Hocus Pocus At The Crystal Mosque.

By Syed Akbar Ali

From The Star :

‘Floating mat’ a sign to people

"KUALA TERENGGANU: The Terengganu chief imam has attributed the unusual occurrences at the Crystal Mosque here as a sign of the people distancing themselves from the religion.

Ustaz Azizi Saidi Abdul Aziz described claims that a visitor had seen and photographed prayer mats floating in the mosque as “hardly phenomenal” and people should stop thinking that it was due to genies or ghosts.

A woman from Negri Sembilan who visited the mosque had photographed the phenomenon with a mobile phone camera early this month, triggering fear among locals."

Here is a picture of the flying rug in the papers today.

I wonder if people started to climb aboard these flying rugs, will it put Air Asia out of business? Can we get really cheap flights to say Australia or Sipadan.

This is a foolish and childish thing to say or to believe in. I am quite surprised that the Chief Imam of Terengganu would even entertain such superstitions and idle talk.

It just goes to show the level of thinking or the thinking that is far from level, which can be exhibited even by someone as grandiose as a Chief Imam.

What next? Flying horses? Hi Yo Silver ! And away we go.

Michael Joseph Jackson August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009

Indon Maids

By Syed Akbar Ali

Oh well the Indons have said that they will not let their women come over to work as maids. There is much that remains to be desired in the way the Indonesians, including their maids, do things.

The Indons say that their maids suffer abuse. In Malaysia there are believed to be about 40,000 Indon maids working in Malaysian homes. There have been cases of maid abuse in our country. We know of these cases because the employers have been arrested and tried in Court and then also sent to jail.

But the number of cases of maid abuse in Malaysia are rare. 1% of 40,000 is 400. Even if there are 100 cases of maid abuse, that is 0.25% of the 40,000 Indon maids here.

We have seen about one case a year of severe maid abuse in the Press. These cases end up in prosecution and often jail for the employers. That is 0.0025%. The vast majority of Indon maids here are treated fairly well.

In my jewellery business, employers sometimes bring their Indon maids and buy jewellery for them. A friend of mine traveled to Medan with his family to attend a wedding in the family of his Indon maid. My own maid is back in Java right now on a paid holiday to visit her family. We bought her air tickets. Now we don’t know if she will be prevented from coming back.

We rarely hear of Indon maids being abused in Saudi Arabia. This does not mean that Indon maids do not suffer abuse in Saudi Arabia. The abuse of maids, including Indon and Filipino maids, in Saudi Arabia is actually quite rampant.

We hear about the abuse of maids in Saudi Arabia when a case makes it to the newspapers. But this only happens when the maids fight back. There was a case when a Filipina maid killed her employer in Saudi Arabia who had routinely abused her. Often the abuse of maids in Saudi Arabia includes sexual molest.

But Saudi Arabia being what it is, NO Saudis are ever arrested or tried in their Saudi courts for abusing their maids. For example in Saudi Arabia they require four witnesses for rape. Since no Saudis have raped any maids in front of four witnesses there have been absolutely no convictions in Saudi Arabia for rape of maids.

I think it is quite safe to say that there has never been a case anytime in the modern (or not modern) history of any Islamic country where four witnesses witnessed a rape (or even adultery).

Despite the frequent abuse of their maids in Saudi Arabia, the Indons may not be preventing their girls from going to Saudi Arabia to work as maids.

Malaysians have also suffered much abuse at the hands of Indonesians who rob and steal and break into our homes. Many Malaysians have been killed by violent Indonesian robbers. This still happens around the country.

On the other hand we seem to have less problems with Bangladeshi workers (or even Nepalis). The Banglas are rarely known to kill Malaysians in violent crimes or robbery. We also have maids from Cambodia in this country. The obvious solution is to diversify sourcing our domestic maids and foreign labour from other countries.

We also have to make it easier for individuals to bring in maids and workers into the country. If there are “APs” involved, they should be dismantled.

Tasers For The Cops

By Syed Akbar Ali

Maybe about 25 years late but our Police are getting Tasers.

Some news :

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police are set to become the second in Southeast Asia after Singapore to use the non-lethal Taser stun guns.

Federal police logistics director Datuk Mashuri Zainal said although the force had taken delivery of 210 units of the stun guns, known as the X26 electronic control device, which cost RM2.1 million, last year they have yet to be distributed to personnel on the ground.

The yellow-coloured X26 set bought by Malaysian police comes with a holster and uses a non-rechargeable lithium battery able to deliver 195 cartridge shots. Policemen going on rounds will be issued four cartridges.

The Police are paying RM2.1 million for 210 units. That works out to RM10,000 per Taser.

Here is some info from a Taser website in the US : The TASER X26 Electronic Control Device (ECD) uses a replaceable cartridge containing compressed nitrogen to deploy two small probes that are attached to the TASER X26 by insulated conductive wires with a maximum length of 35 feet (10.6 meters). The TASER X26 transmits electrical pulses through the wires and into the body affecting the sensory and motor functions of the peripheral nervous system. The energy can penetrate up to two cumulative inches of clothing, or one inch per probe.

Includes:

· Integrated LED light & laser

· (1) Extended digital power magazine (XDPM)

· (6) 15' air cartridges & soft carry holster

· Owner's manual, instructional DVD, & training voucher

· 2 year upgraded factory warranty

The same website says the Taser X26 retails in the US for US$1,098.00. That is about RM3800.

I believe the public should also be allowed to buy Tasers. It is supposed to be a non lethal weapon but some people have died after being hit by Tasers - usually older people who have suffered cardiac arrest.

The fear that bad guys may use Tasers is perhaps not a good reason to deny the sale of Tasers in public. I dont think bad guys will find Tasers useful.



Bad guys like robbers and kidnappers usually want their victims alive and awake so that they can be robbed or kidnapped. If a person is unconscious (after being Tasered) it will be more difficult to rob or kidnap them. The bad guys will need more 'staff' to help them carry an unconscious victim.



And if a bad guy wants to kill someone the bad guy will not want to use a Taser. It is a non lethal weapon.

Work Begins : Thank You YB Raja Nong Chik

By Syed Akbar Ali



Well today is a happy day. After so much delay by the DBKL and so much complaining also through this Blog we finally got the approvals from DBKL which enabled us to start construction at our site. Thanks to the helpful ears of the staff at the office of the Minister of the Federal Territory YB Dato Raja Nong Chik.




We are undertaking a small construction project in Kuala Lumpur. And we have run into horrible, time wasting and money losing delays by DBKL in their approval procedures.



First the syarat DBKL said they wanted to widen the road (which has not been done and I dont know when it will ever be done) so they wanted us to give up five feet of our land. Fine. Kita semua cintakan negara dan Kerajaan - so we happily gave up five feet of our land frontage. But we had to resurvey the title, submit it to the Land Office, pay for the survey (over RM6000) and wait six months for that to be done.



And there is absolutely no compensation for us when we had to give up five feet of our land frontage. Since the lot is 70 feet wide, 5ft x 70ft width = 350 sq ft of land value gone. At RM120psf, we have lost RM42,000 just like that. We cannot claim any compensation. Thats what they say. Does anyone know otherwise?



Then we had to go to the DBKL for the building plan approvals. This is where the real nightmares began. They take months and months just to approve the smallest things. Work was stopped when there was an issue with the land again. Since we had given up five feet of our land frontage this means the building has to be setback five feet. Fine.



Then they said we could not slope the land in front, it had to be level with the road level. OK. Fine. What was the height difference? Two feet. And how long did it take to get this approval? Three months.



We had to stop work while waiting for this approval from the DBKL. The construction site was locked up. And it did not stop someone from driving up and stealing a bunch of steel rebar and materials that were on site. Now we have to replace the material that was stolen.



After meeting YB Dato Raja Nong Chik and his helpful staff at the Ministry, we finally got our approvals from the DBKL. The picture says it all. This was taken today. The workers are back at work. The guy beside me is Daniel my college buddy and Project Engineer, beside him is Razak the Architect and the other person is Adi the Site Boss. We are all happy that the project is moving again. After so much delay its full steam ahead now.



I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to YB Dato Raja Nong Chik and his staff for making the effort to inquire into my predicament with the DBKL. This is just one tiny project and yet it creates employment for the architects, engineers, workers and so many other people. The materials suppliers and cement suppliers will also be at site soon.



There are hundreds and hundreds of such projects stuck at the DBKL. I have seen the files and plans myself. They are piled up on the tables, chairs and also on the floor. If all those projects are quickly approved and start moving, we can stimulate the economy in Kuala Lumpur almost immediately. No need for billions of Ringgit in stimulus package.



I hope YB Raja Nong Chik will set up a task force to super expedite the approval process at the DBKL.

Some Information About The Quran

By Syed Akbar Ali

Here is a kedai kopi joke. Most cars had four gears 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th gears. Then with more power coming out of the engines and for a smoother ride, car makers made cars with five gears. So there was a joke that if you exerted some force on the gear shift lever, maybe you could go up to Gear No. 6. I think some folks may have even taken this joke seriously.

Too many folks (I am talking about Muslims in particular) seem to think that the Quran is some kind of unfathomable mystery book. There is a simple reason for this. Being Muslims of course they do not know what is inside the Quran. This seems to be a prerequisite to be a Muslim. You don’t know what is inside your own Kitab. If anyone feels hurt I really don’t know what to say.

The Quran is a mystery for them including for the so called experts. And this is also when it starts - they start saying wild things about the Quran. One blast of ignorance I have heard more than a few times is to insist that the Quran says something when it does not. And these are not lay people who say this.

A previous Director General of IKIM once said on live TV that the Quran states that the adulterer must be stoned to death. There is no such thing in the Quran. This is a point of accuracy.

Many years ago, I met a fellow by the name of Syed Mohamed Barakbah the supposedly head of the Shiahs in Indonesia who recited a verse in Arabic which was actually NOT in the Quran. He kept insisting that it was.

Until today there is a Director of a Government ‘Islamic’ institute here who recites a particular “verse” in Arabic and attributes it to the Quran. It is not in the Quran either.

Then on the far side, former religious kepala Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Othman once said that the Quran does not say that you cannot be married concurrently to two sisters. He was wrong : the Quran does say that very explicitly. Menteri agama pun klentong.

This is indeed like the kedai kopi joke : trying to squeeze a 6^th gear from your car. Saying something about the Quran that is not there. In the case of Abdul Hamid Othman he never made it to 4^th gear.

The Quran is not a mystery book. And with the modern search techniques that are available on the Internet and in reference books, anyone (even non Muslims with no knowledge of Arabic) can study the contents of the Quran to some detail.

For Muslims with even a basic knowledge of Arabic, the task is that much easier. Let me give you an example.

There are many useful search tools on the Internet. My favorite is openburhan.com. Lets do a quickie. Lets search adultery (zina). And then lets search “four witnesses”.

First of all you must have some idea where to find the Arabic word ‘zina’. If you don’t know Arabic its ok. Just open up any Quran translation with a basic English translation search function on the Net. For example try this one : http://www.quranbrowser.org.

Click Browse Mutliple Quran Translations (you have a choice of translators) and type in ‘adultery’ (in English) inside the “search phrase/keyword” box.

If you search Yusuf Ali’s translation, you will get these FOUR verse references for the English word “adultery”:

[17:32] Nor come nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).

[24:2] The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication,- flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by God, if ye believe in God and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment.

[24:3] Let no man guilty of adultery or fornication marry and but a woman similarly guilty, or an Unbeliever: nor let any but such a man or an Unbeliever marry such a woman: to the Believers such a thing is forbidden.

[60:12] O Prophet! When believing women come to thee to take the oath of fealty to thee, that they will not associate in worship any other thing whatever with God, that they will not steal, that they will not commit adultery (or fornication), that they will not kill their children, that they will not utter slander, intentionally forging falsehood, and that they will not disobey thee in any just matter,- then do thou receive their fealty, and pray to God for the forgiveness (of their sins): for God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Now try another translator. If you search Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall you will get the following THREE references only for the English word ‘adultery’:

[17:32] And come not near unto adultery. Lo! it is an abomination and an evil way.

[25:68] And those who cry not unto any other god along with Allah, nor take the life which Allah hath forbidden save in (course of) justice, nor commit adultery - and whoso doeth this shall pay the penalty;

[60:12] O Prophet! If believing women come unto thee, taking oath of allegiance unto thee that they will ascribe no thing as partner unto Allah, and will neither steal nor commit adultery nor kill their children, nor produce any lie that they have devised between their hands and feet, nor disobey thee in what is right, then accept their allegiance and ask Allah to forgive them. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Bear in mind we are searching the English word ‘adultery’ and NOT the Arabic word ZINA.

So how come Yusuf Ali and Pickthall have different references for adultery? And their verses are NOT all the same. Don’t they know Arabic? The short answer is indeed yes – they don’t seem to know Arabic well enough. But never mind. There is a simple solution. That is what today’s Blog is all about.

Lets just look at one more translator. Here is Khalifa’s translation. He gives us ELEVEN references to the English word “adultery” in the Quran. Wow! Here they are:

[4:15] Those who commit adultery among your women, you must have four witnesses against them, from among you. If they do bear witness, then you shall keep such women in their homes until they die, or until GOD creates an exit for them.

[4:16] The couple who commits adultery shall be punished. If they repent and reform, you shall leave them alone. GOD is Redeemer, Most Merciful.

[4:19] O you who believe, it is not lawful for you to inherit what the women leave behind, against their will. You shall not force them to give up anything you had given them, unless they commit a proven adultery. You shall treat them nicely. If you dislike them, you may dislike something wherein GOD has placed a lot of good.

[4:24] Also prohibited are the women who are already married, unless they flee their disbelieving husbands who are at war with you. These are GOD's commandments to you. All other categories are permitted for you in marriage, so long as you pay them their due dowries. You shall maintain your morality, by not committing adultery. Thus, whoever you like among them, you shall pay them the dowry decreed for them. You commit no error by mutually agreeing to any adjustments to the dowry. GOD is Omniscient, Most Wise.

[4:25] Those among you who cannot afford to marry free believing women, may marry believing slave women. GOD knows best about your belief, and you are equal to one another, as far as belief is concerned. You shall obtain permission from their guardians before you marry them, and pay them their due dowry equitably. They shall maintain moral behavior, by not committing adultery, or having secret lovers. Once they are freed through marriage, if they commit adultery, their punishment shall be half of that for the free women. Marrying a slave shall be a last resort for those unable to wait. To be patient is better for you. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.

[5:5] Today, all good food is made lawful for you. The food of the people of the scripture is lawful for you. Also, you may marry the chaste women among the believers, as well as the chaste women among the followers of previous scripture, provided you pay them their due dowries. You shall maintain chastity, not committing adultery, nor taking secret lovers. Anyone who rejects faith, all his work will be in vain, and in the Hereafter he will be with the losers.

[17:32] You shall not commit adultery; it is a gross sin, and an evil behavior.

[24:4] Those who accuse married women of adultery, then fail to produce four witnesses, you shall whip them eighty lashes, and do not accept any testimony from them; they are wicked.

[25:68] They never implore beside GOD any other god, nor do they kill anyone - for GOD has made life sacred - except in the course of justice. Nor do they commit adultery. Those who commit these offenses will have to pay.

[60:12] O you prophet, when the believing women (who abandoned the disbelievers) to seek asylum with you pledge to you that they will not set up any idols besides GOD, nor steal, nor commit adultery, nor kill their children, nor fabricate any falsehood, nor disobey your righteous orders, you shall accept their pledge, and pray to GOD to forgive them. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.

[65:1] O you prophet, when you people divorce the women, you shall ensure that a divorce interim is fulfilled. You shall measure such an interim precisely. You shall reverence GOD your Lord. Do not evict them from their homes, nor shall you make life miserable for them, to force them to leave on their own, unless they commit a proven adultery. These are GOD's laws. Anyone who transgresses GOD's laws commits an injustice against himself. You never know; maybe GOD wills something good to come out of this.

Yusuf Ali was an Indian. Pickthall was a white man. Khalifa was an Arab. They all do not seem to know Arabic because they all claim to translate the Quran but they cannot agree on how many times the English word “adultery” should appear in the Quran.

This is where we have to fall back on the Arabic Quran. Tools like openburhan.com fit the requirement here perfectly. For accuracy and preciseness always check the Arabic Quran.

The Arabic word for adultery is zina. So we must search this word zina in Arabic. Please look again at Yusuf Ali or Pickthall which I have already quoted above. Take one of their verse references, and then look it up again but this time use openburhan.com. We are going to search the Arabic word zina this time.

For example lets check out Surah 24:2. Go to openburhan.com and click ‘24’ on the Surah Navigator (top left ). Surah 24 will pop up. Read verse 2. Quite easy.

The very first Arabic word in this Verse No. 2 is al zaaniyat (zina) which means perempuan yang berzina. If you place your cursor on this Arabic word al zaaniyat, it will change colour to red. This means you can click on it. Please do so.

Immediately a Word Navigator will pop up on the top left . Please see “Browse Word” and the Arabic word ‘al zaaniyat’ in Arabic script. Click on this Arabic script and the verse with this Arabic word al zaaniyat will appear.

Similarly search all the other references quickly and you will realize that there are actually ONLY FIVE verses in the whole Quran where the Arabic word ZINA really appears. (Please remember we are now referring to the actual Arabic word ZINA and not the English word ‘adultery’) The relevant verses are:

17:32 You shall not commit adultery; it is a gross sin, and an evil behavior.

25:68 They never implore beside GOD any other god, nor do they kill anyone - for GOD has made life sacred - except in the course of justice. Nor do they commit adultery. Those who commit these offenses will have to pay

[24:2] The woman and the man guilty of adultery - flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by God, if ye believe in God and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment.

[24:3] Let no man guilty of adultery marry but a woman similarly guilty, or an Unbeliever: nor let any but such a man or an Unbeliever marry such a woman: to the Believers such a thing is forbidden.

[60:12] O you prophet, when the believing women to seek asylum with you pledge to you that they will not set up any idols besides GOD, nor steal, nor commit adultery, nor kill their children, nor fabricate any falsehood, nor disobey your righteous orders, you shall accept their pledge, and pray to GOD to forgive them. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful

Now please note something. This is a factual observation. Meaning it is factually correct. In all these five verses in the Quran where the Arabic word zina occurs we cannot see any mention of four witnesses.

This is factual and accurate observation about the Quran. I have given ALL the references. To those who are interested please check it out.

Now lets check out the occurrence of the requirement for “four witnesses” in the Quran. There are only three verses. Firstly please note that in none of these verses is there mention of ZINA. Secondly all the occurrence of the requirement of four witnesses is when a charge is leveled against women. And even that is qualified, it refers to good women or chaste women. But it is always when women are accused:

[4:15] Those who commit lewdness (FAHISHATAN) among your women, you must have four witnesses against them, from among you. If they do bear witness, then you shall keep such women in their homes until they die, or until GOD creates an exit for them.

(Note : This refers to women. Four witnesses are mentioned here but note the Arabic word here is fahishatan NOT zina. Fahishatan refers to lewd or indecent behaviour. I think this is quite wide ranging).

[24:4] Those who accuse CHASTE WOMEN (muhsanaati), then fail to produce four witnesses, you shall whip them eighty lashes, and do not accept any testimony from them; they are wicked.

(Women again. In this verse it does not say accuse them of what? And please note there is no mention of either zina or fahishatan. Again it refers to ‘chaste women’ or muhsanaati. Other than producing four witnesses, the burden also falls on the accuser to prove that the woman is not chaste).

[24:13] Only if they produced four witnesses (you may believe them). If they fail to produce the witnesses, then they are, according to GOD, liars.

Neither the words ZINA or FAHISHATAN appear here. The previous verses 24:11 and 24:12 refer to rumour mongering but again absolutely no information is provided in the Quran about the exact nature of the rumour mongering. But since they were false and malicious rumours (meaning the alleged event never even happened) the Quran admonishes us and says in 24:16 that we must NOT repeat the story. Surah 24:16 " When you heard it, you should have said, "We will not repeat this. Glory be to You. This is a gross falsehood."

Folks this is an exercise in accuracy : I am sticking to the Quran as precisely as I can. Just to tell you what the Quran says and does not say about something.

The belief that four witnesses (males of good character etc) are required to prove adultery is derived from religious theology. That is a bottomless pit by itself. I am merely pointing out to you what is and what is not in the Quran. This is an easier thing to do. There are only 6348 verses in only one volume of the Quran.

Iraq To Be Permanently Destroyed, Iran Will Be Sucked In, Saudi May Also Crumble

By Syed Akbar Ali

After messing up Vietnam and Indo China for 20 years, the Americans decided in 1972 that they had had enough. So in 1973 they announced that they would withdraw their forces from Vietnam by 1975. When they withdrew, Vietnam fell to the Communists.

On hindsight this has turned out to be a good thing. Vietnam has since rebuilt itself and is on its on its way to becoming an economic powerhouse in Asia. They have a very good role model in China – another Communist country which is now producing so much benefit for mankind and literally saving the world – including the Western capitalist financial system.

Now the Americans are pulling out from Iraq. When? By the end of this week! This is quite sudden. Here is the news:

BAGHDAD – Bombings and shootings killed more than 30 people across Iraq on Monday, including high school students on their way to final exams, part of a new round of violence ahead of next week's deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from urban areas.

..American combat troops have already begun moving from inner-city outposts to large bases outside Baghdad and other cities.

..Iraqi officials have warned that militants will likely carry out more attacks to erode public confidence in the government as the Americans pull out of cities by June 30

"There aren't enough Iraqi army and police and they're ill-equipped to confront the terrorists," said Abdul-Salam Mohammed, a 33-year-old car dealer in the former insurgent stronghold of Baqouba, north of Baghdad. "The pullout is not in our interest at this moment because we are still in the recovery phase and not yet cured."

That is just seven days away. This is totally irresponsible American behaviour. First they attack an innocent nation, kill its leaders, destroy the peaceful lives of their citizens, supply arms to religious and racial extremists and encourage them to fight each other.

Then they leave the country in a hurry and leave the Iraqis to fight each other to death.

First of all the Iraqis will be embroiled in a civil war for years to come. The Shiahs and the Sunnis will go head to head. The Kurds will get hit too. The pro Saddam resistance ( a good mix of Shiahs. Sunnis, Kurds) etc will also try to forge a national coalition but with more violence.

The Iranians will most certainly get involved and start supplying arms to the Shiahs to ensure the Shiahs remain in power in Iraq. The Saudis will supply weapons to the Sunnis to make sure that they can fight off the Shiahs.

The Wahhabis will also get involved, including the mysterious Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda terrorists and fighters will gravitate to Iraq to get involved in a new religious war, most likely against the Shiahs. Its going to be rock and roll in Iraq for some time.

Mahmoud Ahmedinajad the president of Iran may see an opportunity here to get involved and save his job and career. Another case of ‘wag the dog’. If he goes too far it may give the Israelis and the US a real excuse to bomb Iran. They are just itching to do this anyway.

Just a couple of weeks ago the Israelis had nationwide military and civil defense rehearsals against a multiple attack scenario. An unprecedented exercise in Israel. Israel has already been on a heightened military alert since 1948. So they don’t go the extra mile like that just for kicks.

The US has been stealing 4 million barrels of oil per day from Iraq for a long time. Will they allow this oil to be jeopardized? They will not give up 4 million barrels of oil per day unless they have secured alternative supplies.

The price of oil will shoot up again. Maybe Malaysian Airlines will come up a winner after all when they hedged their oil at USD100 per barrel for three years.

At times like this, lets just mind our own business well, tidy up our house and keep ourselves safe and healthy.