My son’s standing

Few days before 11 months. He cou
ld stand for 5 seconds..

Wrong to cut our girls

Wrong to cut our girls

Azrul Mohd Khalib works on HIV/AIDS, sex and human rights issues. He is becoming cynical and is in danger of losing his sense of humour and mind. He also runs and is battling an addiction to the “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series. Azrul can be contacted at azferul@gmail.com. Wrong to cut our girls

December 03, 2012 DEC 3 — Warning: The following article contains graphic descriptions of injuries done to women and girls in the name of the preservation of morality, cultural practices and perversely, religion. Though it directly impacts infants and young girls, this article may not be suitable for younger audiences. It must be great to be a member of the National Fatwa Council these days. Gone are the boring days when you ruled on social and family issues. These days you get to be involved in everything. A secretariat member for the council, during his presentation at a recent conference, boasted that there had been more than 600 rulings or fatwas covering everything from women wearing men’s clothing to vaccines and human cloning. Very cutting-edge stuff. If someone were to claim that Muslim affairs only affect Muslims, the involvement of the National Fatwa Council and the religious authorities on issues such as construction and public health contradicts that very statement. Fatwas, though considered to be religious opinions in other Muslim majority countries, often have a shadowy and unaccountable effect akin to laws in this country. Though the government feels compelled to ensure that the fatwas are adhered to, it is often done in an irregular and inconsistent fashion. For example, there is a fatwa that has determined smoking to be haram. But Muslims (including many a religious leader) do it anyway and nobody is caught and punished for it. As such, I am alarmed at a recent development where in rapid response to a 2009 National Fatwa Council ruling on female circumcision, the Ministry of Health is developing guidelines to medicalise the practice of female circumcision in Malaysia. It is taken as a matter of fact for many Muslims in Malaysia that female circumcision is routinely carried out on infants and girls. It is a practice that barely raises an eyebrow even among human rights and women’s rights activists in the country. What many people don’t realise is that this procedure has no medical benefits whatsoever, is not required by religion, and is predominantly a cultural practice. One of the common responses to the practice of female circumcision in Malaysia is that we don’t do it the way it is done in Africa. That basically, it is OK to do it. Let’s get one thing straight, any harmful procedure which is carried out on the female genitalia for non-medical purposes is female genital mutilation which is also known as female genital cutting. Female circumcision is female genital cutting. The euphemistic term of female circumcision and the abovementioned response has been used time and again to make it sound better and justify the practice. The World Health Organisation has four classifications of female genital mutilation: ● Type I is clitoridectomy — partial or total removal of the clitoris and, in very rare cases, only the prepuce or clitoral hood (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris). ● Type II is excision: partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora or “the lips” which surround the vagina. ● Type III is infibulation: narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner, or outer, labia, with or without removal of the clitoris. ● Type IV includes all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes. This includes the procedure of pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterising the genital area. WHO has also concluded that in comparison to male circumcision where there are clear, demonstrable benefits ranging from improved hygiene and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, there are absolutely no medical benefits from female genital cutting. Shockingly, Malaysia has Type 1, 2 and 4. Thank God, we do not have the practice of infibulation, a form of FGM which has traumatised, scarred and damaged the lives of thousands of girls and women in Africa and some parts of Asia. The following might sound familiar to the thousands of women and young girls who have undergone this procedure at some point of time in their lives: “You know, the blade used in those old Gillette shavers which you can buy at the convenience store? The blade is lightly run across the clitoris and the labia.” “It was just a pinprick aja. A hole was made into the clitoral hood.” “A small bit of the labia or the clitoral hood was sliced off.” “I remove a centimetre of the clitoris.” Yes, we have three out of the four forms of female genital cutting in our country. The first and last quotes were from a traditional practitioner while the rest are some of the common descriptions given by women and girls who have been subjected to the procedure which was described to them by the mothers. They are also some of the usual options offered by private hospitals and clinics. The fees range from RM50 to RM400. Interestingly, an older Ministry of Health circular specifically prohibits the practice of female circumcision in all public health facilities. The point is that in clear comparison to male circumcision, the female version is neither standardised nor medically beneficial for the person going through the procedure. Yet mothers insist on having their infant daughters’ genitals circumcised. Why? A recent University of Malaya study on the status of female circumcision in Malaysia indicated the following findings: ● More than 90 per cent of Malay Muslim female respondents were circumcised. ● None of the non-Malay female respondents were circumcised. ● More than 93 per cent of women also circumcised their daughters. ● The primary reasons for female circumcision were cited as it being a religious obligation, personal hygiene, cultural practice and to control the girl’s sexual desire. And you know what? Turns out that female circumcision isn’t even required under Islam. There are no medical benefits from the procedure. There is also no evidence that female circumcision does anything to control sexual desire (unless it is absolutely traumatic in which sex would be painful or impossible). Yet, you hear mothers saying that their daughters have to be circumcised to prevent them from becoming liar (wild) and sexually out of control. Turns out too that it might not even be part of our own culture but rather adopted from the Middle East in the often mistaken belief that adopting practices from that region would make us better Muslims. In 2006, Al Azhar University declared female circumcision as un-Islamic. Since then several Muslim majority countries have banned the practice including Egypt and Indonesia (despite the ban, the cutting of girls persists in many rural areas). A few days ago, the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee adopted a resolution which declared female genital cutting to be a harmful practice and a serious threat to the psychological, sexual and reproductive health of women and girls. Why are we moving in the opposite direction? The National Fatwa Council in 2009 made the practice obligatory (wajib) for girls. Yet, their rationale couldn’t even find the necessary references under the Quran and Sunnah, and had to utilise arguments from a different mazhab (Maliki). Read the rationale yourself and you know that it is on very shaky ground. If there is no medical benefit, no religious obligation, or any benefit whatsoever to performing female circumcision, then why do it? Rather than medicalising the practice, we should instead be prohibiting female circumcision to be done and protect our infant daughters and girls from harm. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. wrong to cut our girls Azrul Mohd Khalib works on HIV/AIDS, sex and human rights issues. He is becoming cynical and is in danger of losing his sense of humour and mind. He also runs and is battling an addiction to the “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series. Azrul can be contacted at azferul@gmail.com. Wrong to cut our girls December 03, 2012 DEC 3 — Warning: The following article contains graphic descriptions of injuries done to women and girls in the name of the preservation of morality, cultural practices and perversely, religion. Though it directly impacts infants and young girls, this article may not be suitable for younger audiences. It must be great to be a member of the National Fatwa Council these days. Gone are the boring days when you ruled on social and family issues. These days you get to be involved in everything. A secretariat member for the council, during his presentation at a recent conference, boasted that there had been more than 600 rulings or fatwas covering everything from women wearing men’s clothing to vaccines and human cloning. Very cutting-edge stuff. If someone were to claim that Muslim affairs only affect Muslims, the involvement of the National Fatwa Council and the religious authorities on issues such as construction and public health contradicts that very statement. Fatwas, though considered to be religious opinions in other Muslim majority countries, often have a shadowy and unaccountable effect akin to laws in this country. Though the government feels compelled to ensure that the fatwas are adhered to, it is often done in an irregular and inconsistent fashion. For example, there is a fatwa that has determined smoking to be haram. But Muslims (including many a religious leader) do it anyway and nobody is caught and punished for it. As such, I am alarmed at a recent development where in rapid response to a 2009 National Fatwa Council ruling on female circumcision, the Ministry of Health is developing guidelines to medicalise the practice of female circumcision in Malaysia. It is taken as a matter of fact for many Muslims in Malaysia that female circumcision is routinely carried out on infants and girls. It is a practice that barely raises an eyebrow even among human rights and women’s rights activists in the country. What many people don’t realise is that this procedure has no medical benefits whatsoever, is not required by religion, and is predominantly a cultural practice. One of the common responses to the practice of female circumcision in Malaysia is that we don’t do it the way it is done in Africa. That basically, it is OK to do it. Let’s get one thing straight, any harmful procedure which is carried out on the female genitalia for non-medical purposes is female genital mutilation which is also known as female genital cutting. Female circumcision is female genital cutting. The euphemistic term of female circumcision and the abovementioned response has been used time and again to make it sound better and justify the practice. The World Health Organisation has four classifications of female genital mutilation: ● Type I is clitoridectomy — partial or total removal of the clitoris and, in very rare cases, only the prepuce or clitoral hood (the fold of skin surrounding the clitoris). ● Type II is excision: partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora or “the lips” which surround the vagina. ● Type III is infibulation: narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal. The seal is formed by cutting and repositioning the inner, or outer, labia, with or without removal of the clitoris. ● Type IV includes all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes. This includes the procedure of pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterising the genital area. WHO has also concluded that in comparison to male circumcision where there are clear, demonstrable benefits ranging from improved hygiene and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, there are absolutely no medical benefits from female genital cutting. Shockingly, Malaysia has Type 1, 2 and 4. Thank God, we do not have the practice of infibulation, a form of FGM which has traumatised, scarred and damaged the lives of thousands of girls and women in Africa and some parts of Asia. The following might sound familiar to the thousands of women and young girls who have undergone this procedure at some point of time in their lives: “You know, the blade used in those old Gillette shavers which you can buy at the convenience store? The blade is lightly run across the clitoris and the labia.” “It was just a pinprick aja. A hole was made into the clitoral hood.” “A small bit of the labia or the clitoral hood was sliced off.” “I remove a centimetre of the clitoris.” Yes, we have three out of the four forms of female genital cutting in our country. The first and last quotes were from a traditional practitioner while the rest are some of the common descriptions given by women and girls who have been subjected to the procedure which was described to them by the mothers. They are also some of the usual options offered by private hospitals and clinics. The fees range from RM50 to RM400. Interestingly, an older Ministry of Health circular specifically prohibits the practice of female circumcision in all public health facilities. The point is that in clear comparison to male circumcision, the female version is neither standardised nor medically beneficial for the person going through the procedure. Yet mothers insist on having their infant daughters’ genitals circumcised. Why? A recent University of Malaya study on the status of female circumcision in Malaysia indicated the following findings: ● More than 90 per cent of Malay Muslim female respondents were circumcised. ● None of the non-Malay female respondents were circumcised. ● More than 93 per cent of women also circumcised their daughters. ● The primary reasons for female circumcision were cited as it being a religious obligation, personal hygiene, cultural practice and to control the girl’s sexual desire. And you know what? Turns out that female circumcision isn’t even required under Islam. There are no medical benefits from the procedure. There is also no evidence that female circumcision does anything to control sexual desire (unless it is absolutely traumatic in which sex would be painful or impossible). Yet, you hear mothers saying that their daughters have to be circumcised to prevent them from becoming liar (wild) and sexually out of control. Turns out too that it might not even be part of our own culture but rather adopted from the Middle East in the often mistaken belief that adopting practices from that region would make us better Muslims. In 2006, Al Azhar University declared female circumcision as un-Islamic. Since then several Muslim majority countries have banned the practice including Egypt and Indonesia (despite the ban, the cutting of girls persists in many rural areas). A few days ago, the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee adopted a resolution which declared female genital cutting to be a harmful practice and a serious threat to the psychological, sexual and reproductive health of women and girls. Why are we moving in the opposite direction? The National Fatwa Council in 2009 made the practice obligatory (wajib) for girls. Yet, their rationale couldn’t even find the necessary references under the Quran and Sunnah, and had to utilise arguments from a different mazhab (Maliki). Read the rationale yourself and you know that it is on very shaky ground. If there is no medical benefit, no religious obligation, or any benefit whatsoever to performing female circumcision, then why do it? Rather than medicalising the practice, we should instead be prohibiting female circumcision to be done and protect our infant daughters and girls from harm. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

By Dr Boo Cheng Hau

The recently announced National Education Blueprint contains nothing new. And it shows the powers-that-be have no real intention to listen to the public or make any bold reforms to our ailing education system.

It is a repetition of the sad old story about racial prejudice, not much different from the so-called “National Education Policy” which was largely based on Umno’s Malay nationalist belief that the national language should be the sole medium of instruction.

Proponents of the Malay-medium only policy also emphasise the Malay nationalist perspective of history that having one common language – such as in our neighbours Indonesia and Thailand – can save Malaysia from disintegration.

Racial prejudice and political demagoguery as the basis for our nation’s education agenda of true unity will not get us far. Let me prove how discriminatory is our education system and the false impressions that it projects.

I had a taste of victory for what it means to have “equal opportunities” in education about 30 years ago when I argued for admission, on behalf of a schoolmate, into an American university which has produced some of the Nobel laureates.

My friend was originally from Taiwan but studied in a Chinese independent secondary school here in Malaysia. She did not sit the SPM or UEC (Unified Examination Certificate). To my surprise, the admission officer of the American university requested for UEC results in lieu of SPM qualification.

She did not sit the UEC because the exam was still new at that time. After a long discussion, the admission officer agreed with my proposal that she be admitted conditionally on producing evidence of completing 12 years of primary and secondary education – a standard which almost all American universities and colleges go by.

She was then admitted “under probation” for one semester, meaning she would be considered a regular student after the period of study with a GPA of 2.0 and above (an average of C and above). She graduated eventually without any impediment.

Her experience goes to show how democratic, liberal and flexible the American education system is. This is one of the key factors that allow the United States to become the most technologically advanced country, and one to which many talents from other parts of the world choose to emigrate.

The value of the UEC

In the 1970s, nobody in Malaysia took the UEC exam seriously except for the powers-that-be who attempted to ban it on account that the exam was (perceived to be) “anti-national”.

Nonetheless besides Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore where the UEC was recognised, many American universities and colleges had already begun accepting it as a gateway for college admission.

As far back as 30 years ago, one of my classmates was admitted to the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology based on her UEC results and Chinese Independent School coursework assessments.

Would our public universities and UiTM open their admission policies and welcome UEC holders by integrating them into the mainstream of higher education institutes rather than discriminating them? Some top American universities even admit Chinese independent secondary school students based on school results and class ranking without referring to standardised examinations such as SPM, UEC, GCE, SAT and the like.

Yet after 30 long years, our own Malaysian government still despises the UEC as “anti-national”. In fact, except for respective language subjects, all UEC subjects are offered in three languages; in other words, one can opt to have his math, science, or other papers tested in English, Malay or Chinese.

Chinese independent school graduates are barred from using their UEC results as a means of admission to local public universities and teacher training colleges. This discrimination is deemed necessary to maintain Umno’s self-righteous “National Education Policy” for the promotion of “interracial unity”.

How can political demagoguery such as Umno’s ever help in promoting national unity and interracial integration? One could argue that the party is actually more interested in maintaining its tight grip on power by continuing to mislead the country that vernacular schools somehow pose a hidden threat.

STPM and matriculation – apple and orange?

The powers-that-be have since declared that racial quotas are no longer applied in local public universities. Instead, they claim a “merit-based” admission system has been put in place.

However, at the same time, university admission standards are “diversified” into two separate entry points – STPM and matriculation.

After years of protests by the non-Malays, only 10% of matriculation programmes has been opened up to the non-Bumiputera, and even this percentage is described by the Malay nationalists as a “sell-out” of Malay rights.

Non-Malays are supposed to be grateful for this small “kindness”, like once upon a time coloureds were supposed to thank their white masters for allowing them to go to schools in apartheid South Africa despite great disparities along racial lines in school facilities.

Almost all the non-Malays who managed to gain a seat in the local universities are students who sat the STPM. Many rue this blatant division of university entrance assessment – along racial lines – as comparing apples and oranges.

Satu Sekolah’s inherent contradiction

The authorities contradict themselves by professing a single-language system to promote national unity through putting children under one roof but at the same time segregating them either at Form 1 or when they finish Form 5.

There is an obvious discrepancy between the teaching facilities provided to the vernacular schools which sorely lack government aid and support, and the residential schools and Mara junior science colleges as well as the elite schools catering for Malays – for example, the prestigious Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) and Tunku Kurshiah College (TKC).

Institutional racism practised in public university admission routes gives rise to an added dimension of polarisation. The racial distribution of students is further exacerbated when non-Malays, erroneously seen as well-to-do, are enrolled in private higher institutions of learning. Most people seem to forget that privately funded education, whether locally or abroad, comes at a heavy cost to their parents.

The indirect makings of apartheid

To generalise most Malays as “poor” and all non-Bumiputera, particularly the Chinese, as “rich” is just as good as apartheid.

The Malay ultras believe they are above being associated with the apartheid system in South Africa created with the ostensible excuse of helping the “poor”, Dutch-speaking whites of that country.

But then what should the international community make of UiTM – Malaysia’s biggest public university with campuses in every state – where almost all its students belong predominantly to a single race?

In the former apartheid of South Africa and during the 1950s in the Confederate states of the American south, physical segregation was made visible by the sign saying, “No Coloured and Dogs allowed”.

In Malaysia, there are no signs to say “No Non-Bumis and Dogs allowed”. However, de facto apartheid still permeates through the fabric of the Malaysian public education system. It is de facto racial segregation in its utmost hypocritical disguise without leaving any physical evidence.

Therefore, I see no difference between those poor whites in the former Confederate states of the American south that once held demonstrations against university admission of black students and those Malay ultras that hold demonstrations barring “non-Bumiputera” from entering local public institutions.

UiTM students did demonstrate against their university opening its door a crack when Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim proposed relaxing the admission just a tiny bit to the so-called “Non-Bumis”.

America’s highest court ruled for equality

In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the US Supreme Court unanimously decided that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”.

It stinks of double standard, if not a glaring blind spot, when vernacular schools keep getting blamed for institutional racism in Malaysia. If mother tongue vernacular schools (open to all students) are incorrectly termed as racist, then the one-race UiTM is nothing but apartheid.

The old, presumed poverty line along the race divide is no longer valid, not when Malaysia has endured discriminative policies predicated on ethnicity since 1970, which is all of 42 years or almost half a century.

There are very few Malay intellectuals willing to tackle the truth of the matter, but Dr Azly Rahman is one of them. At least he’s been honest and bold enough to speak out on the “bankrupt Umno ideology” of race supremacy in his article Dismantle Our Apartheid Education – see http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/191989.

What is required is for more members of the Malay intelligentsia to question the veracity of a “moral” claim in the perpetuation of a quota system that amounts to apartheid. The only difference is that segregation, like that perpetuated by residential schools, Mara junior colleges and UiTM, is couched using terminology portraying a righteous morality.

The other difference is that Chinese schools are accessible to any non-Chinese, but UiTM does not welcome the non-Malays. In some Chinese independent secondary schools, non-Chinese are given a blanket free tuition.

Are Malays courageous to re-evaluate?

The Malays are a strong majority in numbers and without doubt politically dominant. Why should Umno cling tenaciously to the view that preferential treatment based on race is the “affirmative action” that Malays still require?

Professor Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi in Memories of Unity vividly describes his confidence to compete in his science class and how he emerged as one of the top students among his almost all Chinese classmates back in the 1970s (see http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?sec=lifefocus&file=/2012/9/23/lifefocus/12063972).

I had a Malay classmate who went to the same Chinese independent school as I did. He graduated as one of the top students and went to a local public university, and he is currently a lecturer at another local public university.

It is a myth that Bumiputera students are unable to compete with non-Bumiputera students on a level playing field. This misconception is wrongly used to justify the institutional racism imposed on the public education from top to bottom.

There are tens of thousands of Malays who have made it in local and prestigious foreign universities and thrived in adverse socio-cultural settings. There is no moral justification for segregating Malaysian post-secondary students into STPM/ matriculation except for satisfying Umno’s racial imperatives.

NEP and education apartheid

A few successful Malay billionaire cronies do not mitigate the failure with regard to certain protectionist areas of the NEP. This includes educational apartheid. The rejuvenation of the vernacular schools since the late 1970s when NEP went into full swing is a consequence of our race policies, and not the chief cause of racism.

The NEP was based upon the empirical generalisation that Chinese and Indian Malaysians were all well off and should be “positively discriminated”against in order to help the “poor Malays”.

It’s a different story today as the civil service has become Malay-dominated and this is empirical truth. The tables have been turned as Malaysians of Chinese and Indian descent are marginalised.

The original purpose of the NEP to eradicate the identification of race with profession – Malay farmers, Chinese shopkeepers, Indian clerks – is sidetracked when the civil service has become wholly identified with the Malay race. The racial traits along professions, as reflected in the hiring practices of both the private and public sectors, have been deepened by the NEP.

When I recently requested some documents to be certified by a government department, the Malay clerk gave me a jealous one-eye wink knowing that it was for the purpose of applying to colleges in the US. The one-eye wink might perhaps have been nothing more than the coded message that all you “Chinamen” are rich and can afford to send your children overseas to be educated. This only goes to show up the failure of the NEP in correcting the racial prejudice among races in Malaysia.

How the Chinese prioritise education

The fact is that I told my children I would sell our house and live in a smaller one if we needed funds for their education. I mean education is where they would learn something new and be happy including getting away from institutional racism. We neither hope for Public Service Department or any other government scholarships after hearing so many sad stories of racial degradation.

Selling homes and other property for the sake of the children’s education among the lower- and middle-class Chinese Malaysians is not a new practice. I remember my mother decided to sell off the six-acre rubber plantation left by my deceased father to put myself and my sister through university.

She later worked as a babysitter to cover all our expenses studying overseas. We always thought that there might be more Malays who did not have land to sell. Nonetheless, our good reasoning has not helped many Malays to get rid of their own ingrained racial prejudice both against themselves and other races.

As I write this article, coincidentally, my 17-year-old daughter has just received news that a high-ranking American university has agreed to admit her into its Fine Arts programme based on her multiple talents, multilingual skills and ability to play the Chinese zither and flute. Some universities already made it clear they will admit her by waiving the requirement of her SPM or UEC results.

On the contrary, her talent in playing ancient Chinese musical instruments is definitely not a criterion for admission into any local public university. On the contrary, it may even work against her favour as it could be looked at as a form of Chinese chauvinism and clinging to our ancestral roots.

Deserving of places in local universities

I am not trying to boast my daughter’s academic achievement. She is actually a B-average student but it sure makes a parent proud when one’s child deservedly gains recognition for her talents and, more importantly, she will be able to further develop her talents without being labelled as a non-Bumiputera.

I am glad that her dedication to social work and extracurricular activities, including organising a joint concert of Chinese Orchestra and Western bands, won her recognition from some highly ranked American universities.

One of her recent achievements is receiving a Gold Medal in an international Chinese essay-writing contest in Taiwan. Instead of chucking her unique credential aside, an American university admission director gave great words of encouragement, such as “your family must be very proud of you [for the Gold Medal received]…We would like you to be with us, and I hope you will continue to contribute to the international programme here if you decide to join us”.

I was surprised that she was offered admission and given a partial academic scholarship before we even sent out applications to other American colleges and local private universities.

Some universities are amazed that our students can master two or three languages. They usually give positive encouragement like: “Considering English is your third language, your English is really good.” No parents will send their kid to a college where he or she faces the possibility of being humiliated and degraded on account of race, creed and “non-native status” when my daughter is actually a native-born fourth generation Malaysian.

As a matter of fact, most UEC holders have a greater proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia which is their second language as compared to English which is their third language. If the UEC holders can do well in universities overseas that teach in English, why can’t they be given the same opportunities by our local public universities?

It might be true that their Bahasa Malaysia may not be as good compared with SPM/STPM holders just as their English may not be as good as the Americans, British or Australians when they enrol in American, Australian or British universities. However, if they are given the opportunity to enrol in local public universities, they will be able to polish their BM just like how when given the opportunity to study abroad they are able to polish their English.

More importantly, such openness is needed in order to “converge” the vernacular school alumni into the local higher education institutions and complete an education integration process rather than forcibly “diverge” them to local private institutions and overseas colleges.

We have to be fair and realistic in assessing our students’ language ability based on what is the best they can do in their learning environment. In fact, cultural immersion is the best method to improve Malay language or any other second language proficiency instead of educational segregation like what has been practised here.

Some 30 years ago, it was rare to encounter Americans learning an Asian language. Today, there are American reporters who insist on interviewing me in perfect Mandarin or Bahasa Indonesia. It is a fast-changing world out there but it seems our Umno elites – with the exception of Najib Tun Razak whose son is a fluent Mandarin speaker – are lagging behind time.

The very first step for the Malay ultras to take in the right direction is to cease making a scapegoat out of Chinese and Tamil primary schools. It is an unfounded charge that little children are responsible for racism and racial disunity in Malaysia.

It is, on the other hand, our fear to embrace cultural diversity and true interracial integration that has left us lagging behind many other countries. It is time for the Malay ultras to open their eyes and correct their ingrained prejudice that has worked against their own competitiveness.

The writer is the Johor DAP chairman and state assemblyman for Skudai.

Baal

Mengenal Islam Lebih dalam dan Apa Adanya

http://natasyagreen.blogspot.com/

http://www.islamiah.co.cc/
http://indonesia.faithfreedom.org/forum/forum.html

Menurut Quran, Tuhan Yang Maha Esa sendirilah yang menamai diri-Nya Allah.
“Sesungguhnya Aku adalah Allah, tiada Tuhan selain Aku, Maka Sembahlah Aku” (QS 20 : 14).

Dalam QS 19 : 65 Tuhan bertanya : “Hal Ta’lamu Lahu Samiyyan”.

Ayat ini dipahami oleh ulama2 Islam dengan makna: Apakah engkau mengetahui ada sesuatu yang bernama seperti ini? Atau Apakah engkau mengetahui sesuatu yang berhak memperoleh keagungan dan kesempurnaan sebagaimana Pemilik nama itu (Allah)? Atau bermakna Apakah engkau mengetahui ada nama yang lebih agung dari nama ini? Juga dapat berarti Apakah kamu mengetahui ada sesuatu yang sama dengan Dia (yang patut disembah)?

Mungkin Muhammad sewaktu menulis ayat tersebut tidak mengetahui bahwa berabad2 sebelumnya kata Allah telah digunakan oleh orang Hindu India untuk menamai Tuhan mereka. Kata yang sama yang digunakan nenek moyang Muhammad untuk menyebut tuhan mereka.

Kata “ALLAH” sebenarnya telah ada jauh sebelum munculnya Islam. Kata ini kemungkinan diambil dari sebutan sansekerta untuk Dewi Dhurga (dewi bulan-Allah).

Dan nama “Allah” ini sebenarnya juga terdapat dalam Kitab Suci Hindu yaitu Rigveda Book 3 Hymn 30 V. 10 dan Rigveda Book 9 Hymn 67 V. 30.

Kata Allah memang diyakini diambil dari bahasa sanskerta, namun “wujud” Allah yang ada pada jaman Muhammad bukanlah Dewi Durga. Hal ini dikarenakan percampuran kepercayaan Hindu India, dengan kepercayaan2 lain yang memang asli dari Jazirah Arab tersebut. Untuk jelasnya kita simak penjelasan berikut.

Beberapa pengkritik islam mengatakan bahwa Allah dalam Islam adalah Dewa Bulan. Ini tidak Benar! Penulis yang lain mengatakan bahwa Allah dalam Quran berasal dari dewa bulan pada masa sebelum Islam. Ini mungkin benar! Kebenaran yang tak dapat disangkal adalah: konsep Allah dalam Quran berhubungan dengan penyembahan dewa bulan, dan secara tidak langsung terhadap dewa bulan itu sendiri sebagai objek penyembahan pada masa sebelum Islam. Lebih dari itu, pusat penyembahan dewa bulan pada masa sebelum Islam sama dengan tempat pusat ibadah haji pada masa kini yaitu Kabah di Mekah. Hampir semua ritual keagamaan Islam pada masa kini sama dengan semua ritual pada masa sebelum Muhammad, masa dimana Arab masih menyembah dewa bulan.

Satu hal yang pasti, fakta yang tidak dapat dibantah adalah; bahwa penyembahan kepada dewa bulan tersebar luas di seluruh daerah Arab pada masa sebelum Muhammad.

Yusuf Ali seorang Penulis Islam menyatakan dalam Al-qur’an terjemahan Inggrisnya di halaman 1621-1623:

“Penyembahan dewa bulan sangat terkenal dalam bentuk penyembahan yang beragam…dewa bulan adalah dewa laki-laki pada masa India kuno. Dewa bulan juga merupakan dewa laki-laki dalam agama Semiric kuno, dan kata Arab untuk bulan “Qamar” dalam bentuk maskulin. Dengan kata lain, kata Arab untuk matahari “shams” dalam bentuk feminim. Penyembah berhala di Arab nampaknya memandang matahari sebagai seorang dewi dan bulan sebagai seorang dewa laki-laki.

Di halaman 1644 footnote no 5798, dia menjelaskan mengapa “Allah” bersumpah atas nama Bulan dalam Sura 74:32, dalam footnote dia menjelaskan, “Bulan disembah sebagai dewa pada masa kegelapan”.

Dalam bagian berikutnya, kami akan menjelaskan lebih rinci bagaimana berkembangnya, atau meluasnya kultus penyembahan berhala di Timur tengah pada masa Muhammad. Kita mulai dari Utara, kemudian ke Medina dan Mekah.

• Mesopotamia

Penyembahan dewa bulan sepertinya mulai di daerah Mesopotamia, dimana dewa bulan disebut dengan nama “Sin” atau kadang-kadang “Nanna”. Dikatakan bahwa “Sin adalah dewa pertama dari tiga dewa penting di agama Astrai (perbintangan): Sin, Dewa bulan, Shamash-dewa matahari, dan Ishtar-dewa planet Venus. Simbol utama dalam penyembahan dewa bulan adalah BULAN SABIT, symbol ini ditemukan diseluruh daerah Timur Tengah kuno, dimana ada penyembahan dewa berhala, dengan sebutan apapun juga. Ini ditemukan di daerah penemuan Arkeologi di Arab, Akkad, Kanaan, Mesir dan Siria. Biasanya ditemukan dengan simbol bintang di tengah lingkaran bulan sabit, meskipun tidak selalu, symbol bintang itu adalah bintang fajar, Venus. Orang Assyirian menyembah dewa bulan. Replica perunggu berbentuk bulan sabit (dibuat untuk ditaruh diatas tiang bendera), telah ditemukan sebagai contoh dari daerah Arkeologi di TelTerra. Stratum VI. Replica itu terkubur di benteng kuno Assyrian. (Keel, p297-29S)

Arkeolog yang bekerja di daerah dekat Hazor dari tahun 1955-1958 menemukan kuil dewa bulan. Mereka menemukan dua patung laki-laki diatas tahta dengan ukiran bulan sabit di dadanya. Ini mungkin perwujudan dari dewa bulan itu sendiri, atau mungkin imam-imamnya. Mereka juga menemukan batu yang berukiran tangan terangkat menyembah bulan sabit yang ada diatasnya. Pada situs yang sama mereka juga menemukan bagian dari patung yang lainnya dengan tulisan yang mengidentifikasi mereka sebagai “Putri-putri dari tuhan (God)”

Pada akhirnya Babilonia mengalahkan kekaisaran Assyirian dan membangun kekaisarannya sendiri, dalam puisi kepahlawanan Babilonia yang terkenal, “Enuma Elish”, dewa bulan Sin, mengambil peranan. Kota Ur sangat terobsesi dengan dewa bulan sehingga mereka menyebutnya dengan nama mereka di beberapa batu ukiran yang ditemukan, nama Ziggurat. Nanar ada juga disitu. Sir Léonard Wooley menemukan kuil untuk dewa bulan di Ur, dan menggali banyak sekali contoh-contoh penyembahan dewa bulan. Semua benda-benda itu sekarang dimuseumkan di museum Inggris, London. Batu ukiran Ur-Nammu mempunyai symbol bulan sabit yang ditempatkan diatas daftar namanama dewa, menunjukkan bahwa dewa bulan adalah yang dewa yang terutama.

Kota lain yang menjadi pusat penyembahan dewa bulan adalah Harran. Sejarawan kuno, Herodotus, dalam IV 13, 7, membicarakan mengenai kota itu dan kuil dewa bulannya. Kuil tersebut dibangun dan dikembangkan berulangkali pada masa itu, oleh raja-raja terkenal seperti Shalmanezer, Assur-Bani-pal, dan Nabonidus. Reruntuhannya masih dapat dilihat sampai sekarang. Dari tahun 1900 SM sampai 900 SM, raja-raja yang berkuasa diharapkan untuk bersumpah atas namanya (dewa bulan) dalam segala bentuk perjanjian (fakta) penting yang mereka buat, mereka memperoleh kekuatan darinya. Namanya masih dapat ditemukan dalam tulisan kuno berbentuk baji dan dalam batu-batu tulis. Dikemudian waktu, kita membaca dalam sejarah Roma bahwa kaisar Caracala terbunuh setelah dia kembali dari mengunjungi kuil dewa bulan di Harran.

Harran memiliki versi Allahnya sendiri yang sudah diketahui dengan baik oleh mereka yang belajar Taurat. Dilihat dari hasil penelitian, Harran memiliki BAAL-nya sendiri. Tetapi di Harran, kita mendapatkan informasi bahwa BAAL adalah perwujudan lain dari dewa bulan. Sebagai tambahan atas berbagai nama yang diberikan pada dewa bulan, suku yang berbeda terkadang memberikan gagasan yang berbeda tentang dewa bulan. Beberapa suku di Arab Utara percaya bahwa dewa bulan adalah seorang wanita, jadi mereka memiliki DEWI Bulan.

• Bagian Utara Madinah (Arab)

Orang Arab mungkin telah menyembah dewa bulan sejak ribuan tahun lalu. Ribuan benda-benda peninggalan telah ditemukan dalam tanah dan pasir di daerah Timur Tengah, termasuk Arab. Simbol bulan sabit telah ditemukan di materai, batu tulis, barang tembikar, jimat-jimat, benda dari tanah liat, timbangan, anting-anting, kalung, dan benda-benda yang lainnya. Kita tahu dari catatan bahwa raja Babilonia yang terakhir, Nabonidus, pergi ke Tayma, di hijaz, 1000 tahun sebelum Muhammad lahir. Dia tinggal disana untuk beberapa waktu, dan sementara ia disana, ia membuat Tayma menjadi pusat untuk penyembahan dewa bulan. Banyak sekali ditemukan naskah yang menyangkut penyembahan dewa bulan diarea itu, termasuk “Stele o/ nabonidus” Dalam ukiran pahat kuno itu raja sendiri terlihat bersamaan dengan simbol bulan sabit besar di sebelahnya.

Tayma terletak 230 mil dari Medina. Tempat lain di daerah Utara juga telah digali. Ukiran-ukiran di batu dan mangkuk-mangkuk yang dipakai untuk ritual kegamaan pada “putri-putri allah” telah di temukan dan didokumentasikan. Tiga putri dari allah, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, dan Manat, seringkali terlihat dengan simbol bulan sabit diatasnya-dewa bulan, (bahkan Prof. Muhhamad Mohar Ali, pengajar sejarah Islam di Universitas Islam di Madinah, menyatakan dalam kuliah Pra-Islam di Arab, bahwa prasasti yang ditujukan untuk ‘allah’ pada masa sebelum Islam telah ditemukan di daerah Utara, daerah dimana dewa bulan di sembah). Dapat terlihat bahwa tiga putri ‘allah’ sangat penting di daerah Utara Arab.

Jika anda mau, anda dapat membaca tentang penemuan arkeologinya dalam buku2 ini:

1) Aramaic Inscripticns o/ the Sth Century, Jones, xyi956, pp 1-9 (Isaac Rabinoiuitz)

2) Another Aramaic Record o/ the Noth Arabian Goddes Han’Laat, Jones, XVIII,1959,pp 154-155 (Rabinouiitz)

3) The Goddess Atirat in Ancient Arabia, in Babylon and Ugarit: Her Relation to The Moon God and the Sun Goddess, Orientalia Louiensia Periodica, 3:101-109.

4) Iconography and Character of the Arab Goddess Allât, found in Etudes Preliminaries Aux Religions Orientales Dans L Empire Roman, ed. Maarten J. Verseren, Leiden, Brill,1978, pp 331351 (HJ. Drivers)

• Daerah Selatan Arab, Tepat di kota Mekah (dan sekitarnya)

Kerajaan Saba terletak di daerah Selatan Arab. Orang dari Saba disebut Sabean. Ini adalah tempat asal “Ratu Seba” (Kejadian 1026, Ayub 1:15,6:19,1 Raja-Raja 10:15,). Kata, “Sheba” dalam bahasa Inggris mengacu pada asal katanya dari bahasa Ibrani – Saba. Kerajaan ini cukup dikenal dalam sejarah, dan dikenal baik bahwa orang Sabean menyembah dewa bulan, dan bintang, bahkan kata Saaba dalam bahasa Arab berarti “bintang”.

Kerajaan Saba menguasai seluruh daerah Selatan Arab sampai pada perbatasan Yémen dengan Arab, dan ada kemungkinan lebih luas lagi. Pengaruhnya melebihi daerah kekuasaan mereka, bahkan sampai ke kota Mekah Al-qur’an menyebutkan juga mengenai Sabean (Sura 2:62, Sura 5:69, Sura 22:17, Sura 27:29). Lebih dari itu, Sabean adalah kaum pedagang, sehingga pengaruh mereka tersebar kemanapun karavan mereka pergi, bahkan sampai daerah barat Mekah dan Medinah, melewati laut Merah di Afrika. Kaum Sabean menyembah dewa bulan mereka di Sudan, dan Etiopia. Suku Saba dan penyembah berhala lainnya mempunyai banyak sebutan yang berbeda untuk dewa bulan mereka. Dia diberi nama seperti llumqah, atau Al-maqah, Wadd, Amm, Haiubas, Hubal, Ilah dan Sin.

Sin adalah dewa yang sama yang disembah di Haran sampai ke Utara. Penyembah dewa bulan di Haran juga menyebut diri mereka sebagai kaum Sabean. Pada awal 1940, Gertrude Caton Thompson menemukan kuil dewa bulan di Hureidha, di tempat Kerajaan Saba dulu berada. Dia menemukan 21 prasasti dari nama dewa-Sin, di sekitar kuil itu. Ada kemungkinan bahwa itu adalah dewa bulan yang dia temukan. Kuil dewa bulan di temukan juga di Awan, masih di daerah kerajaan kaum Sabean. Pada tahun 1950, Wendell Philips, W.E Albright, Richard Bower, dan yang lainnya menemukan lebih banyak bukti penyembahan dewa bulan di kota2 Qataban, dan Timna, dan di ibukota kuno kerajaan Saba, Marib.

Saudara dapat membaca lebih banyak lagi mengenai penemuan2 ini dalam buku2 berikut:

1) G.C Thompson, ‘The Tombs and the Temple o/ Hureidha, 1944

2) Carleton S. Coon, “Southern Arabias, a Problem /or the future” Smithsonia,1944

3) G. Ryfemans, Less Religions Arabes Preislamiques”

4) RichardLe baron Bower }r. dan Franfe P. Albright, Archaeologicai Discoueries in South Arabia, Baltimore, John Hopfeins Uniuersity Press, 1958, p78ff

5) Ray Cleveland, An AncientSouth Arabian Necropolis, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1965

6) Nelson Glueck, Deities andDolphins, New Yorfe, Farrar, Stratass danGiroux, 1955

Penelitian arkeologis tidak mengatakan banyak hal mengenai kota Mekah, karena pihak yang berkuasa, kaum Islamis, takut akan apa yang dapat ditemukan di sana. Akses untuk beberapa daerah tidak diberikan, jika ada peninggalan yang dapat membuat kontradiksi dengan pandangan “sejarah” mereka, mereka mungkin akan merahasiakannya atau bahkan memusnahkannya. Akan tetapi ada kabar baik, yaitu, ada beberapa penulis Islam masa kini dan Sejarawan Islam pada abad pertengahan yang telah cukup jujur untuk menulis sesuatu tentang penyembahan dewa bulan di mekah.

“Sekitar 400 tahun sebelum Muhammad lahir, Amir bin Harath…bin Saba, keturunan Qahtan dan raja Hijaz, telah meletakkan satu berhala diatas atap kabah. Ini adalah salah satu dewa tertinggi Quraish (suku Muhammad) sebelum Islam. Dikatakan bahwa ada 360 didalam dan sekitar Kabah…selain Hubal, ada juga berhala-berhala lain, Shams, ditempatkan di atas atap Kabah…selam berhala-berhala yang mereka sembah, mereka juga menyembah bintang, matahari, dan bulan” (Hafiz Ghlam Sarwar, “Muhammad the Holy Prophet” Pafeistanj, p. 18-19)

Jadi, kita mengetahui bahwa ada berhala yang ditempatkan di atas kabah, berhala yang disebut “Hubal”. Selain ini, penulis muslim juga mengatakan bahwa ada 360 berhala di dalam dan sekitar Kabah-dan 360 adalah jumlah hari dalam Kalender Bulan. Dikatakan juga bahwa Hubal berbagi tempat diatas kabah dengan berhala lain “Shams” Yusuf Ali mengatakan pada kita bahwa Shams adalah dewa matahari. Di daerah Babilonia Sin dewa bulan berdampingan dewa matahari, Shamash. Karena itu Hubal adalah, dewa bulan.

Sumber-sumber dari Musim, Sekuler dan Kristen setuju bahwa Hubal adalah perwujudan dari dewa bulan. Seorang penulis muslim memberikan pernyataan seperti ini:

“Di antara banyak berhala-berhala yang disembah oleh orang Arab di dalam dan di luar Kabah, ada dewa Hubal dan tiga dewi, Al-lat,aI-Uzza, dan Manat. Hubal sebenarnya adalah perwujudan dari dewa bulan, dan mungkin juga dewa hujan, seperti makna kata Hubal ‘uapor’. (Mahmoud M. Ayoub, “Islam: Faith and History” (Ox/crd£ngland, One world Publications, 2004), p. 15)

Pada tahun 2005, Reza Aslan menulis buku lain yang berjudul “NoGod but God: The Origins, Euolution, and Future qf Islam.” Di halaman 3 dalam buku itu, dia membawa para pembaca kembali ke zaman pra islam Kabah, dia menyatakan:

“Disinilah…dewa-dewa pra Islam di Arab berdiam: Hubal, Dewa bulan dari Syria; Al-Uzza, dewa yang berkuasa di Mesir yang dikenal sebagai Isis dan di Yunani yang dikenal sebagai Aphrodite…”

Azrarki, dalam bukunya menyebut Hubal sebagai dewa bulan. Ini berarti bahwa Hubal mempunyai hubungan dengan matahari, bulan. dan bintang. Dia tidak menyebutkan spesifik seperti Ayaoub atau Aslan, tetapi pada dasarnya mereka menyatakan point yang sama.

“Di dalam kabah, Hubal harus menjaga karakter asli sebagai dewa bintang; tetapi katakter terbesarnya adalah sebagai dewa perantara. Bahkan, di depan dewa Hubal-lah mereka melemparkan panah undian, untuk mengetahui apa yang harus mereka lakukan.”( Al-Azrarki,31)

Azrarki juga menyebut Hubal sebagai “dewa perantara” apa artinya? “perantara/bilah” artinya adalah seseorang (sesuatu) yang menyampaikan pesan kepada seseorang (sesuatu) yang lebih tinggi. Hubal, nampaknya melayani sebagai jembatan untuk dewa yang memiliki kekuasaan lebih tinggi. Orang berdoa, kepada dewa yang “tertinggi” melalui dewa yang lebih rendah ini” Dua sejarawan muslim pada abad permulaan Islam memberikan gambaran yang jelas tentang apa yang Azrarki bicarakan.

Ibnu Kathir dan Ibnu Ishaq menyatakan:

Dinyatakan bahwa ketika ‘Abdul Muttalib (kakek Muhammad) menerima perlawanan dari suku Quraish dalam menggali zamzam, dia berjanji jika dia diberikan 10 anak, yang besar nanti dapat melindungi dia, dia akan mengorbankan satu anaknya kepada ‘allah’ di Kabah…(tahun-tahun berikutnya, dia memiliki 10 anak, dan…) sehingga mereka kembali ke Mekah dan… Abdul Muttalib berdiri di hadapan Hubal dan berdoa kepada ‘allah’. Kemudian dia mempersembahkan Abdullah (Ayah Muhammad) dan 10 unta sebagai kurban persembahan dan melemparkan panah undian.( Melemparkan panah undian adalah cara untuk mengetahui kehendak bilah, seperti dadu undian). Dia ingin tahu apakah dia harus tetap meneruskan mempersembahkan anaknya, hasilnya adalah dia tidak perlu mempersembahkan anaknya). Pada saat itu orang dari suku Qurais berkata kepada Abdul Muttalib yang berdiri di dekat Hubal dan sedang berdoa kepada bilah’, “Sudah Selesai! Allah-mu, berkenan kepada-mu. O’ Abdul muttalib…” (Sirat Rasul Allah. p.126)

Dua kali disebutkan bahwa kakek Muhammad berdiri di hadapan Hubal, berdoa kepada ‘allah Ini mendukung apa yang di katakan oleh Azrarki. Nampaknya Hubal adalah dewa lokal, dimana orang Arab pergi kepadanya untuk sampai kepada dewa tertinggi, ‘allah’ Ada kemungkinan bahwa Hubal adalah dewa perantara ataupun bilah’ itu sendiri( tetapi hal ini tidak membuat satu perbedaan-pun. Catatan yang penting disini adalah baik pergi ke dewa bulan untuk sampai kepada bilah’ atau dewa bulan itu adalah bilah’, jelas bahwa ‘allah’, sebagaimana yang dikenal oleh para `enyembah dewa di Arab, dalam cara tertentu$ memiliki hubungan yang dekat dengan dewa bulan.

Khairt-Al Saleh, di halaman 29 dalam bukunya “Fabled Cities,Pri?ices and Jin Trorn Arab Myths and legends” diterbitkan tahun 1985, mengatakan beberapa hal lain tentang Hubal:

“Hubal tergabung dalam dewa-dewa Semitic, Baal dan Adonis dan Tammuz, dewa musim semi, kesuburan, pertanian dan panen.” Dia menghubungkan Hubal dengan Baal, dan banyak para ilmuwan lain setuju dengannya. Nama “Hubal” tidak dapap dijelaskan dari bahasa Arab.

Dalam bukunya “Speaimen Historicae Arabum” penulisnya berpendapat bahwa nama itu berasal dari kata Ha-BaaL Tulisan bahasa Ibrani dan Arab Kuno tidak mempunyai hurup vokal, kemungkinan ini adalah salah satu dabi perubahan umum yang terjadi (mis: seseorang dapat membaca dengan kata Mohammed, Muhammad, Muhammed, Mahommet.dsb). Nama Hubal (dalam naskah Arab dan Ibrani herup vokalnya tidak tercatat = H B L) ini menunjukan adanya suatu hubungan dekat dengan kata Ibrani HABAAL (= BAAL).

Baal adalah berhala yang disebutkan dalam Alcitab (Bil`ngan 253, Hosea 9:10), Di daerah mana Baal disembah? Di Moab! Ini adalah “dewa kesuburan” (dari Gerhard Nehls). Amir Bin Luhaiy nampaknya memang membawa Hubal dari Moab.

Ibnu Kathir mengatakan:

Ibnu Hismah menyatakan bahwa orang terpelajar mengatakan padanya bahwa ‘Amir Bin Luhayy pergi dari Mekah ke Syiria untuk urusan bisnis dan mencapai Ma’ab (kemungkinan Moab) didaerah Balija. Amir kemudian meminta mereka untuk memberikan kepadanya berhala yang dapat di bawa ke tanah Arab dimana berhala itu dapat disembah, dan mereka memberikan kepadanya berhala bernama Hubal. Berhala ini dia bawa ke Mekah dan mempersiapkan acuan dan memerintahkan orang untuk menyembahnya dan memuliakannya. (The Life of The Prophet Muhammad (Al-Sira al-Nabauiiyya), Volume I, J, p42)

Selain Hubal di Kabah juga terdapat Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, dan Manat. Dikatakan bahwa Al-Lat telah dibawa Hijaz dari Palmyra, melalui Tayma (kota yang telah menjadi pusat penyembahan dewa bulan). Al-Lat mungkin bentuk dewa Arab dari dewi Astarte, Ishtar, dalam Alkitab ‘Asherah” atau yang dikenal sebagai dewa matahari. Di sisi lain, beberapa orang berpikir bahwa Al-Lat sebenarnya dewa bulan didaerah Arab Utara. Al-lat memiliki batu kubik, dan tegak berdiri di dalam kuil kecil kecilnya di Al-Taif. Nama Al-lat adalah bentuk feminis dari kata Al-lah!

Al-Uzza adalah dewi cinta dan kecantikan, dia diidentifikasikan dengan planet Venus, bintang fajar {bintang yang biasanya dilihat bersamaan dengan bulan sabit jauh sebelum masa Muhammad). Patungnya berdiri tegak di Nakhlat. Pemujaan terhadapnya sangat kuat. Manat adalah dewi yang asli berasal dari Arab. Nama Manat muncul di kuil Baal, di Palmyra, di naskah yang berasal dari tahun 32 M. Manat memiliki batu hitam di jalan antara Mekah dan Medina. Patungnya berdiri tegak dekat Qudayd. Manat adalah dewi takdir. Ketiga dewi ini sangat terkenal. Ketiga dewi ini, dan juga Hubal, sangat senang dengan persembahan korban manusia.

Menurut Khairt al-Saeh:

“sebagaimana penyembahan berhala dan roh-roh, ditemukan di binatang2, tanaman2, bebatuan, dan air, Arab kuno percaya pada beberapa dewa-dewi besar yang mereka pikir memegang kekuasaan tertinggi atas semua hal, yang paling terkenal diantaranya adalah Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, Manat, dan Hubal. Ketiga dewa yang pertama dipercaya sebagai putri-putri al-lah (tuhan) dan karena itulah perantaraan mereka atas nama penyembah mereka menjadi sesuatu yang sangat penting.”

Yusuf Ali mengatakan beberapa hal tentang putri-putri ‘allah’ di halaman 1445 dari terjemahannya, footnote 5096. Dia menjelaskan bahwa Lat, Uzza dan Manat dikenal sebagai “Putri-Putri al-lah! Al-Saeh dan Ali, keduanya menghubungkan ketiga “putri-putri” itu dengan ‘allah! Arkeolog menghubungkan “putri-putri al-lah’ yang sama dengan Hubal. Prasasti tertua dimana nama Hubal ditemukan di dalamnya di temukan di Nabatea, di daerah barat laut Arabia, di daerah Barat Laut perbatasan Hijaz. Prasasti itu menghubungkan Hubal dengan “Ma-Na-Wat” Kata itu, Ma-Na-Wat, berasal dari tiga kata yang dijadikan satu, mengacu kepada tiga dewi, Manat.Uzza, dan Lat. Ini sama dengan “Putri-Putri al-lah” yang dilambangkan di batu-batu yang digali oleh arkeolog di daerah Utara Arabia, ketiga putri yang sama terlihat bersamaan dengan bulan sabit, dewa bulan. Menaungi mereka semua. Mungkinkah bapak mereka, ‘allah; adalah dewa bulan? Hal ini sangat mungkin. Ketiga dewi ini mempunyai ikatan langsung dengan dewa bulan. Ketiga dewi ini disebut sebagai putri-putri ‘allah Ada beberapa pendapat yang berbeda tentang hal ini, tapi bukti-buktinya belum meyakinkan.

Dari Baal kepada Allah

Hak. 2:11

Lalu orang Israel melakukan apa yang jahat di mata TUHAN dan mereka beribadah kepada para Baal.

Baal, Dewa Sesembahan Bangsa Moab.

Dalam perjalanannya ke Suriah, Khuza’ah dan Jurhum meminta penduduk Moab untuk memberikan salah satu patung dewa sesembahan mereka. Maka mereka memberikannya Hubal, dan ia diletakkan dalam Ka’abah (Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources [Inner Traditions International, LTD. One Park Street, Rochestor Vermont 05767, 1983], p. 5)

Hubal, Nama Arab untuk Baal

Ka’abah adalah tempat persemayaman Hubal, dewa Arab purba tertinggi, sesembahan utama suku Quraish (Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet [Harper San Francisco; ISBN: 0062508865; Reprint edition, October 1993], hal. 61-62)

“… Menurut legenda, sekembalinya Qusayy dari perjalanan ke Syria ia membawa tiga dewi sesembahan ke Hejaz (note: jazirah Arab) yaitu al-Lat, al-Uzza dan Manat, juga memahkotai dewa Hubal di dalam Ka’abah …” (Armstrong, hal. 66;)

Hubal adalah dewa sesembahan penduduk Mekkah yang ditempatkan di dalam Ka’abah (The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (Oxford University Press, 2003, hal. 117)

Baal dalam dialek Arab disebut juga Hubal. Nama ini berasal dari Ha-Baal, yang dalam dialek Arab artikel berupa konsonal `ha/hu’ (S. Noja, “Hubal = Allah”, Reconditi: Instituto Lombardo Di Scienze E Lettere, Vol. 28 (1994), hal. 283-295)

Dari Hubal Menjadi al-Ilah

Hubal (dari bahasa Aram yang berarti `roh’) jelas merupakan dewa utama dalam Ka’abah dan dipresentasikan dalam bentuk tubuh manusia. Di sampingnya terdapat tujuh anak panah yang biasa digunakan oleh para kahin dalam ritual mereka. Menurut tradisi ibn Hisyam, Amr bin Luhayy mendapatkan sesembahan ini dari bangsa Moab (History of the Arabs from the Earliest Times to the Present, revisi edisi ke-10, new preface oleh Walid Khalidi [Palgrave Macmillan, 2002; ISBN: 0-333-63142- 0 paperback], p. 100

KARENA HUBAL ADALAH DEWA SESEMBAHAN YANG UTAMA, MAKA IA DISEBUT `SANG TUHAN, SANG ILAH’ ATAU `AL-ILAH’.

Di Bawah Muhammad: dari al-Ilah kepada Allah

Muhammad menghancurkan pemujaan terhadap al-Lat, al-Uzza dan Manat, namun berhenti menyerang sekte pemuja Hubal. Dari sini Wellhausen (sejarawan-red) menduga bahwa Hubal adalah tidak lain selain Allah, “dewa” orang-orang Mekkah.

Islam meminjam nama “Allah” dari suku-suku Arab purba. Nama ini bervariasi di kalangan berbagai suku Nabatean. Pada akhirnya ini diaplikasikan kepada satu sesembahan yang adalah `Satu-satunya’ dan `Yang Utama’ (Ibn Warraq, Why I Am Not A Muslim [Prometheus Books, Amherst NY, 1995], pp. 39-40, 42)

Konsep `Allah’ sebagai terminologi Arab untuk Tuhan yang Mahatinggi sudah familiar bagi masyarakat Arab di masa Muhammad. Yang dilakukan Muhammad adalah memberikan makna baru untuk membersihkannya dari atribut politeisme (H.A.R. Gibb, Mohammedanism: An Historical Survey [Oxford University Press, London 1961], p. 54)

Berikut ini adalah Hasil-hasil Penelitian mengenai Hubal:

S. Noja (1994): ada metamorfosa semantik dari nama Ba’al (sesembahan Moab) menjadi Hu-Baal dan akhirnya Hubal, dewa bulan (Arab)

Martin Lings (1983): Hubal adalah nama Arab untuk Baal, dewa Moab yang dibawa pulang ke Mekkah oleh Khuza dan Jumhur setelah kunjungan mereka ke Suriah.

Karen Armstrong (1993): Hubal adalah dewa Arab purba tertinggi, takhtanya ditempatkan di dalam Ka’abah.

Dr. Cesar Farrah (2000): Allah sudah ada sebelum Islam. Berasal dari `Il’ (Babilonia), `El’ (Kanaan purba), `al-Ilah’ (Bedouin Arab) dan akhirnya `Allah’ di bawah Muhammad.

Mahmoud Ayyub (2004): Hubal adalah dewa bulan Arab. Sementara ada juga tiga dewi Ka’abah lain yaitu al-Lat, al-Uzza dan Manat. Al-Lat sangat mungkin adalah bentuk feminin dari Allah!

Begitulah trasnsformasi kata Baal menjadi Allah adalah sebuah proses antropologis. Secara kronologis:

Baal (berhala Moab) (Hak 6:31) –> Ha-Baal/Hu-Baal/ Hubal (Noja, 1994; Lings, 1983) –> al-Ilah (yang utama) (Hitti, 1937; Armstrong, 1993) –> Allah (Ibn Warraq, 1995; Farrah, 2000; Khalidi, 2002)

Banyak penulis yang mempermasalahkan nama Allah tersebut, namun sebenarnya tidak ada nama yang cukup mewakili untuk menyatakan siapa Tuhan itu, Konsep dibalik nama Tuhanlah yang menentukan. TUHAN disebut dalam berbagai nama dalam suku2 bangsa, Tuhan disebut sebagai YHWH (Yahudi), Allah (Arab), Jubata (Kalimantan), Debata (Batak), God (bahasa Inggris).

Lalu seperti apakah konsep Allah menurut Muhammad?

Katakanlah: “Kami beriman kepada Allah dan kepada apa yang diturunkan kepada kami dan yang diturunkan kepada Ibrahim, Ismail, Ishak, Yakub, dan anak-anaknya, dan apa yang diberikan kepada Musa, ‘Isa dan para nabi dari Tuhan mereka. Kami tidak membeda-bedakan seorang pun di antara mereka dan hanya kepada-Nya-lah kami menyerahkan diri.” (QS 3:84)

Konsep Allah menurut Muhammad sama dengan konsep YHWH menurut Yahudi, yaitu monotheisme mutlak (tauhid), dimana Tuhan tidak dapat diserupakan dalam wujud dan bentuk apapun. Konsep Allah dalam Islam didapat Muhammad dari para monotheis Arab seperti Zayd bin Amr dan Waraqah bin Nofal, saudara sepupu Khadijah, istri pertama Muhammad.

Waraqah adalah pemeluk agama Musa (Yahudi) sebelum kemudian beralih ke Nosrania (Ibn Hisham, Sirah, Vol 1, hl 203). Ia mengikuti monotheisme Musa dan Yesus, yaitu didasarkan Taurat dan Injil. Quran berkali2 menyebut para pengikut monotheis Musa dan Yesus ini ‘Wahai Ahlul Kitab ! Kalian tidak memiliki dasar berdiri kecuali kalian berdiri tegak pada Taurat dan Injil.’ (QS 5:6)

Nosrania / Nestorian adalah sebuah sekte yang berasal dari Kristen Ortodoks. Kepercayaan Waraqah yang menolak ke-ilahian Yesus ini adalah kepercayaan yang dianggap menyeleweng dari kepercayaan Kristen ortodoks. Yesus baginya hanyalah seorang nabi, yang menuntaskan hukum Musa. Ia juga membantah kematian Yesus di tiang salib dan kebangkitannya sepeti yang ditulis dalam ke empat Injil kaum ortodoks. Injil yang dipakai oleh kaum Nosrania adalah Injil Ibrani (Injil Matius) namun tidak lengkap pencatatannya. Kitab ini adalah injil yang ditujukan bagi orang2 Yahudi. Inilah salah satu sebab mengapa Muhammad menggap bahwa Yesus hanyalah nabi bagi orang Yahudi, persis seperti ajaran Kaum Nosrania.

LIHAT TOPIK SELENGKAPNYA; BELAJAR AGAMA DARI WARAQAH

Jika konsep Allah Muhammad sama dengan konsep YHWH Yahudi, mengapa sifat Allah begitu bertentangan dengan sifat YHWH? Tuhan, seperti yang diucapkan oleh Musa, Yesus, Zoroaster, dan Hinduisme adalah SUMMUM BONUM (kebaikan yang tertinggi), Allah dilain pihak adalah pribadi yang bengis, yang ditempa dalam khayalan penciptanya, Muhammad.

Jika Allah benar2 Tuhan, mengapa Allah begitu kejam, dan tanpa belas kasihan memerintahkan muslim untuk membantai para non muslim?

Kelak akan Aku jatuhkan rasa ketakutan ke dalam hati orang-orang kafir, maka penggallah kepala mereka dan pancunglah tiap-tiap ujung jari mereka. [QS 8:12]

Mengapa Allah mewajibkan umatnya untuk merampok dan menjanjikan harta rampasan bagi umatnya?

Diwajibkan atas kamu berperang, padahal berperang itu adalah sesuatu yang kamu benci. Boleh jadi kamu membenci sesuatu, padahal ia amat baik bagimu, dan boleh jadi (pula) kamu menyukai sesuatu, padahal ia amat buruk bagimu; Allah mengetahui, sedang kamu tidak mengetahui. (QS 2:216)

Allah menjanjikan kepada kamu harta rampasan yang banyak yang dapat kamu ambil, maka disegerakan-Nya harta rampasan ini untukmu. (QS 48:20)

Mengapa Allah berkolusi dengan setan untuk menyesatkan orang kafir?

Tidakkah kamu lihat, bahwasanya Kami telah mengirim setan-setan itu kepada orang-orang kafir untuk menghasung mereka berbuat maksiat dengan sungguh-sungguh?,(QS 19:83)

MENGAPA SIFAT ALLAH SAMA DENGAN SIFAT IBLIS?

Iblis berkata: “Ya Tuhanku, oleh sebab Engkau telah memutuskan bahwa aku sesat pasti aku akan menjadikan mereka memandang baik (perbuatan maksiat) di muka bumi, dan pasti aku (iblis) akan menyesatkan mereka semuanya, kecuali hamba-hamba Engkau yang mukhlis diantara mereka”. [QS 15:39-40]

Orang-orang kafir berkata: “Mengapa tidak diturunkan kepadanya (Muhammad) tanda (mukjizat) dari Tuhannya?” Katakanlah: “Sesungguhnya Allah menyesatkan siapa yang Dia kehendaki dan menunjuki orang2 yang bertobat kepada Nya”,[QS 13:27]

(yang kamu sembah) selain Allah?” Mereka menjawab: “Mereka telah hilang lenyap dari kami, bahkan kami dahulu tiada pernah menyembah sesuatu”. Seperti demikianlah Allah menyesatkan orang-orang kafir. [QS 40:74]

Benarkah Allah adalah Tuhan? Ataukah ia hanyalah iblis yang menyamar sebagai Tuhan? Renungkanlah dengan hati nurani anda!

Menurut Quran, Tuhan Yang Maha Esa sendirilah yang menamai diri-Nya Allah.

“Sesungguhnya Aku adalah Allah, tiada Tuhan selain Aku, Maka Sembahlah Aku” (QS 20 : 14).

Dalam QS 19 : 65 Tuhan bertanya : “Hal Ta’lamu Lahu Samiyyan”.

Ayat ini dipahami oleh ulama2 Islam dengan makna: Apakah engkau mengetahui ada sesuatu yang bernama seperti ini? Atau Apakah engkau mengetahui sesuatu yang berhak memperoleh keagungan dan kesempurnaan sebagaimana Pemilik nama itu (Allah)? Atau bermakna Apakah engkau mengetahui ada nama yang lebih agung dari nama ini? Juga dapat berarti Apakah kamu mengetahui ada sesuatu yang sama dengan Dia (yang patut disembah)?

Mungkin Muhammad sewaktu menulis ayat tersebut tidak mengetahui bahwa berabad2 sebelumnya kata Allah telah digunakan oleh orang Hindu India untuk menamai Tuhan mereka. Kata yang sama yang digunakan nenek moyang Muhammad untuk menyebut tuhan mereka.

Kata “ALLAH” sebenarnya telah ada jauh sebelum munculnya Islam. Kata ini kemungkinan diambil dari sebutan sansekerta untuk Dewi Dhurga (dewi bulan-Allah).

Dan nama “Allah” ini sebenarnya juga terdapat dalam Kitab Suci Hindu yaitu Rigveda Book 3 Hymn 30 V. 10 dan Rigveda Book 9 Hymn 67 V. 30.

Kata Allah memang diyakini diambil dari bahasa sanskerta, namun “wujud” Allah yang ada pada jaman Muhammad bukanlah Dewi Durga. Hal ini dikarenakan percampuran kepercayaan Hindu India, dengan kepercayaan2 lain yang memang asli dari Jazirah Arab tersebut. Untuk jelasnya kita simak penjelasan berikut.

Beberapa pengkritik islam mengatakan bahwa Allah dalam Islam adalah Dewa Bulan. Ini tidak Benar! Penulis yang lain mengatakan bahwa Allah dalam Quran berasal dari dewa bulan pada masa sebelum Islam. Ini mungkin benar! Kebenaran yang tak dapat disangkal adalah: konsep Allah dalam Quran berhubungan dengan penyembahan dewa bulan, dan secara tidak langsung terhadap dewa bulan itu sendiri sebagai objek penyembahan pada masa sebelum Islam. Lebih dari itu, pusat penyembahan dewa bulan pada masa sebelum Islam sama dengan tempat pusat ibadah haji pada masa kini yaitu Kabah di Mekah. Hampir semua ritual keagamaan Islam pada masa kini sama dengan semua ritual pada masa sebelum Muhammad, masa dimana Arab masih menyembah dewa bulan.

Satu hal yang pasti, fakta yang tidak dapat dibantah adalah; bahwa penyembahan kepada dewa bulan tersebar luas di seluruh daerah Arab pada masa sebelum Muhammad.

Yusuf Ali seorang Penulis Islam menyatakan dalam Al-qur’an terjemahan Inggrisnya di halaman 1621-1623:

“Penyembahan dewa bulan sangat terkenal dalam bentuk penyembahan yang beragam…dewa bulan adalah dewa laki-laki pada masa India kuno. Dewa bulan juga merupakan dewa laki-laki dalam agama Semiric kuno, dan kata Arab untuk bulan “Qamar” dalam bentuk maskulin. Dengan kata lain, kata Arab untuk matahari “shams” dalam bentuk feminim. Penyembah berhala di Arab nampaknya memandang matahari sebagai seorang dewi dan bulan sebagai seorang dewa laki-laki.

Di halaman 1644 footnote no 5798, dia menjelaskan mengapa “Allah” bersumpah atas nama Bulan dalam Sura 74:32, dalam footnote dia menjelaskan, “Bulan disembah sebagai dewa pada masa kegelapan”.

Dalam bagian berikutnya, kami akan menjelaskan lebih rinci bagaimana berkembangnya, atau meluasnya kultus penyembahan berhala di Timur tengah pada masa Muhammad. Kita mulai dari Utara, kemudian ke Medina dan Mekah.

• Mesopotamia

Penyembahan dewa bulan sepertinya mulai di daerah Mesopotamia, dimana dewa bulan disebut dengan nama “Sin” atau kadang-kadang “Nanna”. Dikatakan bahwa “Sin adalah dewa pertama dari tiga dewa penting di agama Astrai (perbintangan): Sin, Dewa bulan, Shamash-dewa matahari, dan Ishtar-dewa planet Venus. Simbol utama dalam penyembahan dewa bulan adalah BULAN SABIT, symbol ini ditemukan diseluruh daerah Timur Tengah kuno, dimana ada penyembahan dewa berhala, dengan sebutan apapun juga. Ini ditemukan di daerah penemuan Arkeologi di Arab, Akkad, Kanaan, Mesir dan Siria. Biasanya ditemukan dengan simbol bintang di tengah lingkaran bulan sabit, meskipun tidak selalu, symbol bintang itu adalah bintang fajar, Venus. Orang Assyirian menyembah dewa bulan. Replica perunggu berbentuk bulan sabit (dibuat untuk ditaruh diatas tiang bendera), telah ditemukan sebagai contoh dari daerah Arkeologi di TelTerra. Stratum VI. Replica itu terkubur di benteng kuno Assyrian. (Keel, p297-29S)

Arkeolog yang bekerja di daerah dekat Hazor dari tahun 1955-1958 menemukan kuil dewa bulan. Mereka menemukan dua patung laki-laki diatas tahta dengan ukiran bulan sabit di dadanya. Ini mungkin perwujudan dari dewa bulan itu sendiri, atau mungkin imam-imamnya. Mereka juga menemukan batu yang berukiran tangan terangkat menyembah bulan sabit yang ada diatasnya. Pada situs yang sama mereka juga menemukan bagian dari patung yang lainnya dengan tulisan yang mengidentifikasi mereka sebagai “Putri-putri dari tuhan (God)”

Pada akhirnya Babilonia mengalahkan kekaisaran Assyirian dan membangun kekaisarannya sendiri, dalam puisi kepahlawanan Babilonia yang terkenal, “Enuma Elish”, dewa bulan Sin, mengambil peranan. Kota Ur sangat terobsesi dengan dewa bulan sehingga mereka menyebutnya dengan nama mereka di beberapa batu ukiran yang ditemukan, nama Ziggurat. Nanar ada juga disitu. Sir Léonard Wooley menemukan kuil untuk dewa bulan di Ur, dan menggali banyak sekali contoh-contoh penyembahan dewa bulan. Semua benda-benda itu sekarang dimuseumkan di museum Inggris, London. Batu ukiran Ur-Nammu mempunyai symbol bulan sabit yang ditempatkan diatas daftar namanama dewa, menunjukkan bahwa dewa bulan adalah yang dewa yang terutama.

Kota lain yang menjadi pusat penyembahan dewa bulan adalah Harran. Sejarawan kuno, Herodotus, dalam IV 13, 7, membicarakan mengenai kota itu dan kuil dewa bulannya. Kuil tersebut dibangun dan dikembangkan berulangkali pada masa itu, oleh raja-raja terkenal seperti Shalmanezer, Assur-Bani-pal, dan Nabonidus. Reruntuhannya masih dapat dilihat sampai sekarang. Dari tahun 1900 SM sampai 900 SM, raja-raja yang berkuasa diharapkan untuk bersumpah atas namanya (dewa bulan) dalam segala bentuk perjanjian (fakta) penting yang mereka buat, mereka memperoleh kekuatan darinya. Namanya masih dapat ditemukan dalam tulisan kuno berbentuk baji dan dalam batu-batu tulis. Dikemudian waktu, kita membaca dalam sejarah Roma bahwa kaisar Caracala terbunuh setelah dia kembali dari mengunjungi kuil dewa bulan di Harran.

Harran memiliki versi Allahnya sendiri yang sudah diketahui dengan baik oleh mereka yang belajar Taurat. Dilihat dari hasil penelitian, Harran memiliki BAAL-nya sendiri. Tetapi di Harran, kita mendapatkan informasi bahwa BAAL adalah perwujudan lain dari dewa bulan. Sebagai tambahan atas berbagai nama yang diberikan pada dewa bulan, suku yang berbeda terkadang memberikan gagasan yang berbeda tentang dewa bulan. Beberapa suku di Arab Utara percaya bahwa dewa bulan adalah seorang wanita, jadi mereka memiliki DEWI Bulan.

• Bagian Utara Madinah (Arab)

Orang Arab mungkin telah menyembah dewa bulan sejak ribuan tahun lalu. Ribuan benda-benda peninggalan telah ditemukan dalam tanah dan pasir di daerah Timur Tengah, termasuk Arab. Simbol bulan sabit telah ditemukan di materai, batu tulis, barang tembikar, jimat-jimat, benda dari tanah liat, timbangan, anting-anting, kalung, dan benda-benda yang lainnya. Kita tahu dari catatan bahwa raja Babilonia yang terakhir, Nabonidus, pergi ke Tayma, di hijaz, 1000 tahun sebelum Muhammad lahir. Dia tinggal disana untuk beberapa waktu, dan sementara ia disana, ia membuat Tayma menjadi pusat untuk penyembahan dewa bulan. Banyak sekali ditemukan naskah yang menyangkut penyembahan dewa bulan diarea itu, termasuk “Stele o/ nabonidus” Dalam ukiran pahat kuno itu raja sendiri terlihat bersamaan dengan simbol bulan sabit besar di sebelahnya.

Tayma terletak 230 mil dari Medina. Tempat lain di daerah Utara juga telah digali. Ukiran-ukiran di batu dan mangkuk-mangkuk yang dipakai untuk ritual kegamaan pada “putri-putri allah” telah di temukan dan didokumentasikan. Tiga putri dari allah, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, dan Manat, seringkali terlihat dengan simbol bulan sabit diatasnya-dewa bulan, (bahkan Prof. Muhhamad Mohar Ali, pengajar sejarah Islam di Universitas Islam di Madinah, menyatakan dalam kuliah Pra-Islam di Arab, bahwa prasasti yang ditujukan untuk ‘allah’ pada masa sebelum Islam telah ditemukan di daerah Utara, daerah dimana dewa bulan di sembah). Dapat terlihat bahwa tiga putri ‘allah’ sangat penting di daerah Utara Arab.

Jika anda mau, anda dapat membaca tentang penemuan arkeologinya dalam buku2 ini:

1) Aramaic Inscripticns o/ the Sth Century, Jones, xyi956, pp 1-9 (Isaac Rabinoiuitz)

2) Another Aramaic Record o/ the Noth Arabian Goddes Han’Laat, Jones, XVIII,1959,pp 154-155 (Rabinouiitz)

3) The Goddess Atirat in Ancient Arabia, in Babylon and Ugarit: Her Relation to The Moon God and the Sun Goddess, Orientalia Louiensia Periodica, 3:101-109.

4) Iconography and Character of the Arab Goddess Allât, found in Etudes Preliminaries Aux Religions Orientales Dans L Empire Roman, ed. Maarten J. Verseren, Leiden, Brill,1978, pp 331351 (HJ. Drivers)

• Daerah Selatan Arab, Tepat di kota Mekah (dan sekitarnya)

Kerajaan Saba terletak di daerah Selatan Arab. Orang dari Saba disebut Sabean. Ini adalah tempat asal “Ratu Seba” (Kejadian 1026, Ayub 1:15,6:19,1 Raja-Raja 10:15,). Kata, “Sheba” dalam bahasa Inggris mengacu pada asal katanya dari bahasa Ibrani – Saba. Kerajaan ini cukup dikenal dalam sejarah, dan dikenal baik bahwa orang Sabean menyembah dewa bulan, dan bintang, bahkan kata Saaba dalam bahasa Arab berarti “bintang”.

Kerajaan Saba menguasai seluruh daerah Selatan Arab sampai pada perbatasan Yémen dengan Arab, dan ada kemungkinan lebih luas lagi. Pengaruhnya melebihi daerah kekuasaan mereka, bahkan sampai ke kota Mekah Al-qur’an menyebutkan juga mengenai Sabean (Sura 2:62, Sura 5:69, Sura 22:17, Sura 27:29). Lebih dari itu, Sabean adalah kaum pedagang, sehingga pengaruh mereka tersebar kemanapun karavan mereka pergi, bahkan sampai daerah barat Mekah dan Medinah, melewati laut Merah di Afrika. Kaum Sabean menyembah dewa bulan mereka di Sudan, dan Etiopia. Suku Saba dan penyembah berhala lainnya mempunyai banyak sebutan yang berbeda untuk dewa bulan mereka. Dia diberi nama seperti llumqah, atau Al-maqah, Wadd, Amm, Haiubas, Hubal, Ilah dan Sin.

Sin adalah dewa yang sama yang disembah di Haran sampai ke Utara. Penyembah dewa bulan di Haran juga menyebut diri mereka sebagai kaum Sabean. Pada awal 1940, Gertrude Caton Thompson menemukan kuil dewa bulan di Hureidha, di tempat Kerajaan Saba dulu berada. Dia menemukan 21 prasasti dari nama dewa-Sin, di sekitar kuil itu. Ada kemungkinan bahwa itu adalah dewa bulan yang dia temukan. Kuil dewa bulan di temukan juga di Awan, masih di daerah kerajaan kaum Sabean. Pada tahun 1950, Wendell Philips, W.E Albright, Richard Bower, dan yang lainnya menemukan lebih banyak bukti penyembahan dewa bulan di kota2 Qataban, dan Timna, dan di ibukota kuno kerajaan Saba, Marib.

Saudara dapat membaca lebih banyak lagi mengenai penemuan2 ini dalam buku2 berikut:

1) G.C Thompson, ‘The Tombs and the Temple o/ Hureidha, 1944

2) Carleton S. Coon, “Southern Arabias, a Problem /or the future” Smithsonia,1944

3) G. Ryfemans, Less Religions Arabes Preislamiques”

4) RichardLe baron Bower }r. dan Franfe P. Albright, Archaeologicai Discoueries in South Arabia, Baltimore, John Hopfeins Uniuersity Press, 1958, p78ff

5) Ray Cleveland, An AncientSouth Arabian Necropolis, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1965

6) Nelson Glueck, Deities andDolphins, New Yorfe, Farrar, Stratass danGiroux, 1955

Penelitian arkeologis tidak mengatakan banyak hal mengenai kota Mekah, karena pihak yang berkuasa, kaum Islamis, takut akan apa yang dapat ditemukan di sana. Akses untuk beberapa daerah tidak diberikan, jika ada peninggalan yang dapat membuat kontradiksi dengan pandangan “sejarah” mereka, mereka mungkin akan merahasiakannya atau bahkan memusnahkannya. Akan tetapi ada kabar baik, yaitu, ada beberapa penulis Islam masa kini dan Sejarawan Islam pada abad pertengahan yang telah cukup jujur untuk menulis sesuatu tentang penyembahan dewa bulan di mekah.

“Sekitar 400 tahun sebelum Muhammad lahir, Amir bin Harath…bin Saba, keturunan Qahtan dan raja Hijaz, telah meletakkan satu berhala diatas atap kabah. Ini adalah salah satu dewa tertinggi Quraish (suku Muhammad) sebelum Islam. Dikatakan bahwa ada 360 didalam dan sekitar Kabah…selain Hubal, ada juga berhala-berhala lain, Shams, ditempatkan di atas atap Kabah…selam berhala-berhala yang mereka sembah, mereka juga menyembah bintang, matahari, dan bulan” (Hafiz Ghlam Sarwar, “Muhammad the Holy Prophet” Pafeistanj, p. 18-19)

Jadi, kita mengetahui bahwa ada berhala yang ditempatkan di atas kabah, berhala yang disebut “Hubal”. Selain ini, penulis muslim juga mengatakan bahwa ada 360 berhala di dalam dan sekitar Kabah-dan 360 adalah jumlah hari dalam Kalender Bulan. Dikatakan juga bahwa Hubal berbagi tempat diatas kabah dengan berhala lain “Shams” Yusuf Ali mengatakan pada kita bahwa Shams adalah dewa matahari. Di daerah Babilonia Sin dewa bulan berdampingan dewa matahari, Shamash. Karena itu Hubal adalah, dewa bulan.

Sumber-sumber dari Musim, Sekuler dan Kristen setuju bahwa Hubal adalah perwujudan dari dewa bulan. Seorang penulis muslim memberikan pernyataan seperti ini:

“Di antara banyak berhala-berhala yang disembah oleh orang Arab di dalam dan di luar Kabah, ada dewa Hubal dan tiga dewi, Al-lat,aI-Uzza, dan Manat. Hubal sebenarnya adalah perwujudan dari dewa bulan, dan mungkin juga dewa hujan, seperti makna kata Hubal ‘uapor’. (Mahmoud M. Ayoub, “Islam: Faith and History” (Ox/crd£ngland, One world Publications, 2004), p. 15)

Pada tahun 2005, Reza Aslan menulis buku lain yang berjudul “NoGod but God: The Origins, Euolution, and Future qf Islam.” Di halaman 3 dalam buku itu, dia membawa para pembaca kembali ke zaman pra islam Kabah, dia menyatakan:

“Disinilah…dewa-dewa pra Islam di Arab berdiam: Hubal, Dewa bulan dari Syria; Al-Uzza, dewa yang berkuasa di Mesir yang dikenal sebagai Isis dan di Yunani yang dikenal sebagai Aphrodite…”

Azrarki, dalam bukunya menyebut Hubal sebagai dewa bulan. Ini berarti bahwa Hubal mempunyai hubungan dengan matahari, bulan. dan bintang. Dia tidak menyebutkan spesifik seperti Ayaoub atau Aslan, tetapi pada dasarnya mereka menyatakan point yang sama.

“Di dalam kabah, Hubal harus menjaga karakter asli sebagai dewa bintang; tetapi katakter terbesarnya adalah sebagai dewa perantara. Bahkan, di depan dewa Hubal-lah mereka melemparkan panah undian, untuk mengetahui apa yang harus mereka lakukan.”( Al-Azrarki,31)

Azrarki juga menyebut Hubal sebagai “dewa perantara” apa artinya? “perantara/bilah” artinya adalah seseorang (sesuatu) yang menyampaikan pesan kepada seseorang (sesuatu) yang lebih tinggi. Hubal, nampaknya melayani sebagai jembatan untuk dewa yang memiliki kekuasaan lebih tinggi. Orang berdoa, kepada dewa yang “tertinggi” melalui dewa yang lebih rendah ini” Dua sejarawan muslim pada abad permulaan Islam memberikan gambaran yang jelas tentang apa yang Azrarki bicarakan.

Ibnu Kathir dan Ibnu Ishaq menyatakan:

Dinyatakan bahwa ketika ‘Abdul Muttalib (kakek Muhammad) menerima perlawanan dari suku Quraish dalam menggali zamzam, dia berjanji jika dia diberikan 10 anak, yang besar nanti dapat melindungi dia, dia akan mengorbankan satu anaknya kepada ‘allah’ di Kabah…(tahun-tahun berikutnya, dia memiliki 10 anak, dan…) sehingga mereka kembali ke Mekah dan… Abdul Muttalib berdiri di hadapan Hubal dan berdoa kepada ‘allah’. Kemudian dia mempersembahkan Abdullah (Ayah Muhammad) dan 10 unta sebagai kurban persembahan dan melemparkan panah undian.( Melemparkan panah undian adalah cara untuk mengetahui kehendak bilah, seperti dadu undian). Dia ingin tahu apakah dia harus tetap meneruskan mempersembahkan anaknya, hasilnya adalah dia tidak perlu mempersembahkan anaknya). Pada saat itu orang dari suku Qurais berkata kepada Abdul Muttalib yang berdiri di dekat Hubal dan sedang berdoa kepada bilah’, “Sudah Selesai! Allah-mu, berkenan kepada-mu. O’ Abdul muttalib…” (Sirat Rasul Allah. p.126)

Dua kali disebutkan bahwa kakek Muhammad berdiri di hadapan Hubal, berdoa kepada ‘allah Ini mendukung apa yang di katakan oleh Azrarki. Nampaknya Hubal adalah dewa lokal, dimana orang Arab pergi kepadanya untuk sampai kepada dewa tertinggi, ‘allah’ Ada kemungkinan bahwa Hubal adalah dewa perantara ataupun bilah’ itu sendiri( tetapi hal ini tidak membuat satu perbedaan-pun. Catatan yang penting disini adalah baik pergi ke dewa bulan untuk sampai kepada bilah’ atau dewa bulan itu adalah bilah’, jelas bahwa ‘allah’, sebagaimana yang dikenal oleh para `enyembah dewa di Arab, dalam cara tertentu$ memiliki hubungan yang dekat dengan dewa bulan.

Khairt-Al Saleh, di halaman 29 dalam bukunya “Fabled Cities,Pri?ices and Jin Trorn Arab Myths and legends” diterbitkan tahun 1985, mengatakan beberapa hal lain tentang Hubal:

“Hubal tergabung dalam dewa-dewa Semitic, Baal dan Adonis dan Tammuz, dewa musim semi, kesuburan, pertanian dan panen.” Dia menghubungkan Hubal dengan Baal, dan banyak para ilmuwan lain setuju dengannya. Nama “Hubal” tidak dapap dijelaskan dari bahasa Arab.

Dalam bukunya “Speaimen Historicae Arabum” penulisnya berpendapat bahwa nama itu berasal dari kata Ha-BaaL Tulisan bahasa Ibrani dan Arab Kuno tidak mempunyai hurup vokal, kemungkinan ini adalah salah satu dabi perubahan umum yang terjadi (mis: seseorang dapat membaca dengan kata Mohammed, Muhammad, Muhammed, Mahommet.dsb). Nama Hubal (dalam naskah Arab dan Ibrani herup vokalnya tidak tercatat = H B L) ini menunjukan adanya suatu hubungan dekat dengan kata Ibrani HABAAL (= BAAL).

Baal adalah berhala yang disebutkan dalam Alcitab (Bil`ngan 253, Hosea 9:10), Di daerah mana Baal disembah? Di Moab! Ini adalah “dewa kesuburan” (dari Gerhard Nehls). Amir Bin Luhaiy nampaknya memang membawa Hubal dari Moab.

Ibnu Kathir mengatakan:

Ibnu Hismah menyatakan bahwa orang terpelajar mengatakan padanya bahwa ‘Amir Bin Luhayy pergi dari Mekah ke Syiria untuk urusan bisnis dan mencapai Ma’ab (kemungkinan Moab) didaerah Balija. Amir kemudian meminta mereka untuk memberikan kepadanya berhala yang dapat di bawa ke tanah Arab dimana berhala itu dapat disembah, dan mereka memberikan kepadanya berhala bernama Hubal. Berhala ini dia bawa ke Mekah dan mempersiapkan acuan dan memerintahkan orang untuk menyembahnya dan memuliakannya. (The Life of The Prophet Muhammad (Al-Sira al-Nabauiiyya), Volume I, J, p42)

Selain Hubal di Kabah juga terdapat Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, dan Manat. Dikatakan bahwa Al-Lat telah dibawa Hijaz dari Palmyra, melalui Tayma (kota yang telah menjadi pusat penyembahan dewa bulan). Al-Lat mungkin bentuk dewa Arab dari dewi Astarte, Ishtar, dalam Alkitab ‘Asherah” atau yang dikenal sebagai dewa matahari. Di sisi lain, beberapa orang berpikir bahwa Al-Lat sebenarnya dewa bulan didaerah Arab Utara. Al-lat memiliki batu kubik, dan tegak berdiri di dalam kuil kecil kecilnya di Al-Taif. Nama Al-lat adalah bentuk feminis dari kata Al-lah!

Al-Uzza adalah dewi cinta dan kecantikan, dia diidentifikasikan dengan planet Venus, bintang fajar {bintang yang biasanya dilihat bersamaan dengan bulan sabit jauh sebelum masa Muhammad). Patungnya berdiri tegak di Nakhlat. Pemujaan terhadapnya sangat kuat. Manat adalah dewi yang asli berasal dari Arab. Nama Manat muncul di kuil Baal, di Palmyra, di naskah yang berasal dari tahun 32 M. Manat memiliki batu hitam di jalan antara Mekah dan Medina. Patungnya berdiri tegak dekat Qudayd. Manat adalah dewi takdir. Ketiga dewi ini sangat terkenal. Ketiga dewi ini, dan juga Hubal, sangat senang dengan persembahan korban manusia.

Menurut Khairt al-Saeh:

“sebagaimana penyembahan berhala dan roh-roh, ditemukan di binatang2, tanaman2, bebatuan, dan air, Arab kuno percaya pada beberapa dewa-dewi besar yang mereka pikir memegang kekuasaan tertinggi atas semua hal, yang paling terkenal diantaranya adalah Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, Manat, dan Hubal. Ketiga dewa yang pertama dipercaya sebagai putri-putri al-lah (tuhan) dan karena itulah perantaraan mereka atas nama penyembah mereka menjadi sesuatu yang sangat penting.”

Yusuf Ali mengatakan beberapa hal tentang putri-putri ‘allah’ di halaman 1445 dari terjemahannya, footnote 5096. Dia menjelaskan bahwa Lat, Uzza dan Manat dikenal sebagai “Putri-Putri al-lah! Al-Saeh dan Ali, keduanya menghubungkan ketiga “putri-putri” itu dengan ‘allah! Arkeolog menghubungkan “putri-putri al-lah’ yang sama dengan Hubal. Prasasti tertua dimana nama Hubal ditemukan di dalamnya di temukan di Nabatea, di daerah barat laut Arabia, di daerah Barat Laut perbatasan Hijaz. Prasasti itu menghubungkan Hubal dengan “Ma-Na-Wat” Kata itu, Ma-Na-Wat, berasal dari tiga kata yang dijadikan satu, mengacu kepada tiga dewi, Manat.Uzza, dan Lat. Ini sama dengan “Putri-Putri al-lah” yang dilambangkan di batu-batu yang digali oleh arkeolog di daerah Utara Arabia, ketiga putri yang sama terlihat bersamaan dengan bulan sabit, dewa bulan. Menaungi mereka semua. Mungkinkah bapak mereka, ‘allah; adalah dewa bulan? Hal ini sangat mungkin. Ketiga dewi ini mempunyai ikatan langsung dengan dewa bulan. Ketiga dewi ini disebut sebagai putri-putri ‘allah Ada beberapa pendapat yang berbeda tentang hal ini, tapi bukti-buktinya belum meyakinkan.

Dari Baal kepada Allah

Hak. 2:11

Lalu orang Israel melakukan apa yang jahat di mata TUHAN dan mereka beribadah kepada para Baal.

Baal, Dewa Sesembahan Bangsa Moab.

Dalam perjalanannya ke Suriah, Khuza’ah dan Jurhum meminta penduduk Moab untuk memberikan salah satu patung dewa sesembahan mereka. Maka mereka memberikannya Hubal, dan ia diletakkan dalam Ka’abah (Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources [Inner Traditions International, LTD. One Park Street, Rochestor Vermont 05767, 1983], p. 5)

Hubal, Nama Arab untuk Baal

Ka’abah adalah tempat persemayaman Hubal, dewa Arab purba tertinggi, sesembahan utama suku Quraish (Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet [Harper San Francisco; ISBN: 0062508865; Reprint edition, October 1993], hal. 61-62)

“… Menurut legenda, sekembalinya Qusayy dari perjalanan ke Syria ia membawa tiga dewi sesembahan ke Hejaz (note: jazirah Arab) yaitu al-Lat, al-Uzza dan Manat, juga memahkotai dewa Hubal di dalam Ka’abah …” (Armstrong, hal. 66;)

Hubal adalah dewa sesembahan penduduk Mekkah yang ditempatkan di dalam Ka’abah (The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (Oxford University Press, 2003, hal. 117)

Baal dalam dialek Arab disebut juga Hubal. Nama ini berasal dari Ha-Baal, yang dalam dialek Arab artikel berupa konsonal `ha/hu’ (S. Noja, “Hubal = Allah”, Reconditi: Instituto Lombardo Di Scienze E Lettere, Vol. 28 (1994), hal. 283-295)

Dari Hubal Menjadi al-Ilah

Hubal (dari bahasa Aram yang berarti `roh’) jelas merupakan dewa utama dalam Ka’abah dan dipresentasikan dalam bentuk tubuh manusia. Di sampingnya terdapat tujuh anak panah yang biasa digunakan oleh para kahin dalam ritual mereka. Menurut tradisi ibn Hisyam, Amr bin Luhayy mendapatkan sesembahan ini dari bangsa Moab (History of the Arabs from the Earliest Times to the Present, revisi edisi ke-10, new preface oleh Walid Khalidi [Palgrave Macmillan, 2002; ISBN: 0-333-63142- 0 paperback], p. 100

KARENA HUBAL ADALAH DEWA SESEMBAHAN YANG UTAMA, MAKA IA DISEBUT `SANG TUHAN, SANG ILAH’ ATAU `AL-ILAH’.

Di Bawah Muhammad: dari al-Ilah kepada Allah

Muhammad menghancurkan pemujaan terhadap al-Lat, al-Uzza dan Manat, namun berhenti menyerang sekte pemuja Hubal. Dari sini Wellhausen (sejarawan-red) menduga bahwa Hubal adalah tidak lain selain Allah, “dewa” orang-orang Mekkah.

Islam meminjam nama “Allah” dari suku-suku Arab purba. Nama ini bervariasi di kalangan berbagai suku Nabatean. Pada akhirnya ini diaplikasikan kepada satu sesembahan yang adalah `Satu-satunya’ dan `Yang Utama’ (Ibn Warraq, Why I Am Not A Muslim [Prometheus Books, Amherst NY, 1995], pp. 39-40, 42)

Konsep `Allah’ sebagai terminologi Arab untuk Tuhan yang Mahatinggi sudah familiar bagi masyarakat Arab di masa Muhammad. Yang dilakukan Muhammad adalah memberikan makna baru untuk membersihkannya dari atribut politeisme (H.A.R. Gibb, Mohammedanism: An Historical Survey [Oxford University Press, London 1961], p. 54)

Berikut ini adalah Hasil-hasil Penelitian mengenai Hubal:

S. Noja (1994): ada metamorfosa semantik dari nama Ba’al (sesembahan Moab) menjadi Hu-Baal dan akhirnya Hubal, dewa bulan (Arab)

Martin Lings (1983): Hubal adalah nama Arab untuk Baal, dewa Moab yang dibawa pulang ke Mekkah oleh Khuza dan Jumhur setelah kunjungan mereka ke Suriah.

Karen Armstrong (1993): Hubal adalah dewa Arab purba tertinggi, takhtanya ditempatkan di dalam Ka’abah.

Dr. Cesar Farrah (2000): Allah sudah ada sebelum Islam. Berasal dari `Il’ (Babilonia), `El’ (Kanaan purba), `al-Ilah’ (Bedouin Arab) dan akhirnya `Allah’ di bawah Muhammad.

Mahmoud Ayyub (2004): Hubal adalah dewa bulan Arab. Sementara ada juga tiga dewi Ka’abah lain yaitu al-Lat, al-Uzza dan Manat. Al-Lat sangat mungkin adalah bentuk feminin dari Allah!

Begitulah trasnsformasi kata Baal menjadi Allah adalah sebuah proses antropologis. Secara kronologis:

Baal (berhala Moab) (Hak 6:31) –> Ha-Baal/Hu-Baal/ Hubal (Noja, 1994; Lings, 1983) –> al-Ilah (yang utama) (Hitti, 1937; Armstrong, 1993) –> Allah (Ibn Warraq, 1995; Farrah, 2000; Khalidi, 2002)

Banyak penulis yang mempermasalahkan nama Allah tersebut, namun sebenarnya tidak ada nama yang cukup mewakili untuk menyatakan siapa Tuhan itu, Konsep dibalik nama Tuhanlah yang menentukan. TUHAN disebut dalam berbagai nama dalam suku2 bangsa, Tuhan disebut sebagai YHWH (Yahudi), Allah (Arab), Jubata (Kalimantan), Debata (Batak), God (bahasa Inggris).

Lalu seperti apakah konsep Allah menurut Muhammad?

Katakanlah: “Kami beriman kepada Allah dan kepada apa yang diturunkan kepada kami dan yang diturunkan kepada Ibrahim, Ismail, Ishak, Yakub, dan anak-anaknya, dan apa yang diberikan kepada Musa, ‘Isa dan para nabi dari Tuhan mereka. Kami tidak membeda-bedakan seorang pun di antara mereka dan hanya kepada-Nya-lah kami menyerahkan diri.” (QS 3:84)

Konsep Allah menurut Muhammad sama dengan konsep YHWH menurut Yahudi, yaitu monotheisme mutlak (tauhid), dimana Tuhan tidak dapat diserupakan dalam wujud dan bentuk apapun. Konsep Allah dalam Islam didapat Muhammad dari para monotheis Arab seperti Zayd bin Amr dan Waraqah bin Nofal, saudara sepupu Khadijah, istri pertama Muhammad.

Waraqah adalah pemeluk agama Musa (Yahudi) sebelum kemudian beralih ke Nosrania (Ibn Hisham, Sirah, Vol 1, hl 203). Ia mengikuti monotheisme Musa dan Yesus, yaitu didasarkan Taurat dan Injil. Quran berkali2 menyebut para pengikut monotheis Musa dan Yesus ini ‘Wahai Ahlul Kitab ! Kalian tidak memiliki dasar berdiri kecuali kalian berdiri tegak pada Taurat dan Injil.’ (QS 5:6)

Nosrania / Nestorian adalah sebuah sekte yang berasal dari Kristen Ortodoks. Kepercayaan Waraqah yang menolak ke-ilahian Yesus ini adalah kepercayaan yang dianggap menyeleweng dari kepercayaan Kristen ortodoks. Yesus baginya hanyalah seorang nabi, yang menuntaskan hukum Musa. Ia juga membantah kematian Yesus di tiang salib dan kebangkitannya sepeti yang ditulis dalam ke empat Injil kaum ortodoks. Injil yang dipakai oleh kaum Nosrania adalah Injil Ibrani (Injil Matius) namun tidak lengkap pencatatannya. Kitab ini adalah injil yang ditujukan bagi orang2 Yahudi. Inilah salah satu sebab mengapa Muhammad menggap bahwa Yesus hanyalah nabi bagi orang Yahudi, persis seperti ajaran Kaum Nosrania.

LIHAT TOPIK SELENGKAPNYA; BELAJAR AGAMA DARI WARAQAH

Jika konsep Allah Muhammad sama dengan konsep YHWH Yahudi, mengapa sifat Allah begitu bertentangan dengan sifat YHWH? Tuhan, seperti yang diucapkan oleh Musa, Yesus, Zoroaster, dan Hinduisme adalah SUMMUM BONUM (kebaikan yang tertinggi), Allah dilain pihak adalah pribadi yang bengis, yang ditempa dalam khayalan penciptanya, Muhammad.

Jika Allah benar2 Tuhan, mengapa Allah begitu kejam, dan tanpa belas kasihan memerintahkan muslim untuk membantai para non muslim?

Kelak akan Aku jatuhkan rasa ketakutan ke dalam hati orang-orang kafir, maka penggallah kepala mereka dan pancunglah tiap-tiap ujung jari mereka. [QS 8:12]

Mengapa Allah mewajibkan umatnya untuk merampok dan menjanjikan harta rampasan bagi umatnya?

Diwajibkan atas kamu berperang, padahal berperang itu adalah sesuatu yang kamu benci. Boleh jadi kamu membenci sesuatu, padahal ia amat baik bagimu, dan boleh jadi (pula) kamu menyukai sesuatu, padahal ia amat buruk bagimu; Allah mengetahui, sedang kamu tidak mengetahui. (QS 2:216)

Allah menjanjikan kepada kamu harta rampasan yang banyak yang dapat kamu ambil, maka disegerakan-Nya harta rampasan ini untukmu. (QS 48:20)

Mengapa Allah berkolusi dengan setan untuk menyesatkan orang kafir?

Tidakkah kamu lihat, bahwasanya Kami telah mengirim setan-setan itu kepada orang-orang kafir untuk menghasung mereka berbuat maksiat dengan sungguh-sungguh?,(QS 19:83)

MENGAPA SIFAT ALLAH SAMA DENGAN SIFAT IBLIS?

Iblis berkata: “Ya Tuhanku, oleh sebab Engkau telah memutuskan bahwa aku sesat pasti aku akan menjadikan mereka memandang baik (perbuatan maksiat) di muka bumi, dan pasti aku (iblis) akan menyesatkan mereka semuanya, kecuali hamba-hamba Engkau yang mukhlis diantara mereka”. [QS 15:39-40]

Orang-orang kafir berkata: “Mengapa tidak diturunkan kepadanya (Muhammad) tanda (mukjizat) dari Tuhannya?” Katakanlah: “Sesungguhnya Allah menyesatkan siapa yang Dia kehendaki dan menunjuki orang2 yang bertobat kepada Nya”,[QS 13:27]

(yang kamu sembah) selain Allah?” Mereka menjawab: “Mereka telah hilang lenyap dari kami, bahkan kami dahulu tiada pernah menyembah sesuatu”. Seperti demikianlah Allah menyesatkan orang-orang kafir. [QS 40:74]

Benarkah Allah adalah Tuhan? Ataukah ia hanyalah iblis yang menyamar sebagai Tuhan? Renungkanlah dengan hati nurani

The Hunt – Finding the RIGHT property to buy

I have been doing some research on properties since 2004, mostly via books and internet forums. While I didn’t have any money or a stable job to qualify me for buying properties in 2004, I believed learning diligently would help when I was finally ready to acquire my first property. As I had no money to attend those thousands of dollars property seminars, I just simply asked and learned from anyone I knew who had bought at least one property. I had to be thick-skinned to learn. At the same time, I had looked at many properties. I may not have had the money to buy but hey, window shopping is free. It was fun going around looking at properties pretending to be a young hotshot investment banker. Nowadays, I go around buying properties in shorts and pasar malam sandals, but in those days I had to dress up nicely or most agents wouldn’t entertain you, and you had to pray they didn’t know you were just window shopping.

The chances of making mistakes in investing will be significantly reduced if we have explored all our options. To summarise this, the more properties you look at, the better chance you have in finding the right one. Back then, I followed the 100:10:1 ratio :

“ Complete 100 viewings, make an informal offer to 10, and then buy only one! ”

The word “right” is actually quite subjective. It varies from individual to individual. What works for me might not necessarily work for others. There isn’t a single approach that fits everyone, as each of us has different needs. There are millions of properties out there, so finding the right one is crucial. Back in 2005-2006, my priorities were different – then, it wasn’t about making millions from properties. It was about finding a rentable property that could be used as a future home for me and my girlfriend. It’s a simple need, and I’m sure many of you out there can relate to this. So to summarise my two primary needs:

• The property has to be rented out first in the first few years and in the long run, so it has to be self-sustainable. In other words, it has to be cash flow positive.

• It has to be located in an area that is convenient for both me and my girlfriend. So we narrowed the areas to cover only Sentul (my home area), Petaling Jaya (girlfriend’s home area) and Damansara (middle ground).

So I started looking rigorously at over 70 apartments and condos in these three areas. What I gathered from this exercise was that most of the properties I liked (for own stay) were above my RM200,000 budget. However, one of them caught my attention – big time. It was a condo in Kelana Jaya called Kelana Puteri.

Looking from an emotional/non-investment perspective, Kelana Puteri was a good choice for me. It is a full-fledged condo with decent facilities. It is located near a park, a hypermarket and it’s in Kelana Jaya. I like Kelana Jaya a lot and it was convenient for me and my girlfriend, who had lived in Kelana Jaya for close to 10 years then. My future in-laws were nearby should we need any help. More importantly, it was pocket friendly as well, as one could get a three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit then for less than RM170 psf. It was a convenient choice for us.

Kelana Puteri was even more attractive when I analysed how investable it was. Apart from the leasehold factor, it had plenty of positives going for it, such as:

1. Cash flow positive rentals if I could rent it partly or fully furnished. A partly furnished unit today can be rented out for RM1,200 while a fully furnished unit can be rented out from RM1,400 to RM1,600. My monthly instalments and maintenance charges today total up to less than RM950 per month. A fully furnished unit rental unit can give me a gross yield exceeding 12% per annum.

2. It was the cheapest condo available psf-wise in the whole of PJ/ Damansara belt and at the point of purchase, it was undervalued as surrounding condominiums were priced at 10% to 20% higher.

3. Tenants are plentiful. You get all kind of tenants in Kelana Puteri. Stewardesses, spa workers, college students, young professionals, you name it. How did I know this? I actually camped outside the Kelana Puteri guardhouse twice.

4. Location – Walk-able to the largest park and hypermarket in PJ and the feeder bus to the Kelana Jaya Putra LRT stops right in front of the condominium. The LRT station is just a two-minute drive away. Very convenient.

Also, back then, it was the only condo in PJ/Damansara/Sentul belt that allowed me to be a proud property owner, without putting in a single sen of my own cash!

Hunting for the right deal

This is the fun part. Now that I found my dream condo, I started calling agents and owners for viewing. I even made cheeky offers (10% -15% below asking price) and got all my offers rejected up front. After five or six viewings, I came to realise that it was highly unlikely for me to get anything even 5% below asking price as most owners would not sell their properties for anything more than a RM5,000 discount from their asking price, which was around RM165,000 to RM175,000, and this asking price was consistent even when I track back advertisements from 2004. I now know for a fact that if I had bought any unit in this development for less than RM155,000, it would have been a decent deal.

*Tip: 1. If buying sub-sale, the general rule is check prices for the past one year at least to gauge the transacted prices, to avoid overpaying for a property. Profit is made when you buy, not when you sell. So always, always, buy undervalued props.
Three to four months after I started zooming on this particular condo, I finally found an advertisement with a RM155,000 price tag. I was so happy and quickly made the call to arrange for the viewing and spoke to the owner himself. Lucky for me, it was the owner who advertised (he was trying to save agent fees), so I thought there would be a better possibility for me to get the said unit at a much lower price. My girlfriend and I were thrilled and we could not wait to have a look at the unit and our potential future home.

However, our joy was short-lived. There’s an expression that goes: “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” In this particular case, the saying was spot on. We were shocked to see the unit as it was in a really horrible condition. It was like a bad dream. All the doors inside the house had holes in them, which I suspected was the consequence of extreme vandalism (looks as if someone had intentionally punched/kicked all the doors). Half of the window glasses were either broken or missing. The floors had serious black oil stains on them, and I’m not sure if the stains could be removed. It looked like some mechanic had operated his workshop in that unit! Pipes weren’t functioning. There was a huge hole in the ceiling with several wires coming out from it. Apparently the previous tenant was stealing electricity from the upper floor unit. This was a case of the tenant from hell – no wonder the owner was willing to let it go at lower than market price. In fact, the unit looked like it needed more than tens of thousands in repairs costs and was recently auctioned without any takers.

My girlfriend and I could not wait to finish the viewing, oddly for different reasons. My girlfriend thought that the unit was in a really bad condition and would require a lot of time and cash to fix it back to a liveable condition. I, on the other hand, was salivating at the prospect getting the unit at almost 20% below market value. I knew the owner was seriously looking into selling off his property after having such a bad tenancy experience. I also realised that while the unit was in a terrible condition, most of the repairs were largely cosmetic and the cost would not be too high. Best of all, this unit had the potential to be a zero-down deal, where technically I could own this unit using no cash at all.

I was convinced that the pigpen condo was an excellent buy, provided I could close it at RM140,000. I could do a zero-down deal and the repair cost would not be more than RM5,000 after I checked with a few contractors. So the next day I asked the owner and his wife out for lunch, hoping to finalise the deal. I don’t believe in negotiating over the phone, and I thought if I could get him to like me, he might be inclined to accept my offer.

However, the owner insisted that he would only let go of the unit at the minimum price of RM145,000. He knew the actual value, so obviously he thought he could do better. While I thought that at RM145,000 the condo unit was still a decent deal, I insisted that the maximum price I would pay for it was RM140,000, citing that the repair cost would be above RM10,000 (got to try my luck right?). He didn’t buy my BS, so in the end I went back empty-handed as I refused to pay that RM5,000 extra he wanted. We parted ways on good terms, and I told him that he could come back to me anytime if he agreed to lower his asking price.

While I failed to close this deal, I wasn’t disappointed. I knew that I was still very much in the game. You see, a lunch treat can do wonders when it comes to information gathering. Here’s what I discovered:

1. The owner worked for MAS, and during that time MAS was restructuring so there was a strong chance he might be laid off (I discover this during the lunch). So if he did get laid off, he wouldn’t want to hold a dead property that would only add to his monthly expense.

2. The unit was previously auctioned, so I suspect the owner was having cash flow problems.

3. Unless the owner decided to spend a few thousand ringgit to repair the unit, no one would rent the unit, so the unit was basically a liability instead of an income- generating asset.

4. Any prospects that saw the unit would be immediately turned off by its horrible condition, so it was very unlikely it would be taken up anytime soon.

So it was just a matter of time, and I believed my patience would be duly rewarded, somehow. Two months later, I called an agent that advertised a unit going for RM145,000. I then quickly arrange a viewing and I ended up looking at the very same horrible unit. The rookie agent told me to just make any reasonable offer, and said he was convinced the owner’s wife would accept the offer as the owner recently suffered a heart attack. They now needed the cash for the costly bypass operation. I was tempted to low ball them at RM130,000 – 135,000 knowing that they were now extremely desperate, but after knowing the seller’s predicament, the human in me decided to stick to my last offer a few months before, which was RM140,000 plus additional terms. I felt it was the right thing to do, and at RM140,000 it was fair for the seller and me.

My offer was duly accepted on the very same day together with the additional “special” terms I requested.

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Added on May 4, 2012, 2:52 pmStructuring the deal – How I bought the unit using zero cash!

The thing that I love about sub-sale deals is that everything is negotiable. So to get the maximum gains of out out of this deal, I negotiated four major points to my advantage, which were :

Zero-down 
This allowed me to buy this property for “free.” In fact for this particular deal, I was “paid” RM8,000 to own this positive cash-flow property. I had to put all the necessary advance payment to initiate this deal, but once the property is legally mine, I recovered all the capitals used for the purchase plus RM8,000. “Money is made when you buy, not when you sell”, they say. This deal clearly embodies this.

Vacant possession (VP) given to purchaser upon signing the SPA
Since the property was a leasehold property with a strata title, the transfer could take anytime from six to nine months (according to both seller and lawyer). And since the owner would not be able to rent out the unit anyhow due to its horrible condition, I persuaded him to give me the keys to the unit as soon as I paid my 10% deposit so I could start refurbishing the unit. He agreed and I got the unit refurbished to a liveable condition within 30 days after VP.

I could rent out the unit while waiting for the property to be legally mine. 
This simply means that I could start making money of a property that was yet to be mine. It took me about a month to refurbish the unit with the help from my girlfriend and friends, and the unit was soon rented out at RM1,100. And since the transfer was only fully executed after nine months, I was happy to collect eight months’ rental plus deposit:

Eight months rental: 8 x RM1,100: RM8,800
Security deposit: RM1,100 x 2.5 months: RM2,750

This clause alone helped me to make approximately RM11,500 before I even paid my first mortgage repayment to the bank. Neat, huh?

No booking fee paid, and the 10% deposit was be used to pay off debts and outstanding outgoings. 
Knowing that the unit had more than RM10,000 in outstanding maintenance fees and other charges, I insisted that the 10% deposit be used to pay off all outstanding and outgoings related to the unit first. This is to ensure that there is no additional delay in the transfer as developer’s consent was required, and there’s no way they’ll consent unless all outstanding maintenance charges is paid. Knowing that the seller was facing some financial difficulties, I just couldn’t take my chances.

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Added on May 4, 2012, 2:59 pmMy First Mistake

While I think the deal I structured was executed to my advantage, one mistake I made here was to use the wrong lawyer. I became acquainted with this lawyer via internet forums, as he appeared to give some decent legal advice online. What a big mistake. As soon as I paid the fees, his true colours appeared as he barely returned my calls, gave wrong advice, his legal assistants were rude in answering my queries and worst of all, they sat on my case without much progress. I had to call them every two weeks or so just to remind them to work on my case.

The lawyer I appointed was so bad that the transfer took nine months to finish and I nearly lost this deal as the owner ran out of patience and threatened to pull the plug. I would lose close to RM30,000 in deposit, legal fees and renovation cost. I literally had to beg the owner to give me a two-week extension and for the stupid law firm and banks to quickly disburse my loan. Finally, the full disbursement finally came after three weeks of constant nagging from yours truly.

While in the end everything worked out, I realised that having good legal support is very important, and there is no point skimping on legal fees when that cheap but incompetent lawyer will cost you more headache and money in the long run.

Making the property a cash cow

1. Restoring and renting out the property
Under normal circumstances, a buyer will be given vacant possession only after financing is secured and disbursed to the seller. However in my case, I negotiated for early VP upon paying my 10% deposit, which was duly accepted by the seller. Therefore the moment I paid the 10% deposit to my lawyer, I got the keys to the unit, and I could start restoring the unit back to liveable condition and then rent it out.

The restoration work took approximately one month and cost me around RM2,000 after comparing with four contractors (the worst offer I got was RM5,000). I replaced all the doors, windows and added some new grills for the windows. I painted the unit myself with some friends as “professional” painters wanted at least RM1,200 for a simple paint job. What a rip-off. I chose to spend RM300 for paint and RM50 for pizza (treats for my friends who helped me out) and the painting job was done in three days.

Now that the unit was almost ready, I start scouting for basic furniture. I wanted to rent out my unit at least partly furnished so I could command a better price. The unit I got already had three air conditioners and light fixtures installed. When I did my research on this development, I found that the average rental rates there were the following:

Basic : RM850 – RM900
Partly furnished : RM1,000-RM1,200
Fully furnished : RM1,200-RM1,500

Since the condo was rented to mainly students and fresh graduates, I figured that there was no point for me to splurge and I didn’t have to buy fancy new furniture and electrical items. Students and young adults generally don’t take good care of your stuff anyway, so why bother?

I then start buying used furniture over the internet and garage sales. It was my luck that I happened to come across an expat relocating to another country and was disposing of his furniture over our local eBay wannabe, Lelong.com. I got his fridge, washing machine, TV, DVD player, TV cabinet, queen-sized bed frame and mattress all for less than RM800 plus free delivery. Most of the furniture and electrical items in the unit today are used items, apart from the detached kitchen cabinet and the sofa. So in total, I spent close to RM3,000 to make the unit technically “fully furnished.”

2. Scouting for tenants

I’m a cheapskate. And since I had some time to spare, I started looking for my own tenants. I rented out this condo within two weeks after I put out my first free advertisement. I managed to rent out the condo fast simply because I knew who my prospects were and marketed to these guys extensively. I did mainly three things that helped me to secure a tenant fast:

I studied who my prospect tenants were
Before I even got my keys, I sat outside of the condo’s entrance for two hours after work to learn who normally rented there. Students from the nearby college, young adults working in Kuala Lumpur that frequently used the LRT, a few stewardesses and some pretty spa workers (they were two hours well spent, I must say) were among the highlights.

I don’t like renting to students as I’ve learned that they aren’t the best paymasters and generally don’t give a crap about the property. I was a student myself, and I do pity my landlord, now that I think back to those times. Recalling how we really “took care” of our landlord’s unit during our university days, there’s no way in hell I’d rent out my unit to students.

Obviously, the best case scenario for me was to rent the unit to a group of hot young stewardesses (every male landlord’s dream). Now allow me to declare that I’m certainly no pervert. Logic here is that ladies generally tend to take better care of an apartment, and they’ll keep it clean. And since stewardesses travel a lot, the wear and tear to the condo should be minimal unless they have boyfriend who happens to be the famous “Pramugara yang terlampau.” In fact, if I had stewardess as tenants, I wouldn’t mind at all spending an hour every month to go and collect the rental personally. However, I had no idea how persuade them to rent my unit. So I settled for the next best thing – the young working adult segment. I went on to put up free advertisements at the following:

1. Popular youth internet forums – Lowyat.net, Lelong.com etc.
2. The condo’s information board – Current residents can be your best prospects as you no longer need to sell the location to them. They can also refer friends and family members as prospects.
3. Nearest LRT station.
4. Bus stops surrounding the condo.
5. Office lots nearby.

I didn’t wait for the unit to be ready 
I advertised for tenants when my unit was still being refurbished. Some so-called gurus preach that you have to make your unit looks as inviting as possible, but my unit looked like a pigsty and I didn’t care. I wasn’t trying to rent out a luxury condo, it was a mass market property. Tenants are normally quite “cincai” (not demanding), and I promised them that the property would be delivered only after it was cleaned.

Tenant selection
Within 10 days, I had received more than 10 enquiries. I had four viewings, received two firm offers, and decided to take an offer from a group of three girls at RM1,120. They had just recently graduated and found jobs, so I thought rental payment shouldn’t be a problem, and being girls, I figured they would take good care of the unit. I’m pretty sure I could have rented it out at RM1,200 if I had waited longer or rented the unit to students, but I personally think that the potential extra RM80 was not worth the hassle, and anyway I had already saved more than RM1,100 since I didn’t use agents. To illustrate my point:

a. Scenario A (Bird in hand) – My current scenario, i.e., rent immediately at RM1,120:
Total rental collection: RM1,120 for 12 months = RM13,440

b. Scenario B (Bird in the bush) – Rent after a one-month wait for RM1,200:
Total rental collection: RM1200 for 11 months: RM13,200

To me, one bird in hand is always better than the two birds in the bush. Plus, if I was unlucky, I might have had to wait longer than a month just to rent the unit out for RM1,200 and I didn’t pay a single cent for my advertisements. So why take the chance for just a few extra bucks?

The unit today and summary of this deal 

Until today, the unit has been occupied by the same tenants, entering year five now. They are great paymasters, and I only increased rent once to RM1,160 in the second year. I know the current market rate is RM1,500 for a fully furnished unit there, but to me, having a trouble-free tenant who takes good care of the unit is far more important than having a few extra bucks.

To summarise this deal:

1. Didn’t use a single cent of my own capital to acquire this property

2. Got paid an additional RM8,000 to buy this property

3. Collected another RM8,800 in rental and RM2,900 deposit even before this property was officially mine

4. Today this property gives me additional nett monthly RM320 pocket money. I’m renting this unit at 30% below market to the same tenant. Should I refurbish the unit, I could pocket more than RM600 in nett cash-flow as rentals for a fully furnished unit in decent condition but I’ll need to probably spend more than RM15,000 in refurbishments and furnishing and leave the unit vacant for around 2 months. Its too much of a hassle for me for a few extra bucks and since tenant are really great paymasters I just leave it there.

5. Paid RM140,000 for a property that was valued at RM165,000 in 2006 (RM25,000 lower than the official market value)

6. In end of 2011 this property was selling at around RM280,000 to RM300,000 (Estimated gross RM140,000 profit in just five years, represent a 100% capital gains )

If I sell the property today, I would probably have a gross profit of approximately RM130,000 to RM140,000. Not bad at all considering it was a “free” unit and I paid zero cash of my own for it. And thanks to my creative methods, by the time the unit was officially mine, I got back all my capital used to acquire this property and an additional RM8,000. Combined that with more than RM12,000 in advance rentals + deposits , I now have over RM30,000 of reloaded capital.

Now I’m fully loaded and can start shooting again! 

MY 1ST PROPERTY PURCHASE, Using only RM2000 own capital

We often hear people say that your 1st deal is the make or break deal. It will shape your future asset class preference. If you have a great 1st deal in props, very likely it’ll be your key asset class in your portfolio. If you had a bad 1st experience, most likely you’ll sworn never to touch real estate anymore. I was lucky enough to experience the former for my 1st time. To summarize my 1st deal :

1. A subsale zero down deal – In the end, I didn’t pay a single cent of my own cash to buy this property.

2. Not only I didn’t pay anything to buy this property, I was paid/rewarded approx 20k to buy off this property.

3. The seller unknowingly helped me to raise funding to buy his property.

4. Raised capital from 2k to 23k in the space of 4 months despite only able to save 1k per month from monthly salary.

5. Today tenanted at double digit yields

6. Didnt used a single cent to market the property yet it was tenanted within 3 weeks after it was ready.

7. Never had a single day of vacancy period throughout my ownership. It’s been 5 years now and still occupied by the same tenant.

8. Has doubled in value if based on today’s asking price.

I’ve broke down the deal into few key topics, namely :

1. Raising capital –From 2k to 25k in just 5 months.

2. Hunting for the right deal – Patience

3. Structuring the deal – How do I get the seller and the banks to pay me for buying the property?

4. Executing the deal – Time is money

5. Finding tenants – The zero / low cost way, to quickly find tenants

6. Regrets / What could I have done better.

This is basically the Chapter 1 of my book, “WTF? 23 properties by 30″. Hope you guys enjoy reading it please do feedback your thoughts 

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Added on May 4, 2012, 2:33 pmIt was early 2006, and I had just got my confirmation letter in my fourth job as a management trainee in a foreign bank. I had changed careers in the two years before – from a software programmer, I became a salesman and finally a banker. Yes, it’s an odd job combo, but I like doing whatever feels right. The confirmation letter I had just received from my employer was the licence I had longed for – the licence I needed to start using other people’s money to make my millions.

Employment confirmation doesn’t mean much to others, but this was the ticket I need to walk into most financial institutions, demanding that they lend me their money, and start building my wealth. It meant that I could now apply for mortgages, cards or personal loans. I know there are many old-school thinkers out there who would rather die than pay interest to banks. I’d rather pay interest to banks as long as I can make my millions, than die poor. Banks are a necessary evil. There’s an old saying I love that goes something like this:

“If you are born poor, it was not your fault. If you die poor, it’s 100% your fault.” 

As long as you don’t bite more than you can chew and can make more than what you need to pay, you’ll most likely be fine. I don’t mind borrowing through my nose as long as I can gain an advantage.

At the same time, the best friend I have known since I was eight years old had just bought a house with his fiancée. It was an under-construction apartment, located next to a LRT station in Sentul. I was happy for him as he managed to buy a property at only 24 years old. I thought it was a great achievement for someone so young but at the same time I was jealous as he beat me to the punch by buying a property before I did. I’m a competitive fellow, and his purchase spurred me on. Since I also planned to get married in the near future, it made perfect sense that I should also start looking into buying properties. I was thrilled at the prospect of home ownership, but reality set me back as I realised that I only had RM2,000 in savings!

Raising capital 

Typically, a normal property purchase will require one to have approximately 15% of the purchase price as capital. This means if I want to buy a property worth RM200,000, I need to have at least RM30,000 cash capital. To illustrate this:

A 200,000 property purchase example
1. 10% down payment RM20,000
2. SPA legal fees + loan legal fees RM 7,000
3. Other incidentals RM 3,000
TOTAL RM30,000

Unlike my friend Wan, I hadn’t saved enough capital yet to start investing. Two years of self-discovery, three low-paying jobs and excessive spending left hardly any savings. So at the time I decided to buy my first property, I only had RM2,000 in savings. Realising this, I took drastic measures to reduce my expenses and managed to start saving around RM1,000 per month. With my existing RM2,000 in savings, I will need to save RM1,000 every month for 28 months to reach my RM30,000 target. It was a reasonable time frame for others, but I just couldn’t wait that long. “There has to be a faster way,” I thought.

So I started exploring my options. Borrowing from my dad or mum was out of the question, as they didn’t have that amount of cash. My girlfriend back then had saved considerable sum, but I knew she would be reluctant to lend me her hard-earned savings. She wouldn’t have RM28,000 to begin with, anyway. A personal loan was out of the question, as the 14% annual interest rate was just too ridiculous to me and I didn’t (and still don’t) like making the banks richer. Let’s not even talk about “ah longs” here, I don’t fancy having someone chasing me with parang while paying interest with my life.

However, I got my lucky break. One day, Wan called me up to ask for a favour. He wanted to purchase a Dell laptop online, but since he did not have a credit card for the purchase, he wanted to use mine in exchange for full cash payment. When he gave me the Dell brochure to indicate the exact laptop he wanted, I saw something on the brochure that represented a glimmer of hope for me to raise the RM28,000 at zero interest:

“12 months interest free instalment available with bank XXX credit card”

That’s when I realised that credit cards could be extremely useful, and I could use it to raise my RM30,000 capital in no time. I agree to take up Wan’s offer and purchased the Dell laptop, took RM2,400 in cash, and converted the purchase into 12 interest free monthly instalments. I thought that if I could replicate this multiple times, I would have my RM30,000 capital in no time.

I also learned that some electronic shops offered up to 36-month interest-free instalments on certain credit cards. One card also offered to convert any purchase of any item into 36 months of interest-free monthly instalments subject to a small processing fee. I quickly signed up for all these fantastic cards. Within three months, I had more than eight credit cards amounting to approximately RM35,000 in credit limit. While I didn’t need all of the cards I applied for, I didn’t see any harm keeping them when they didn’t cost me anything.

I replicated the same modus operandi several times more within the next three months. After two more laptops (RM5,000), a fridge (RM3,000) and my girlfriend’s family’s overseas trip (RM14,000), and RM3,000 from my own salary, I had accumulated over my RM288,000 in capital, almost at zero interest. My credit card monthly commitments now stood at close to RM1,200 per month at zero interest. Technically, it was a force-saving method. If I wasn’t being creative, I need close to two years to raise the close to RM30,000 capital, but thanks to credit cards, I got there my RM30,000 capital within five months.

Who says having too many credit cards is often a bad thing? 

Important disclaimer: I’m not advocating anyone to follow in my footsteps and start racking up credit card debts to build capital. This method of accumulating credit card debts comes should be used ONLY IF you can manage to ensure that you can meet the exact monthly instalment demands from the lender. I would like to highlight the potential risks of using this method to obtain capital:

• Paying unnecessary high interest to lenders
• Impact your CCRIS (Central Credit Reference Information System)
• Affect your borrowing capacity as you accumulate short-term borrowings
• Please seek professional and expert advice before embarking on this to understand the risks involved

Steps if you are buying property through agent

If you’re buying a props through an agency’s agent, this are the few step:

1. Check with the agency by calling the office number and verify the agent’s name with either the branch controller/admin/principal. If valid, then proceed next step. Otherwise, forget it.
2. during payment for the earnest deposit which is from 1-3% or vary, either u issue a cheque or a bank draft under the agency name, not to any personal name include the rightful owner UNLESS you’re dealing with the owner directly and u trusted the owner, again, at your own risk if u issue to personal name.
3. Sign the offer to purchase with the agency letterhead, and correct particular property you’re buying, double check with the address and clause. Add-in additional clause if needed. Photocopy a set of the cheque and the offer to purchase for yourself.
4. Now, wait for the agent to allow the vendor/owner to sign as acceptance. Time frame vary. But if the agent is serious and want to close deal fast, it wil be fast.
5. Once owner signed and accepted the deal, then ask a carbon copy for the offer to purchase.
6. Engaged a lawyer of your choice and pass the photocopied of offer to purchase with your IC to your lawyer, and give the lawyer the agent’s contact. From here, your lawyer will contact the agent and get anything from the agent include the vendor/owner’s contact, lawyer, etc etc.
7. Call up your lawyer for updates or you can ask the lawyer to email you everytime there is a new update.
8. Sign the SPA within 14-15days.

Bank part
1. If u have a good banker in hand, you can always ask the banker to give you a pre-approve loan before you make any payment or sign anything on a particular property.
2. Otherwise, the day after the vendor/owner has accepted the deal as in signed offer to purchase, then engage a banker of your choice and give them a photocopied of the offer to purchase. To save your time, you can apply few banks once in a day. So at least u use 1 day to do loan submission.
3. Once you’ve confirmed which bank to take, then pass the banker’s contact to your lawyer, or vice versa.