Agora

Hypatia (played by Rachel Weisz) was a woman philosopher who was really obsessed on proving that earth moves. At the end of the story, she managed to do that.

My obsession was h/ever to prove that Quran had already provided the answer about the movement of earth. Instead of being stucked with philosophical debate on whether the earth moves or not and how does it move, there are many verses in the Quran which state that earth does move. So as the moon, the sun, the stars and other planets in this large universe.

We had to bear in mind h/ever, Quran was revealed long after Hypatia’s mind breaking’s finding. There might be allegation that what was written in the Quran was a copy of what was found by people before the coming of Islam. Fortunately, this allegation is refutable but it is not my intention to discuss it here.

Getting back to the main concern, the movie itself, Hypatia was an atheist. She believed in philosophy. At the time when Christianity emerged as the next religion, there were many obstacles faced by Hypatia in her course to fight for what she believed in inter alia, religious extremism and gender discrimination. Because of this, she was accused of witchcraft and was eventually killed. A tragic ending for such a brilliant scholar. Finding the truth at that time was considered a taboo. An offence against the word of God.

H/ver, if we looked into the verses of Quran concerning what was sought by Hypatia, we’ll find that Quran treat such thing differently. Quran encouraged us to seek knowledge. It is because of this encouragement, Muslims scholars were born. He created everything for one purpose. To understand. (See Quran 3:27, 22:61, 31:29, 35:13, 39:5, 50:7, 79:30, 21:33, 25:61-62, 36:38-40, 2:164, 2:258, 3:190, 6:96, 10:5, 14:33, 16:12, 36:38-40, 39:5, 91:1-4) .

On Hypatia accused of witchcraft...

A blatant move by the Christian at that time. It is not very clear from the movie how such accusation came about. Is it because she believed in something other than the Biblical God? Is it because she managed to influence not only one, but three men to support her either directly or silently? Prophet Muhammad was also accused of the same thing. Ironically, the reason being was because he preached the word of God. Hypatia said that the earth moves. Others believed otherwise. Prophet Muhammad preached the words of God which include the same thing. People still wanted to reject him. Get the point? People just don’t want to accept the truth.

On gender discrimination against Hypatia...

The Bible, as read by Bishop Cyril in the movie, wants woman to submit and keep silent. I believe the verse cited was interpreted literally and not thorough. I did not study Bible but I am against gender discrimination. Islam treats woman differently. We may make a slight comparison between Hypatia and Sayidatina Aishah R.A. (Prophet Muhammad PBUH wife) whereas after the death of the Prophet, Aishah became one of the references to study the traditions/sunnah of the Prophet. She was not killed nor treated with gender discrimination. She was even called Ummul Mukminin (The Mother of Believers) for her role.

On the fight between Jews and Christians...

The Jews claimed that without them there will be no Christians. Jesus was one of them. As such, they were more superior to the Christians. The Christians then counterclaimed by saying that the Jews slayed Jesus. As such, they should be condemned. The battle of egos went on and on until a war erupted between them. During the time of the Prophet Muhammad, after the pilgrimage to Madinah, the Christians and the Jews were not condemned. Instead, they were allowed to stay in the state of Madinah. Of course, there was an agreement between them to ensure the safety of the society as a whole. The first written constitution in history. The Constitution of Madinah. From this, we learnt that it is important to have written rules which lay down the basic rights and responsibilities of people inside a state. If not, there will be anarchy as what happened in Agora.

The Inheritors of The Will of Fire- Naruto Shippuuden Movie 3

The Inheritors of The Will of Fire connotes the never give up attitude within oneself. Naruto, once again defying all odds, tried to save Kakashi from being assimilated with Hiruko. The dilemma h/ever was that, Kakashi was willing to sacrifice himself to protect others.

Those that break the rule are considered a scum. But, those who leave their comrades in order not to break the rules are worse. My opinion… depends on what rule are you talking about. We must differentiate between principle rules and subsidiaries. In certain circumstances, we may break the subsidiary rules. Example of the situation is when choosing a lesser of the two evils.

What was portrayed in the movie is a good example of this. Kakashi and the others believe that by sacrificing one’s live (Kakashi’s), others’ live may be protected. H/ever, Naruto saw beyond this. He didn’t want the future generation to know that their predecessors allowed sacrifice to be made in order to save their lives. Why not save the others without making any sacrifice or at least have a try at it.

What Naruto wanted was that the Will of Fire will continually be instilled inside the future generations so that they will live with dignity and die with honor. Never give up finding a better solution towards our problems. There’s always a better solution. The Will of Fire could be felt burning inside while watching this movie. Masashi Kishimoto had never failed to inspire through his artworks. For me, this movie is the best of Naruto franchise so far.

The Associate

Title: The Associate
Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Arrow Books
Year Published: 2009

I am a fan of J.G. so there’s no doubt that I would make this as one of my collections. The Associate brought back the memory of the book that made the author famous and defined the legal thriller genre: The Firm.

This novel taught us that everybody has secrets and that secrets might haunt you back should it be revealed to the wrong persons.

Kyle McAvoy, the main character, portrayed the young, idealistic law graduates, almost every legal student dreamed of becoming at the beginning of their terms and fading towards the end of it. H/ever, his past history, when we were so young, reckless and stupid, haunted him back.

We can’t just erase our history. Should we have a dark secret, better keep it to ourselves. I hope this one will make it to the silver screen. Along with the King of Torts and The Innocent Man.

Dari Paris Dengan Cinta

Another film to propagate fight vs terrorism. The Good Guy is of course The U.S. The Bad Guy… some Pakistanis with the help of a gorgeous French woman, Caroline.

It started off with main character being tasked to do the ‘dirty’ job for the government of US. He had a fiancé, Caroline. Little he knew that this girl was actually a member of a terrorist group who intended to attack American convoy at an international summit. (Tsk…)

It was a non-stop action all the way since the main character met his partner, Max (John Travolta). Busting a group of drug dealers and finally met with their actual nemesis. I didn’t know that French allows 5 gram of coke for personal consumption.

A point that is interesting to be raised here is that Caroline was being brainwashed by the alleged terrorist. In a sad telephone conversation with her fiancé, she revealed that she met a guy who told her about his faith. She finally found a purpose of life and felt at peace.

Although, it is not said what faith is it, it is clear throughout the movie that the director tried to imply that the faith is Islam. Pakistanis, Arabic words including Allah’s name written on the walls, some utterance in Arabic before the terrorist committed a suicide bombing… what else can you imply?

Yes, you’ll find peace in Islam. You’ll find purpose if you commit yourself to this religion of peace. But what was portrayed in the movie can be misleading should the viewer not treat it with critical mind.It is unfortunate to see that some people were used to serve a purpose they can hardly understand. What happened to Caroline can be seen happening to our local girls who had been used in drug trafficking. A soul searching for the purpose of life can be easily manipulated should it falls to the wrong person.

Jalan-Jalan Cari Masjid-Episod 2

Pada mulanya, saya mahu memasukkan entri ini seminggu selepas Episod 1 dimasukkan. Namun, atas permintaan seorang sahabat, saya mengubah perancangan tersebut dengan memasukkan entri itu pada hari ini. Saya ucapkan terima kasih kepadanya sekiranya dia membaca entri ini kerana kalau tidak kerana permintaan tersebut, saya mungkin merasa bahawa apa yang saya tulis ini cuma syok sendiri.

Untuk episod kali ini, saya akan membawa anda ke sebelah timur Singapura. Kalau episod pertama dahulu, stesen MRT yang paling berdekatan adalah Bugis, maka apa yang anda perlu lakukan untuk ke destinasi seterusnya adalah menaiki MRT dari Bugis terus ke Tampines. Masjid tersebut terletak tidak jauh dari stesen tersebut. Naik bas pun boleh tetapi saya lebih gemar berjalan kaki. Sebabnya, masa yang diambil untuk berjalan kaki tidak sampai 10 minit. Kalau naik bas, kena tunggu lagi. Kena bayar tambang lagi. Tak berbaloi untuk dikorbankan hanya untuk perjalanan yang sejauh satu perhentian bas sahaja.

Eksterior masjid ini diwarnakan biru sebiru air laut di East Coast Park. Diberi nama Darul Ghufran ataupun dalam Bahasa Arab yang bermaksud Taman Keampunan, masjid ini merupakan tempat kegemaran saya sewaktu hari tidak bekerja.

Dari segi kedudukan, masjid ini merupakan yang paling strategik yang pernah saya jumpa di Singapura ini. Masjid ini terletak di dalam kawasan tumpuan ramai. Sekiranya anda turun dari MRT untuk ke masjid ini, anda akan mendapati bahawa terdapat 3 pusat membeli-belah di sekeliling stesen tersebut; Tampines One, Tampines Mall dan Century Square. Jadi, bolehlah anda menunaikan segala kemahuan dan keperluan anda di sana.

Di sebelah masjid itu pula terdapat pusat aktiviti sukan. Ada stadium, ada kompleks renang, ada gelanggang street soccer, ada gymnasium. Jadi, bagi yang gemarkan aktiviti-aktiviti sedemikian, maka amat mudahlah bagi mereka. Apabila azan sudah berkumandang, masjid pun dekat sahaja. Maka, berhentilah bola dari ditendang-tendang. Begitu juga yang sedang berenang-renang.

Kemudahan sudah ada, kenapa kufur dengan nikmat yang dikurnia? Jumpa lagi di dalam episod ketiga pula. Ke mana destinasi saya seterusnya? Rahsia…

Jalan-Jalan Cari Masjid-Episod 1

Terletak di pinggir North Bridge Rd. Masjid Negara De Facto bagi negara Singapura. Masjid Sultan.

Tidak syak lagi, masjid ini adalah yang terbaik untuk dipaparkan di dalam episod pertama memandangkan berdasarkan kedudukan dan kepentingannya kepada masyarakat Singapura.

Saya tidak akan membincangkan masjid ini dari segi sejarah mahupun anatominya. Apa yang saya akan paparkan di sini adalah sesuatu yang lebih praktikal untuk kehidupan dan kemudahan kita sebagai masyarakat Muslim, khususnya yang pertama kali berkunjung ke negara kota ini. Tambahan pula, faktor-faktor sejarah mahupun senibina masjid ini boleh didapati maklumatnya dengan mudah dan blog saya ini bukanlah salah satu daripada sumber tersebut.

Apa yang ingin saya katakan di sini adalah lokasi masjid ini dan sigfifikannya kepada kehidupan sehari-hari terutama sekali kepada musafir-musafir yang gemar berkelana.

Di sekeliling masjid itu kebanyakannya merupakan premis perniagaan. Hotel yang paling dekat adalah Golden Landmark Hotel yang hanya berada di seberang jalan sahaja. Sekiranya anda terasa lapar, di hadapan masjid itu terdapat sebuah restoran mamak yang agak terkenal. Anda boleh mencuba Murtabak Singapura di sana. Jika tidak, di sekeliling masjid itu bersepah-sepah kedai makan yang boleh menjadi pilihan anda.

Bagi yang gemarkan sejarah, masjid ini sendiri terkenal dengan sejarahnya yang tersendiri. Istana Kampong Glam pula hanya terletak di bahagaian belakang masjid ini.

Bagi yang gemar membeli-belah, seperti yang saya katakan tadi, di sekeliling masjid ini kebanyakannya adalah premis perniagaan. Jika anda lebih gemarkan tempat membeli-belah dengan hawa dingin, anda hanya cuma perlu berjalan kaki beberapa minit ke Bugis Junction ataupun Illuma. Kalau mahukan barang-barang murah ala-ala Petaling Street, di hadapan Bugis Junction, terletaknya Bugis Street yang menjual barang-barang sedemikian. Sudah tentunya anda boleh melanjutkan perjalanan beli-belah anda ke Sim Lim Square dan kawasan-kawasan sekelilingnya jika anda mahu.

Apa yang mahu saya katakan di sini adalah, kedudukan masjid ini yang cukup strategik di mana ia berada berdekatan dengan kawasan membeli-belah, tempat makan, tempat sejarah, hospital dan juga stesen MRT. Jadi, apa masalahnya untuk anda berhenti seketika di masjid tersebut untuk menunaikan solat yang tidak sampai 10 minit daripada masa anda setelah penat melancong ataupun melencong?

Kemudahan sudah ada. Kenapa kufur dengan nikmat yang dikurnia? Jumpa lagi di dalam Episod 2 pula!

Jalan2 Cari Masjid (Singapura)-Episod Pengenalan

Kalau di Malaysia, masjid bersepah-sepah di sana sini. Kalau tiada masjid pun, masih ada surau/musolla di tepi-tepi jalan, shopping centre ataupun stesen petrol sebagai tempat untuk menunaikan kewajipan lima waktu. Cukup mudah tapi masih susah nak ditunaikan.

Bagaimanapun, berbeza dengan Singapura, tiada surau/musolla di tempat membeli-belah. Stesen petrol pun jangan harapla.. Maka ini dijadikan alasan untuk tidak menunaikan solat pada waktunya. Saya mendapati semua itu tidak benar. Sebenarnya, kebanyakan masjid-masjid di Singapura terletak di tempat yang cukup strategik. Soalnya, mahu atau tidak?

Oleh yang demikian, saya telah memulakan jelajah saya ke negara yang sekangkang kera ini untuk mencari masjid-masjid dan memberi input sedaya yang mungkin sebagai kemudahan kepada Muslim yang MAHU solat.

Jadi, enjoy!