Demi langit yang menongkat buruj bintang
Dan demi hari yang dijanjikan
Demi sang saksi dan yang disaksikan
Binasalah empunya peparitan
Api nyala yang dimarakkan
Pabila mereka duduk disampingnya
Dan menjadi saksi kepada apa yang dilakukannya
Kepada golongan beriman
Yang tiada melainkan mereka percaya kepada
Yang maha kuasa
Yang maha empunya puja
Yang maha berdaulat pada langit dan bumi
Yang maha menjadi saksi
Dan mereka yang menyeksa golongan beriman
Dari lelaki mahupun perempuan
Dan tiada bertaubat
Bagi mereka azab yang berat
Bagi mereka seksa api yang marak hangat
Dan mereka yang beriman dan beramal ihsan
Bagi mereka taman-taman
Yang mengalir dibawahnya sungaian
Bagi merekalah Kejayaan
Benarlah azab-Nya maha berat
Dan Dialah yang mencipta dan yang mengembalikan
Yang mengasih dan yang mengampunkan
Tuhan yang memiliki takhta kemuliaan
Yang berkuasa atas segala hajat
Sudah sampaikah padamu perkhabaran
Kaum Firaun dan Thamud? Bahkan
Yang kafir akan berterusan mendustakan
Dan Tuhan, tiada kelihatan, melingkungi mereka sekalian!
Bahkan Qur’an itu penuh kemuliaan
Dalam suhuf yang kemas tersimpan.
Terilham oleh Surah al-Buruj
On Trying Not to Drown
On the phone with you, minutes to midnight
We talked of scandal and cats and The Crown
And I could not find words to be forthright
With you: how I’m trying each day not to drown.
On Being Disappointed
“How come he don’t want
me, man?” That line just gets me
Ev’ry single time.
https://youtu.be/gMNsMdnSBIk?si=EGdnxJ3qZnnEKKL8
Tentang Perjuangan Cekal
Ayuh, mu’minin, berjuanglah!
Dua puluh yang cekal
Mampu menawan dua ratus
Dan seratus yang cekal
Mampu menawan seribu yang kafir bebal!
Dan Tuhan telah meringankan beban
Kerana Dia Tahu engkau berkelemahan
Maka seratus yang cekal
Mampu menawan dua ratus
Dan seribu yang cekal
Mampu menawan dua ribu
Dengan izin Allah ‘Azza wa Jall
Kerana Tuhan senantiasa bersama
Para mu’min yang cekal tawakkal!
Terilham oleh Q8: Al Anfal 65-66
On Waiting
"I thought I had already worked it out, you know
I've confronted the whole idea of
Him
And I've figured it all out
I did all that inner child work
And I'm free to choose my own path now
But I still cannot find it in me
To forgive him"
(And maybe forgive myself)
"Well, maybe that child is still waiting
Waiting
For his daddy to come home."
(And that broke me
Broke me again and shattered me into a million shards.)
On Living Every Day
Wake up Pray and mandi Call Grab Have breakfast and coffee Write my reflections Take the train to the office Work Check Instagram Work Pray Work Eat lunch (sometimes) Work some more Pray Pack up Take the train home Close my Move loop in the mall Eat dinner (sometimes) Pray Read (or watch Netflix) Mandi and pray Turn off the lights and close my eyes and think about Jah and Life and where am I going and what does it all mean and am I doing this right and how am I going to get through tomorrow and. Inspired by Ted Berrigan's 10 things I do every day
On Male Friendships
The so-called “battle of the sexes” has been going on since time immemorial: frequent fodder for religious zealots and stand-up comedians and other chroniclers and observers of the human condition.
But one area in which ladies have surely had the upper hand against the supposedly more stoic sex must surely be in the realm of friendships. Unlike ladies, men continue to labour under the expectation that they need to be “strong”, to “suck it up”. We are expected to march into battle, “game face” on, showing no mercy and taking no prisoners. “Vulnerability” is considered verboten: a luxury that only ladies can indulge in, whereas the men are expected to “man up” and get on with the job.
The tides are changing, though. Nowadays, the concept of “mental health” has gone mainstream, and leaders are counseled to be more “open”. Collaboration and consultation are seen nowadays as competitive imperatives in a global economy that prizes knowledge and the rapid dissemination and sharing of ideas. Years ago it was still considered strange for men to follow in the footsteps of Tony Soprano and “seek help” – today, more and more men are open to the idea of finding support for mental health.
It is in this vein that I find my more recent conversations with male friends becoming more meaningful and satisfying. Perhaps not yet in the confines of the boardroom or the locker room, but I find that in the relative safety of one-on-one conversations over coffee, more and more of my male friends are willing to open up, to share their recent challenges and frustrations and dilemmas.
A lot of things need to fall in place, for this magic to happen: a willingness to share, and to open up. Empathy for each other’s point of view. A shared understanding of each other’s contexts in terms of work or marriage or social situation. Mutual respect for the lives that we lead, and the choices that we have made. Trust that the conversations would remain confidential.
It’s not always easy to get here, but when it happens, I feel the friendship climbing to a new level of meaningfulness. The relationship feels a bit less superficial or transactional, and a bit more real. Life itself feels a bit less lonely, that bit more manageable.
We are still miles behind the ladies when it comes to being able to share and support each other. But we are catching up. I can see it in my own friendships, and I feel truly grateful for this.
On Self Respect
The only way to
Live with yourself is to win
Your own self-respect.
On Amber
Like being drowned in a
Tomb of permanent beauty
Our love, like amber.
Tentang Bara Yang Cekal Tersarang
Suatu waktu dulu
Kita pernah mengimpikan
Membina sebuah kehidupan
Bersama
Kini, ingatan itu
Hanya cebisan kenangan
Yang menjadi kunangan
Terlara
Di mana engkau sekarang?
Di mana, dan bagaimana?
Nyata bagiku
Kau masih seberkas bayang
Yang cekal tersarang
Membara.