Prophet Muhammad’s cartoons: proof of the weakness of the Islamic Community

Is it true, that in the name of free speech, you are free to insult anyone, including their fundamental beliefs?… Anyway, that’s what I can understand by the publication of these cartoons (of which I assume you already know. This is the second time by the way, and there is a possibility of a third, fourth, etc.).

When I saw the news of the second publication of these cartoons, I just wasn’t able to believe it. I felt extremely angry, puzzled, but most of all sad and hurt. To Muslims, the prophet is the most loved human being that ever lived. We don’t pray to him, but we thank him, love, and cherish him for showing us the way. So to feel hurt and sad is perfectly natural. People do odd things when they are hurt, sad, and attacked. Some might even threat to kill the opposed one (which in this case is the cartoonists, I kind of feel sorry for their ignorance though). This (the murder threat) triggered the re-publication of the cartoons, and in turn has hurt the millions of Muslims all around the globe (again for the second time) in the name of free speech (such a stupid justification). I don’t believe that all Danes, Caucasians, or whatever are as***les. As a matter of fact, I have many good Caucasian friends. In every apple tree there are rotten ones (many nowadays), including in the Islamic community.

If we open our hearts a bit, we might come to realize that WE, Muslims are the ones to blame the most…
This message is for all Muslims.
We haven’t truly acted upon what the Prophet and our Lord has ordered us to do. We are lost in our lives searching for riches, consuming the goods from everyone we can, depending so much on those who insulted us, following where the civilization has steered us to go, and straying away further from Allah, which in turn makes us weak and vulnerable. So weak and dependent that people step all over us yet we keep loving, adoring and obeying them as if we have no dignity.

The cure is as simple as it can be. Look into a mirror and ask yourself whether you have become a good Muslim or not.
Whether you have prayed the best prayers 5 times a day
Whether you have spent what you have in the name of Allah and for Allah’s cause
Whether you have done all you can to help the needy, poor, and the orphans that need you
Whether you depend on your Lord and only to Him (as written in Al Fatihah which we read 17 times a day at the minimum)

If we were doing what the Lord has told us to do, we would be a strong independent Ummah, and insults towards us will not be significant. Protecting the Prophet and the Lord cannot be done by burning flags, rallying protests, vandalism, etc. It’s their win when we get irritated, angry and do bad things that don’t have any benefit but to further degrade ourselves.

Protect the Prophet by being the best Muslim that you can, because I feel that it is much more significant. Feel sad, feel angry, but don’t forget to reflect on the matter, and find the best resolution for it. For now, I believe that the best resolution is to become better Muslims in every aspects of our life…. This moment is a good kick in the butt to be better people for all Muslims, including me.

Do what you ENJOY doing!!!

It has been a while since I've written anything in this blog. Let me check... Yup, almost four months have past since my last post. I haven't had any ideas (and the time) to write about. Mainly because I've been occupied with my new hobby, photography. Man, it has really occupied my time. Looking for the captures, post processing them.

I really enjoy photography. Apart from spending time with my family, I only enjoy several things in life, and photography is among them. I'm still yet to find the joy in doing my main duty in the lab as a biology student (I'm trying as hard as I can, believe me). I guess my right brain is just much more dominant than my left brain, as I have always enjoyed beauty (especially nature). I just wished that I found out what I liked sooner, and set that as my path. Right now I feel trapped in doing what I'm not enjoying, and boy it's tough. I'm having to stay in doing what I do because of many complex reasons. In Indonesia, sometimes we are forced by the system to do something to make money, which I think is not a good motivation.

After reading the biographies of several photographers, I found that they were in the same boat (they probably have millions fold more talent than me though). They were doing something that they really didn't enjoy doing. This is the case for John Shaw and Craig Tanner of the radiant vista. Both are awesome photographers, and both are my favorite. Another photographer is Mike Jones whom sold his house and quit his job to buy a motor home and travel across the US to take photos (he was a photojournalist). I really admire their courage in taking the leap, and leaving their old lives behind them. And the most important point here is that, they're happy.

There might be many photographers, artists, engineers and other people out there who don't make much money, but are happy because they enjoy what they are doing. I'm not saying that I want to be a professional photographer like the photographers I mentioned, since I'm not sure I have the talent. I just wished that I know what I love and was doing it as my carrier.

The point that I'm trying to emphasize is, you have to find something you love doing, and do it the best you can. As long as it's logical, and you really really have the heart for it. It would be really awesome to be able to make a living out of something that you really love.

Hope we are all given the blessing to be happy in whatever we do in life. :)

Changing our attitude towards nature

There are a heap of problems happening to Mother Nature right now. Mostly related to what we all know as global warming. One of the most renowned “problems” is probably the melting of the ice caps in the arctic. As I am writing this post, another update from Google news just said that the Greenland ice cap is melting 400 times faster than previously predicted, which is very alarming. The melt could also trigger the ice sheets over Greenland to melt, which in turn can cause a 7 meter raise to the sea level. If this really happens, we can all say goodbye to some harbor cities and international airports, including my capital city Jakarta (and its international airport), which by the way, is only about 0-10 meters above sea level.

Besides the scare of rising sea levels, there is also the scare of changing climates, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, which has became intense in the past decade. Are all of these connected to the so called global warming? Maybe yes, maybe no. But one thing is for sure, we have made our ecological footprint too much to handle for our beloved Mother Nature, and at this point, there is absolutely no way to mend the what we have done. What we can do is at least minimize the potency of an even worse future.

The only international treaty to support the fight against global warming is the Kyoto Protocol, which is a pretty pathetic attempt from how I see it. Why? It can’t even tie up the worlds’ largest carbon emission contributor (United States) in it. They (US) withdrew from the treaty in 2001, and nobody is doing anything significant about it. Movements such as this “blog day action” campaign might prove to be much more effective, since WE ALL are in this together, and WE CAN decide our future.

Our way of life (consumption)
We humans are now living a consumption pattern which enforces releasing CO2 into the air. CO2 is known to be responsible for trapping the suns heat in the atmosphere (which in turn causes global warming). There are some simple questions we can ask ourselves in order to assess how much damage we have made, for example:

In one day, how many plastic bags do we use?
How much litres (or gallons) of gasoline do we use?
How much paper do we use?
Etc.

I assume those questions are relevant for people who have access to internet. What is similar to the questions above? They all contribute towards natures’ destruction. Plastic bags and gasoline are made out of oil. Plastics cannot be degraded by nature, even if it could, it takes millions of years. Yet we are still using it, for the sake of simplicity and cost (?, maybe short term cost..).

Our consumption of gasoline is the one that is directly related to global warming. Automobiles and motorbikes on the street are increasing in number every day. In Indonesia, the first half of 2007 showed 37% increase in automobile purchase, which is quite a significant amount. We use our cars and motorcycles even when we can walk the distance. We have developed a culture that celebrates “automobile ownership” rather than “mobility”.

Regarding paper, we owe the pleasure of consuming paper to the world’s rainforests. But as our consumption rises, the volume of the rainforests shrinks rapidly. In the last 3 decades, paper consumption has risen to 3 times fold. We are currently consuming paper faster than we could regenerate forests. Each day, we lose over 32.000 ha worth of forest. Although the wood obtained is used for various products, paper still remains the top product.

Changing our attitude
We need to change our attitude, and we need to change it fast. The governments of the world have made a blunder in relying on fossil based fuel to charge up their economy. And it is hard to change their paradigm, so we strictly cannot rely on them. The fate of the world depends on us, the people. We have to try to relate everything we do with nature. Simple steps can be made to contribute to save our beloved Mother Nature (which means saving us as well). I’ll make a list based on the subjects which I have mentioned above.

1. Don’t use plastic bags when shopping!! Take your own bag.
I think there will be a time when we are brave enough to condemn the use of plastic bags. Its use nowadays is purely economy oriented and disregards the environment. Remember that by the time those plastics degrade, we will have become fossils ourselves. But until that time comes, let’s try to do simple things to reduce our plastic use. One good thing is to take our own bag when picking up our grocery (or any kind of shopping). In Japan, in one day, a person is bound to buy something. And at the same time, we receive plastic bags for carrying them. By taking a bag wherever we go, we can significantly reduce our own plastic usage.

2. When we can walk, let’s try to walk!!!
There are many times when we can actually walk to our destination, but choose to use our car or motorbike. In those kinds of situation, let’s try to exercise while reducing CO2 emission. That way, we have taken a small yet significant step to fight global warming. I also use a motorbike right now for time efficiency, but when I am not rushed by anything, I prefer to walk.

3. Paper efficient (or use recycled paper)
How much paper do we print out and throw away because of mistakes we made? Quite an amount I predict. In my laboratory, we have kilograms worth of paper which is wasted. I am sure we can reduce our paper use if we want to. So let’s start from now. Before we print out anything, make sure that everything is correct. Or, if we made a mistake, just correct it manually using a pen or pencil (if possible). And it won’t hurt to spend extra cash to buy recycled paper. At least we try to support the recycled paper industry.

I think it’s already a long post from my side. Thanks for reading it to the end. Hope we can all contribute to “curing” Mother Nature. And Happy BLOG ACTION DAY!!!

Contradiction of the Prophet (saw.)’s humbleness and humility with the beautiful mosques

I am going to put it simple. Muslim nowadays have strayed so far from what the Prophet (saw.) taught, that we sometimes do the opposite of what the Prophet taught. The amazing thing is that we seem to be overwhelmingly proud about it (in my opinion anyway).

One of the most noticeable points is about humbleness and humility. The Prophet never forgets to emphasize humbleness and humility in his daily life, for it is one of the best ways to keep the heart pure and strong, and keep distance from the lust of self satisfaction. He never kept even a piece of gold or silver coin for more than one night in his house because he would always give it to someone in need. He wouldn’t mind eating the simplest of meals. He would eat anything without complaining, good or foul. He would even often bind a stone around his waist out of hunger. The Prophet was not a poor man. All he did was his way to control himself.

So what has the “Prophet’s humility” got to do with mosques? Mosques are one of the symbols of the Islamic culture. All around the world, you can see big, beautiful, well crafted, and expensively made (not to mention empty) mosques. Among them are the Masjidil Haraam in Makkah and the Prophet’s mosque in Madinah.

By looking at them, you would probably come to think that Islam emphasizes very much on how beautiful “the house of God” has to look. This is a wrong assumption. Mosques should represent the essence of Islam and be an activity center for positive movements, but to tell the truth, they have not yet served their purpose to the fullest. The humbleness and humility showed by the prophet is totally neglected here. It has gone beyond the normal boundaries. The expensive and beautiful materials used in many cases contradict with humbleness. And the sad part about it is: Many people are proud with it.

does this man made beauty really represent the right "path"?

It’s ironic when we can build beautiful mosques, yet stand still seeing other people suffer from hunger. I just hope we are all given the power and wisdom to stay humble and show humility in whatever we do.

Systematic destruction through pirated software

I realize that this is going to be a long post, so whoever reads it, thanks for reading.

First of all, although I am against the use of pirated software, I am also not a big fan of those big companies who often overprice their products. Nevertheless, almost everyone knows that pirated software is against the law, but people still use it. I say “almost everyone” because some people really do not know the legal/illegal stance of pirated software (I was one of those people). But the fact that 80% of the software used around the world is pirated software is just simply overwhelming. It means that among 80% of PC users are (uhm, sorry) outlaws.

The amazing ease of getting access to pirated software is definitely one of the main reasons of its popularity. As if they were meant to be pirated. You can download a trial software, then do a google search to find the crack or key generator to the software, and then voila! You get the full version of it. You don’t need to dig into your wallet. All you need is an internet connection (and a computer of course). Yes, it is as easy as that. Trust me.

Microsoft products are among the most popular pirated software (I am not going to say victim because the term is relative). Most households in developing countries are almost certain to have a pirated version of windows and office. You would be amazed on how few people use LEGAL Microsoft software. Not justifying piracy in developing countries, but in my opinion, it seems rather harsh to price a product at $300 in a country which has a per capita income of $3500 like Indonesia (which means the average family has an income of $291 per month, although in reality it is much worse). So is Microsoft suffering any loss from this? In my opinion, it’s a big NO. Why? They get enough revenues from all their other big deals and rich people. Whether we realize it or not, nowadays, people depend so much on Microsoft’s software that it’s like marijuana to an addict.

One of the other popular piracy targets is Adobe’s photoshop. The software is highly rated among photographers and digital artists due to its versatility in manipulating and enhancing pictures and photos. Everyone wants to have it. Of course with Adobe’s near 1000 USD price tag they shouldn’t expect everyone to get a legal copy of the software. So is Adobe experiencing any loss here? Nope. Last that I heard their income has more than doubled over the past third quarter. Again, people become dependent on the software.

So there is a trend here. Letting everyone have software for free, in turn of addictedness. I don’t think it is such a big lost for the huge companies (in my opinion). But for users on the other hand, it is. For users like us, too good offers like pirated software are seldom turned down. We WANT (I repeat, want, not need) them so much, we’d do anything to get them, including “stealing” them. So, what do we become? As I said in a previous paragraph, outlaws. Whatever justification we make, we are still stealing from another person (even though we steal from gazillionaires like Microsoft’s Mr. Bill Gates). If we really NEED them as a career supporter, I am sure we will have the money to get legal copies, or at least plan to get one.

In all religions I know, stealing, whatever reason or from whomever we steal from is bad, a negative act. That negativity is invested to everything we do with those stolen items. We have to ask to ourselves, what goodness can we derive from stolen items?

By committing and supporting piracy, we have neglected universal justice and common sense. I hope we are all given the wisdom to look away from them, and use quality freeware, cheap alternatives, or buy the legal soft. I am sure nobody wants to be systematically converted into a thief.

I am truly sorry if anyone was offended by this post. I too am not able to be 100% consistent about this subject.

Don’t postpone ideas!!

Ideas are gold, and whether we realize it or not, I am sure that in one day, many ideas pop into our minds. One important thing that I have always realized is: “don’t postpone recording ideas”. When an idea pops into your head, do your best to record it, with any possible way!! By pen, by a notebook, by a camera, or whatever you can think of. In real life, it’s actually really hard to do so (for me anyway). Ideas get washed away really quick in our fierce paced environment. So I think preserving them is really important.

Anyway, don’t forget to keep an idea recorder close to you at all times. If you’re not carrying anything, don’t forget to record your ideas as soon as you can record them.

Happy idea recording!!!

Blog Action Day

Well, In my last posts (quite old ones in fact), I posted some postings about nature and our environment. From my big bro's blog, I found out that there is something called "blog action day", a movement supported by bloggers around the world to increase everybody's awareness of about what is happening to our beloved mother earth. You can check out the full information here.

Anyway, I think it is a wonderful idea, and I for sure am going to support it. How about you?