambling) and gharar (preventable uncertainty or ambiguity in transactions);

·         deterrence of zulm (oppression and exploitation);

·         introduction of safety net mechanisms for the benefit of the poor and the less-have through zakat (tithe) or Islamic tax, sadaqah (alms), waqaf (trust) and qard hasan (benevolent loan);

·         upholding universal social, moral and ethical values with emphasis on maslahah (public interest);

·         achieving ‘adalah (justice) and musawah (fairness) in the distribution of resources.

As stated above, the intentions and objectives of Islamic banking is therefore can be summarised as being in total contrast with conventional banking methods which is centered on credit worthiness and the ability of a proposed client to repay loans and most importantly; interest-based transactions. In Islamic finance the ethical and moral consideration of Islamic banks cannot be detached and their behaviour should be consistent with the moral and ethical standards laid down by the Islamic Shariáh. The Islamic judicial system is committed to fairness and equity as the fundamental belief that riba’ or interest-based transactions are inherently unfair, giving guaranteed return to the lender without any guarantees for the borrower. On the other hand, the basic principle of Islamic banking is the sharing of risk, with shared responsibility for profit and loss.

In this regard, the Quran is very clear about the prohibition against riba’ or usury based transactions with the revelation of the verses below:

“Those who devour usury cannot stand... That is because they say, trade is only like usury; yet Allah has allowed trade and forbidden usury... Allah does not bless usury, and He causes charitable deeds to prosper, and Allah does not love any ungrateful sinner. Oh you who believe! Be careful of your duty to Allah and relinquish what remains due from usury, if you are believers. If the debtor is in difficulty, grant him time until it is easy for him to repay. But if you remit it by way of charity, that is best for you if you only knew”. Quran 2:275-280.

“O you who believe! Do not devour usury, making it double and redouble, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, that you may be successful”. Quran 3:130.

In addition to the Quranic verses, the Prophet (pbuh) has also cursed the consumer of interest, the one who pays it to the others, the witnesses to such a contract, and the one who records it in writing. From this, it is apparent that to be a devout Muslim, one should avoid any part of the conventional banking as it clearly operates and prospers on interest which bear similarities with usury and riba’.

The  development of Islamic banking in Malaysia started by the establishment of an Islamic bank in 1983, known as Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad. Together with the establishment, the Central Bank of Malaysia had also introduced an Act of Parliament which is the Islamic Banking Act 1983 (IBA). The IBA regularises the Islamic banking activities in Malaysia and had specifically stated in the Act that Islamic banking business in Malaysia can only be transacted by a licensed Islamic bank. Since the introduction of Islamic banking in Malaysia, it has grown tremendously with the establishment of other local Islamic banks and also Islamic arm or window for other global banks.

The quantitative value of the development of Islamic banking in Malaysia can easily be tracked with the mushrooming of Islamic banks or Islamic branch of almost all local banks and quite a huge number of international banks. However, the same could not be said on the qualitative values of all of these mushrooming Islamic banks from the Shariah point of view. The reason behind this is derived from the notion that: Is Islamic banking really is Islamic and whether it has served its purpose to provide Halal banking and safety from riba’ to all Muslim? This is a question which had been debated by many Muslim scholars from different countries all over the world. However, as other issues or controversies surrounding Shariah laws, this matter eventhough has been agreed by some Muslim Scholars to be Islamic but it is still to date, did not form a unanimous decision.

Some may argue the matter by highlighting certain aspects of the current Islamic banking which is what is the difference in the methodology between the two systems, can a common man differentiate when he deals with an Islamic bank in comparison with a conventional bank and whether interest is completely weeded out, even at the benchmarking level, from the Islamic banking system.

Much understanding of not only of both banking systems are required to enable one to derive to an answer of this issue but also an understanding of the Islamic religion as a whole is pertinent in order to shed some light on this issue. The idea behind this is that Islam and Islamic banking are one. Islamic banking system is based on the believe that as a Muslim, one should strive to map his life in line with the Shariah laws. This in  mind, witnessing how the other global banks such as Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, to name a few, which have established their Islamic banking arm or window in order to offer Islamic banking products and to be competitive in Muslim majority countries seems a bit off from the tangent of the Islamic goals. This may seem like an assumption but the fact of the matter here, their goal is again ultimately just to maximise profit and has nothing to do with the ethical and philantrophic elements of an Islamic finance and the people behind the veil of the banks are highly unlikely are not Muslim and do not believe in Shariah law.

The difference in intentions can pose as a hindrance. The banks have the ultimate intention to maximise profit by expanding its products base to attract more Muslim clientele and the intention of Muslim which is to streamline his life in accordance with Shariah law may be of an issue in the discussion of how Islamic is an Islamic banking. This issue should be discussed simultaneously as one may effect the other. Nonetheless, how vital this issue is, may depend on how Islamic a Muslim aims to be in his life. Faith amongst Muslims is an utmost priority and thus, should the objective of the banks and Muslims are not in sync, this may not be beneficial to the Muslim but instead only profiting the related banks.

This controversy may also be highlighted on the fact that some may argue that there is no such thing as Islamic banking as the Quran has clearly state Allah wrath against anyone who practised riba’ or usury or interest, which in this case is the main source of income of conventional banking system. This matter is further aggravated by the fact that the Base Financing Rate (BFR) is benchmarked by the performance of the Base Lending Rate (BLR) of conventional banks most of the time, which may be perceived to be similar in nature and only a word play game. This matter has been discussed at length by Muslim scholars. Some are in support but somehow are not so keen because of its similarities with conventional banking. The supportive argument on BFR have pointed out that the benchmarking is merely to gauge and monitor the performance between conventional and Islamic banking system but the concept is not same which makes it Shariah compliant and is not an apple to apple comparison to BLR. There is no limit in BLR rate however in BFR, the rate will be pre-agreed in the contract. If BFR rate exceeds the pre-agreed rate, the pre-agreed rate will prevail, however if it is lower than the pre-agreed rate, the client will be given rebate to match the BFR rate. As this eliminates the element of gharar in the contract, most Muslim scholars are agreeable that BFR is Shariah compliant and on top of that it is also can be seen to be an added value to Islamic banking instruments as it is seen to be more transparent and competitive.

Muslim scholars have been debating on this issue. Majority of Muslim Scholars agreed that Islamic banking is not acceptable should the main focus is interest-based transactions such as loan and dealing with intangible assets however Islamic finance is acceptable as it is deemed to be Shariah compliant as it involved in financing of tangible assets which is in accordance with Shariah laws.

Nonetheless, based on the argumentative nature of the the system, the people behind the veil and the nature of the products, this issue will still have an adherent effect on the Muslim significantly. This matter is  considered to be significant is because in Islam, the most important goal for a Muslim is to gain Allah’s pleasure and how to achieve this is first in its “niyat” or intention. The more we emphasise on the Islamisation of Islamic banking, the more we will need to have an Islamic economy and the more we would want an Islamic economy, the more we will have to be good Muslim in all aspect of our society and our way of life.

Whether Islamic banking practised in Malaysia necessarily give benefit to the Muslim or not is still arguable as it is believed that emphasise should be given to enhance the system so that it will be a truly Shariah compliant system by all intents and purposes. Muslim needs to enhance their knowledge and at the same time their faith to follow the true Islamic teaching as revealed by the Quran. This is truly the best way and may save Muslims both from the punishment in the after life and also from the wrath of conventional banking system which has time and time again shown its weaknesses. By exercising Islamic banking as it is meant to be, god willing, it will show Muslims to the right path and achieve Allah pleasure here and the hereafter.