Category Archives: Miscellaneous

(From your email)
I realize that, of late, the level of purity in my thoughts and actions is
rapidly declining toward being more and more secular materialistic in
nature. I have a feeling that there is something fundamentally wrong with me
because I can no longer pray in deep contemplation, don’t act in sincere
honesty for Allah, and do not seek guidance from only Allah. I strongly feel
that I am overly exposed to such a secular social lifestyle, and that there
is hardly anything I do/hear/see that has spiritual value. Even when I do
things that might be considered beneficial, it still seems to take me
further from Allah than closer to Him. Some of those actions include reading
world news, studying maths, being nice and helpful to others, reading books,
etc. I so desperately hope that I don’t do further damage to my soul. One
main consequence is that I cannot fully focus when I study.

This feeling that I have is totally new to me. I definitely had not expected
to be in such a predicament. Perhaps you notice a serious flaw in me? (End
of your email)

I feel really sad to hear how you have been feeling. During our many talks I
think it would be true to say we became friends, besides the fact that your
father is my good friend also. The loss of faith is just about the saddest
thing that can happen to a Muslim. I wish you could feel how much I love
Allah and the wonderful Islam He gave us as the right way of life. Few
Muslims would know how attractive the ideas of secular materialism can be as
I have had the opportunity to experience for myself. It was not for feeble
reasons I was so convinced God did not exist at the time when I had for
years been beguiled by the attractiveness and seeming rightness of the basis
for secular materialism. If I had not been an objective scientist in the
extreme I could never have been able to fairly and rationally observe that
the undeniable necessary logical implications of modern science,
particularly modern physics, pointed so powerfully to the fact that God must
exist.

You would have to have available to you all the facts that I have gathered
over the many years of study to know how certain I am now that what exists
to support secular materialism is so paltry as to be embarrassing, and how
the totality of the facts and their implications proving the rightness of a
spiritual God-centered world is so overwhelming there is not even faint hope
that the acceptance of secular materialism could ever rise again. Much of
what I know that provides me with the most high degree of certainty that
secular materialism offers nothing but a path to hellfire is in the subtle
interconnections of facts existing within the sphere of all true knowledge,
but still I guess I am a bit surprised that what you have had the
opportunity to learn from me, although must less than the whole, was not
sufficient to provide you with more protection from the seduction of the
secular world.

For myself I don’t worry that my obligatory prayers are seldom times of
“deep contemplation” since the true depths of my contemplation take place as
in my mind as I delve into the intimate actions of Allah as He creates,
sustains, and directs His physical creation. Also late at night I have
conversations with Allah that might seem to some to be more appropriate to a
totally free and open discussion of the very closest friends. I think
sometimes we have the expectations of others determining for us what should
be determined only by our own souls. Then we have the effects of the
“secular social lifestyle” which can be a major trial for Muslims anywhere
along the path of spiritual progression. I am now Blessed with the
opportunity to isolate myself from direct interaction with most of secular
society. At times when I did not have this opportunity I had many times of
doubt as to whether, regardless of how committed I was to Islam, that I
could resist all that a secular society offered. I have become a much better
person, and a much better Muslim as I have had less and less direct contact
with the secular world.

In answer to your question, I am most pleased to be able to say I see no
major fault in you at all. I have mentioned the one thing that could be
considered a flaw and which could cause you some difficulty and that is the
fact that I see you making assumptions that are not the assumptions of
highest probability given the available data. It is hard to say how that can
be corrected, it takes a lot of objectivity, logic, and a standard which
gives a good understanding of what is most likely given the nature of our
world. To me this standard is now Islam, which I am convinced is by far the
most comprehensively good and right system of thought that that has ever
existed. That is the fair, honest, and positively motivational world view I
am always taking about.

Sometimes it might be true that ignorance is bliss. By this I mean that for
any Muslim the cultural and spiritual shock of moving from a more or less
Islamic environment (such as Malaysia) to one of the most powerful secular
materialistic environments that has ever existed is always going to be very
difficult to deal with. For someone who has accepted the truth and facts of
Islam without question they may be able to fall back upon this unthinking
certainty as their armour against wrong thought and wrong influence, but to
someone who has been somewhat of an intelligent, independent thinker and has
asked hard questions about those things that others never questioned they
would not have the same safety of certainty to fall back on. A God-centered
spiritual life is increasingly difficult to successfully achieve in the
world we have today. Ultimately no one but you can decide to walk that path.
Please know how sincerely I can say this to you, “Life with Islam is so much
better than life without Islam.”

I wish I could do more, but I can only pray that you will find something in
this message that touches both your heart and your reason in such a way that
it makes your relationship with Allah, and your life in Islam a little
easier.

Wasallam my very dear brother and friend, may Allah Bless you and be with
you during these difficult times.

Assalamualaikum to all readers,
FYI the Caliph is now being hospitalized due to some illnesses.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam, please put our hands together and pray to Allah so that the Caliph will recover sooner and work for Allah to educate and motivate our fellow young muslim brothers and sisters to be good Khalifah of Allah.
"O Allah, may you lessen the pain of our beloved Brother and cure his illness for You are the only one who can cure all illness and eliminate the sorrow, Amin Ya Rabbal Aa Lamin"

The Caliph is pleased to say that the problems which arose over mistreatment on Dutch KLM airlines have been satisfactorily resolved. In a meeting with a regional manager high within the administration of KLM who traveled to Malaysia the Caliph accepts the sincerity of the KLM Company and management to ensure that those of all races and religions are treated with utmost courtesy. In particular there was a genuine assurance that there is no corporate discrimination or bad feeling toward Islam or Muslims. The specifics that resulted in the mistreatment have been corrected as much as is possible given the vagaries of human behaviour. In addition, keeping with Islamic tradition of fair reparation for wrong done a satisfactory agreement of compensation has been reached.I say to you my dear Muslim brothers and sisters, given the actions of KLM management to redress an acknowledged wrong committed by one of their staff I ask that there be no remaining bad feeling or financial retribution taken against Dutch KLM airlines. Please feel as free as ever to use KLM services and know that, if Allah permits, the Caliph will also probably travel again on KLM airlines.

I think Muslims should quit using the term ‘suicide bomber’ because suicide is a major sin in Islam and the brave Muslim brothers and sisters who give up their lives in the struggle for Islam are not committing suicide, they are martyrs dying for the cause of Islam. Even if some of you non-Muslims do not understand or accept the Islamic concept of ‘shaheed’ the English language definition of martyr makes it clear that Muslims who give up their lives for Islam are martyrs. According to Webster’s dictionary a martyr is a person who sacrifices something of great value, especially life itself, for the sake of religion or an important principle. Suicide is the taking of your own life because you want to die. The Muslim bombers don’t want to die; they want to protect Islam and the Muslim ummah. I think the term ‘suicide bomber’ was invented by the Western media, or maybe even by the CIA psychological operations department, to make Muslims think they were committing a sinful suicide rather than an honourable martyrdom. I think what I have said is important to know because it is the objective truth, not something untrue said to achieve a desired outcome. Honesty is very important. BUT – please do not think I am supporting Muslims bombing anyone. Islam is the way of peace, and only through peace can the human race have a future. I feel sorry for both the bombers and the victims of the bombers; the loss of human life is a terrible thing.

Today, the world is facing a very big problem. People hurt each other for no reason. For example, a boy who was walking down the street got killed by a stranger. The boy did not do his killer any harm. All of this must be stopped. We cannot let it happen anymore. But how can we solve the problem?

This problem can be easily solved if everyone in this world is a good Muslim; but that will be almost impossible. However the world will be a better place if we can all learn to respect each other and live in harmony regardless of our races and religion. We can do all these by learning how to be good Khalifah of Allah. The most wonderful thing is, one does not have to be a Muslim to learn all these important things.

Allah told us in the Qur’an that we are his Khalifah. As a Khalifah of Allah, we need to make ourselves good, help others become good, and make the world clean and beautiful, pleasing to Allah.

Our first responsibility as a Khalifah of Allah is to make ourselves good. This means we need to perfect ourselves first. We have to do only good things. Never do the things that Allah doesn’t like. We cannot hurt other people’s feelings. If somebody treats us badly, just ignore them if possible. We must not always fight back or say bad words in return. We must lead a life as a good Muslim so that others can follow our steps. We must always forgive others and also ask for forgiveness both from Allah and also people around us. The world would then realize that Muslims are the most wonderful people on Earth.

Our second responsibility is to help others become good. We should command the right and forbid the wrong. We have to advise others to do good things. If we see some teenagers loafing we should advise them to do good things and spend time wisely.

Our third responsibility as a Khalifah of Allah is to make the physical world good, clean and beautiful pleasing to Allah. We have to recycle, plant new trees, make things from material that can be recycled and avoid polluting the world. We must not throw rubbish anywhere we like. Imagine, living in a very dirty place where there is rubbish everywhere. People will start blaming each other for throwing rubbish at their compound. Another example is a factory that throws toxic waste that can kill people, trees and animals. Cutting down trees can cause serious flood and landslides that could kill many lives. People around the area will get upset and angry; and it can cause a fight. If it gets serious it can cause a war.

If we really can learn to cooperate and be good to one another the world will be more peaceful and beautiful. People would not easily commit crime, even bad people would think twice before doing bad things to others because they will be caught and punished. Muslims must be wise and if we are good Khalifah of Allah, we can even lead the world. Allah gives us the Qur’an so that we can learn everything that we need to know. Let us stop hurting each other, instead let us work for a better future.

In June of 2003 I was diagnosed with an aggressive and incurable form of lung cancer. It was found late as is often the case with lung cancer. It was found at stage four, by which time there is no effective treatment and no hope. By the time the cancer was detected it had already spread to my spine damaging most of the vertebrae, several so badly that over half of the bone had been destroyed. Doctors said there was no treatment and no hope. I confirmed this diagnosis with several doctors. All said I had only three or four months to live, even my own research brought me to the same conclusion.It is now February 2006, and while my health is not good I am still able to continue my work in service to Allah and His Ummah for 14-16 hours each day, seven days a week. I found a chart showing the survival time for 10,000 patients having the same cancer at the same stage as mine; the vast majority died within the expected three or four months, the last of those 10,000 cancer sufferers died within 22 months. Now, about 32 months later I am still alive. I have three doctors who I have seen regularly since my cancer was discovered. Two are Muslim and one is a non-Muslim. All three have expressed so much surprise at the length of time I have survived that that they say my continued existence must be a miracle.

I say to you my dear Muslim brothers and sisters, please do not ever doubt that Allah can and does perform miracles. In this modern world of science and logic we sometimes forget the spiritual power of Allah. You could not imagine how Blessed I feel, after being convinced by the expectations of modern medicine that I only had several months to live, to now have lived for 32 months and still be able to labour effectively in Allah’s service. Of course I am prepared to leave this material world whenever Allah decides it is my time, but some days I am so overwhelmed with gratitude that I am sure I must give my thanks to Him at least a hundred times for allowing me the miracle of a life much longer than expected. Never doubt Allah, His unbounded Mercy, or His infinite Power. Allah Akbar!

The Caliph has received a response from the regional KLM airline management for his complaint over mistreatment that was detailed in the previous “Caliph Speaks”. The apology and concern by KLM management over the wrong actions by their staff seem quite sincere and appropriate in that there is to be further training of staff in these matters, the offending staff member is to be reproached, and in the future blankets will be made available to those who need them. Additionally it is good to hear that their staff are being made aware that discrimination against Muslims (and other religions and races) is totally unacceptable to KLM in staff training. It would be hard to ask for more than that as a result of one part of my complaint. What I feel is quite unsatisfactory is that there was no recognition given of the significantly worsened health that I have and am suffering. I have just undergone a very unhealthy past nine days now which have been very disruptive to my work for a better world and personally unpleasant. Your airline’s wrong treatment of me during a flight caused these serious health difficulties which seem to have left your management unconcerned, but I am VERY concerned and VERY dissatisfied. Then finally to the insulting aspect; to offer me 50 euros as compensation for what happened would be laughable if I did not feel so unhappy about it. It would have been much less insulting to have offered no financial consideration at all. I mean really, do you think my health and the loss of a number of my few remaining working days have virtually no value. I will have no use for the 50 euro coupon as I have no plan to fly on KLM again.I say to you my dear Muslim brothers and sisters; I do not consider this matter to be sufficiently resolved yet; but, although I do not intend to fly on KLM airlines again due to the mistreatment I received and their less than satisfactory concern for my health I do feel that in matters that might concern others who fly on KLM that they at least claim to have resolved those matters with reasonable fairness and appropriateness, so I do NOT, at this point, ask you to show your disapproval by boycotting KLM and their associated companies.