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This blogspot is a medium to share my thoughts and adventures apart from promoting my books. Below are the books which have been written or authored and published by myself.


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti".

ISBN 983-42031-0-1, Jun 2006


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Membela Syiar yang Asal"

ISBN 983-42031-1-x, May 2007


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?"

ISBN 978-983-42031-2-2, November 2007


It is interesting to note that while these books were written in Malay it has gained enough attention to merit being part of the collections of the American Library of Congress and National Library of Australia. Look here and here.


While the first three books were published by my own company, the fourth titled "Rumah Azan" was published in April 2009 by a company called Karnadya with the help of the Malaysian national literary body Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. It features beautiful pictures along with stories behind selected mosques which could be related to the history of Islam and the Malays alongside the formation of the Malaysian nation. Look at the article A collaboration of old collegemates - the book "Rumah Azan".


My fifth book "Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and Malay Sultanates", an English translation and adaptation of the Malay book "Ahlul Bait (Keluarga) Rasulullah SAW dan Kesultanan Melayu" authored by Hj Muzaffar Mohamad and Tun Suzana Othman was published early 2010. Look here... My 5th book is out! Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and the Malay Sultanates... . For more information check out my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU.



Like my fourth book "Rumah Azan", the sixth book "Kereta Api Menuju Destinasi" is also a coffee-table book which is published by the company Karnadya with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (the main Malay literary body in Malaysia). Coming out January 2011 it features pictures and stories on the adventure travelling by train to all of Peninsular Malaysia along with the interesting places which could be reached this way.


My seventh book "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" in turn is a coffee-table book which is written, editted, designed and has pictures taken by me. Coming out of the factory October 2011, this book which combines family history with history of places such as Singapura, Johor, Batu Pahat, Muar and in fact the history of the island of Java and England has been reviewed with me interviewed live in the program Selamat Pagi Malaysia at RTM1. Look at the article Siaran langsung ulasan buku "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" dan temu ramah di Selamat Pagi Malaysia. Some selected contents have been featured in Sneak peek "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah".


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The "Berpetualang ke Aceh" series of novels could be obtained in e-book form. Enter http://www.e-sentral.com/, click general novel and go to page 4. You can also type the word "Aceh" at the search box. Or click straight Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.


Saturday, September 19, 2009

The Aceh trip stories... in order from ground zero until the end...


Peace be upon you all. To commemorate tonight which has already entered the 1st Syawal of 1430 of the Hijriah year of the Islamic calender and the fact that the phase of story-telling regarding the trip to Aceh 15-22 June 2009 has already been completed recently, let all the links to the articles regarding the trip be presented here for the conveniece of readers ya.

To make it easy to follow what has happened as and when it has happened I'll combined entries from all my three blogspots CATATAN SI MERAH SILU , BERPETUALANG KE ACEH and SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) in the best order which I could present. Hopefully it will make a good read (or re-read) even though you might have followed it from the start. For now you have the benefit of hindsight and everything already laid out as God wanted.

Here also I would like to say happy celebrating Hari Raya to all faithful readers of this blogspot. I beg your pardon and forgiveness for me and my whole family for any mistakes made intentionally or without us realising it. May we all receive blessings from this holy festive month. For the record this is the 383rd article in this blogspot. Good night! :]


Introduction


Monday 15th June


Tuesday 16th June


Wednesday 17th June


Thursday 18th June


Friday 19th June


Saturday 20th June


Sunday 21st June


Closing, Monday 22th June
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Getting to know the Ahlul-Bait, family of Rasulullah SAW: Siti Fatimah

Just a pix nicked from the Net...

OK. It just happened that today is Malam Raya, the night before the Eid celebration of 1st Syawal of the Islamic calender and I've just completed another voluntary translation for the website http://www.shiar-islam.com/. So without much further ado here it is presented as I always do with such translations since the last 3-4 months or so ya...


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Getting to know the Ahlul-Bait, family of Rasulullah SAW: Siti Fatimah Azzahra

By Ustaz Syed Hasan Alatas
Translation by Radzi Sapiee

Allah said in the Quran:

“Let us summon our children and your children, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves, then let us invoke Allah’s curse upon the liars.” (Verse of Aali 'Imran:61)

This Mubahalah verse (literally a challenge asking God to be the judge and executioner) was revealed to support the Quranic truth regarding the actual history of Prophet Jesus AS. It was revealed in the 10th year of the Hijriah calender after a number of Christians from Najran opposed and threw lies at Prophet Muhammad SAW for asserting the truth regarding Prophet Jesus AS. For example, Muslims are taught that Jesus was just another prophet while the Christians claimed he is the only son of God! Furthermore they said Jesus died on the cross to redeem the sins of mankind while there is no such notion in Islam. Jesus was actually lifted up to the heavens while the person who betrayed him was made to look like him and got caught. He was the one put on the cross and died.

Thus Allah Almighty commanded Prophet Muhammad SAW to tell the Christians, let us bring our respective families to a valley and then pray to God to settle the matter once and for all. Whoever are the liars would be cursed. The Prophet brought his closest family members, his daughter Fatimah Azzahra, son-in-law and first cousin Saidina Ali bin Abi Thalib and his grandsons al-Hassan and al-Hussain. Rasulullah SAW carried Saidina Hussain who was still a small child while holding the hand of Saidina Hassan who was slightly older. Behind him walked Siti Fatimah Azzahra and Saidina Ali as they headed towards the valley they have agreed upon.
However the Mubahalah did not happen as the Najran Christians later backed out. Impressed by the aura and presence of the Prophet’s family, they were afraid that a huge calamity would befell them should they decide to continue with the challenge.

Siti Fatimah Azzahra who is the youngest daughter of the Prophet grew up along with Islam as the religion faced many challenges, some of it very dire and life-threatening. She was born on Friday 20 Jumadil-akhir, five years before the Prophet was raised to the position of Rasul, a messenger of Allah SWT. At the time the native Meccan tribe of Quraish were busy repairing and rebuilding the Kaa’bah which has suffered extensive damages. Siti Fatimah the beloved daughter of Rasulullah SAW was known as Assidiqah (the trusthworthy woman), Athahirah (the pure woman), al-Mubarakah (the one blessed by Allah) and of course Fatimah Azzahra which means the blooming scented flower.

Millions of Muslims, the community of the Prophet SAW then named their daughters Fatimah. Siti Fatimah Azzahra was born and raised under the influence of the revelations received by his father Muhammad SAW. Siti Fatimah was born and raised in the midst of the holy family. Siti Fatimah Azzahra saw with her own eyes how extreme the opposition and hurdles her father has to face fighting for Islam.

It happened once the Prophet SAW was humiliated, cursed, in fact animal droppings smeared on him while he was prostrating in worship of Allah. The then still young Siti Fatimah cried as she woefully tried to clean the body of the Prophet from all the filth thrown by the Quraish.


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Thursday, September 17, 2009

The journey back home from Aceh and aerial pictures...

Continued from the article Through the university town of Darussalam and on to the airport...


And so we have checked in and boarded the plane. Soon it was time to take off. Here's the view as we are about to reach 100 metres vertical or so...


As the plane made a spiral manouvre to climb up to the right optimal height, vistas began to open up...

It took only a minute or so to reach the ideal flying height of about 10,000 feet or 3,000 plus metres above sea level. Here you could see the backbone mountain range known as Bukit Barisan along with the airport strip in sight...



The plane continues south-eastwards. I believe the mountain called Seulawah lies somewhere under these clouds...



Soon we reached the coastal areas. A check with Google Earth shows it matches the terrains heading towards Bireuen...




I can't tell for sure where this is...





But from the profile of the river seen here I could say that Bireuen is just 13 km or so away...






OK. Again I lost bearing. I think much of the portion of this particular segment of flight is overland... while the sky at times was not so clear making it hard for me to pinpoint any landmark or recognisable unique terrain...




By the time I found my bearing again, the terrain matches the coastal area near Langsa which is some 400 km by road from Banda Aceh...





The plane started to cross the waters of the Straits of Melaka...







Soon we are above what looks like the terrain near Klang...













This should be are somewhere near Putrajaya...




The highway leading to KLIA, the airport in Sepang began to look obvious...










At last, touchdown!





It's good to be on home ground after 8 days abroad. Then again there's part of me that says Aceh is also my home ground if not the home ground of just my dear ancestors. Good night or rather good morning! It's almost 5 am when I typed this sentence. Take care...

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Through the university town of Darussalam and on to the airport...

Now we could go to the final day of my recent visit to Aceh. Monday 22nd June 2009, after checking out of the hotel and then spending some time with Kak Ann at her office in town its time to leave Banda Aceh for the airport...



The time then was already past 11 am if I remember correctly. While normally we should have been at the airport much earlier as our flight was scheduled to depart soon before noon, Kak Ann who frequently travel overseas especially Banda Aceh to Kuala Lumpur and back assured us that we could check-in late. Actually she sent her staff to do all the hard work while we continued conversing at her office. It was sometime and many times after her worried staff reminded us of the time that we finally made the move to the airport.

Oh. Remember this portion of the Aceh river? This time we took a bridge that is a few kilometres south of the one we crossed on Saturday as shown in the article To Lamuri and the fortress of Indrapatra... .



We took this bridge as it leads to the main road passing through the university town or rather suburb area of Darussalam...


Now, I don't know what Kopelma stands for but I do know Darussalam is a combination of Arab words meaning "abode of peace". For the record Aceh is also known as Aceh Darussalam since ancient times. The town of Darussalam refers to a university centre of commerce and activity which is situated a few kilometres south-east of Banda Aceh or so...



OK. Here I could see the campus of Syiah Kuala University also known as UnSyiah. Named after the venerable 17th century saintly person Sheikh Abdul Rauf Singkel who is also known as Syiah Kuala (look at the article Views around the tomb of Syiah Kuala... ) it is considered one of the main higher institution of learning in Aceh if not the foremost one.










The feel of a student town or suburb is very apparent here with many seen riding motorcycles around...






Now, I can't remember what university or institution this is...







But I understand there's a number of higher learning institutions at Darussalam.






Here it looks like the students are enjoying the sun. I understand that they've just finished having exams...






Here is part of the campus of a university named after another famous person 17th century AD Aceh. But knowing his history as rival to many Sufi masters and a bitter one at that too, I must say I am not amused to repeat his name...










We soon entered into a small rural road...






Rice or padi fields began to fill the view...







In the background looms the monumental mountain called Seulawah...








I'm going to miss this sight... of villagers men and women tending the padi fields using the old traditional way, sights which I remember could still be seen in parts of Malaysia up to the late 1970s before it practically disappeared in the name of modernisation and development...





We soon entered the main highway which connect the airport to Banda Aceh. While the newly-built highway leads all the way to the south-eastern fringe of the city, we rather use the small roads for shortcut and the rural views...







This monument which I have no idea stands for what signals that we are getting very near...





And here we are at the Bandara (Indonesian for aiport) Sultan Iskandar Muda named after the venerable 17th century Aceh ruler. Its time to check-in and leave Aceh taking all the fond memories with us away...


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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Enjoying some more Aceh traditional shows, this time as VIP guests at a political rally function...

OK. This one article should be enough to wrap up my activities in Aceh on Sunday 21 June 2009. Unlike previous days, this time me and wife decide to just rest in the hotel-room coming down only for breakfast at the in-house cafe and lunch just outside the hotel. But we still have a good night activity. Our host Kak Ann invited us for a dinner function where we get to sit at a VIP table. It is actually a political rally function in support of the incumbent in the race for the Indonesian presidential election.

However our interest lies more on the shows offered. Just like on Friday night where we crashed a private function (look at the article Enjoying Aceh traditional dance by crashing a private function... ), there were shows galore. This time we have extras apart from the fact that we were VIP guests. Among it is a traditional dabus show where the men displayed invulnerability to sharp objects such as swords and such accompanied by hypnotic trance-like chants and percussion music. So just check these videos out...




The opening...





Greetings for the VIP guests...





A religious themed dance by male percussionists...





The formations got more complicated an energetic...





The boys still going on strong...





A customary Quran recital...





A show of patriotism...





The local Bob Marley, Aceh's folk singer Rafly...





At times he sounded like Bob Dylan...





Time for the main course, dabus. But have to get into the mode first...





Now we're talking. Don't watch this if you are faint of heart...





Things heated up some more. Just couldn't breach a hole through that thick skin can you?





If you can watch all the video up to this I guess you can join the warriors cult. That's all...



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Getting to know the Ahlul-Bait, family of Rasulullah SAW: Introduction

Peace be upon you all. I've promised myself that after finishing a day's fill of story-telling regarding my trip in Aceh, I would do another voluntary translation for the Islamic website http://www.shiar-islam.com/ before telling stories of another day. So here' the translation I did just now. It happened to be the start of a series on the Ahlul Bait, the family of Prophet Muhammad SAW, a subject very dear to me.

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Getting to know the Ahlul-Bait, family of Rasulullah SAW: Introduction

By Ustaz Syed Hasan Alatas
Translation by Radzi Sapiee


Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. In the name of Allah the Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Assalamu'alaikum , Peace be upon you.

Allah said in the Quran: “Verily Allah wishes to remove all impurities from you, O people of the house and to purify you completely.” (Verses of al-Ahzab : 33)

The Ahlul Bait are family of the Prophet SAW very close to him. It is related by Ummu Salamah a wife of Rasulullah SAW that once he was at their house sleeping and wearing a blanket. Then came his daughter (from the deceased first wife Khadijah) Fatimah who brought a bowl of Khazirah, a type of food. Rasulullah SAW told Fatimah, "Call your husband and your two sons Hassan and Hussain". Fatimah then called them all.

While they were together sitting and eating with Rasulullah SAW then came the revelation as mentioned in the verse above. At the time Rasulullah SAW was holding the tip of the blanket which he had with him and started to cover them all. While holding his hands in supplication, he uttered a prayer. "O Allah these are my Ahlul Bait (members of my house) and my progenies, thus abolish all impurities from them and purify them with total purification".

Nabi SAW uttered this prayer thrice. Ummu Salamah then added: “I put my head under the cover but the Prophet SAW pulled away the blanket while saying ‘Verily you are in virtue’ twice”. (This was related by Thabrani who got the story from Ummu Salamah)

Al-Fakhrul Razi in his commentary Tafsir al-Kabir touched on what happened after the 132nd verse of Thaha was revealed to the Prophet. The verse said: “Ask your family members to do the prayers and be you patient in carrying it out.”

This is mentioned in a Hadith (saying) of the Prophet related by Hamad bin Salamah who received it from Ali bin Zaid who in turn received from Anas RA. It is said that after the verse was revealed, Rasulullah SAW would often call out to his family when passing the house of Ali and Fatimah. The Prophet asked them to do the prayers while repeating the Quranic verse which said: “Verily Allah wishes to remove all impurities from you, O people of the house and to purify you completely.”

Once there happened an incident which show the high degree of sacrifice Saidina Ali bin Abi Thalib, his wife Fatimah Azzahra and their two sons Hassan and Hussain are willing to make. While Fatimah was serving bread for them to break fast, there came a poor person, an orphan and a prisoner of war starving and asking for food. Immediately without any doubt their food was handed to the people leaving themselves without anything to eat. Thus came a Quranic revelation which says: “They gave out food which which they badly need, to the poor, the orphan and the prisoner of war. Verily they gave because of Allah, and did not expect any return nor saying of thanks.”

This is part of the ethics and excellent character of the family of Rasulullah SAW who are very close to him. Just take the example of Saidatuna Fatimah Azzahra. Although she is the beloved daughter of Prophet the skin of her hands often crack because of bailing and carrying water apart from milling wheat. Once it was suggested that she asked her father to give a servant to help out her chores. The Prophet did not comply. He just taught Fatimah Azzahra to recite the zikir (remembrance of Allah formula) of Subhanallah 33 times, Alhamdulillah 33 times, and Allahu Akbar 33 times.

Once it happened that an old man was taking abolution and this was observed by the Prophet SAW’s then young grandsons Hassan and Hussain. The way the old man took abolution was imperfect so this must be rectified. But how can you correct an older man which must be shown respect.

Thank God both kids are bright and have excellent character. They pretend to argue while taking abolution accusing the other of being imperfect in the way he took abolution. The old man who was nearby then asked them to repeat their abolution. He became perplexed to see the Prophet’s grandsons smooth way in doing it that he started questioning himself, maybe he was the one who did it imperfectly. The man then asked who the kids really are. Then only he knew these are the beloved grandsons of the Prophet who received direct tutelage from him in many useful matters.
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One more fortress to go, Benteng Iskandar Muda...

Continued from Walking to Malahayati's fortress, the Benteng Inong Balee...

Having spent some time at Benteng Inong Balee @ the fortress of Laksamana Keumala Hayati @ Malahayati, its time to head home... I mean back to Banda Aceh...


We walked back to where the car was parked at. Still a distance away. This gave me time to digest what has been happening that day... the fortress that is Benteng Indrapatra, the tomb of Malahayati and the nearby hill-slopes which gave me a long deja vu, the fortress of Malahayati @ Benteng Inong Balee. Now it seems I MUST go to one more fortress before I could truly call it a day...

You see, the Saturday trip that day was originally made only to visit Benteng Inong Balee. I came to know about it after reading some materials on it back in Malaysia a few years before. I only learned about Indrapatra after some time in Banda Aceh. And just an hour earlier before going to the Malahayati fortress did I realised her tomb exist around the vicinity.


Now. I have long came to the conclusion that Laksamana Malahayati also has a secret royal identity. Now it's time to connect the dots especially because of a certain feeling and inspiration which I got when visiting her tomb. It happened that the travel pamphlet I brought along shows there's one more fortress I have yet to visit close by. As it is, the fortress is situated on the way back to Banda Aceh!



If I remember corrcetly, at this juncture we are already back inside the car and moving out towards the main road. Just stopped as I couldn't get enough of the view over the Lamuri bay...




Soon we were back on the main road to Banda Aceh...





Pass the houses at Pelabuhan (harbour of) Malahayati...










Over the river Krueng Raya whose mouth practically marks the western tip of the bay...




We looked for the junction which lead to the next and last fortress we intend to visit. Thank God the pamphlet gave a good idea where it is situated at, close to Krueng Raya...







Ah. There it is, direction to the fortress Benteng Iskandar Muda...





A look behind at the road we have to take to reach here...





And here it is, the fortress which is named after Aceh's most well-known ruler, the venerable conqueror Sultan Iskandar Muda Mahkota Alam (ruled 1607-1636). As per the pattern in my last few postings, more pictures of this proud monument would be presented in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) after this.

Anyway this is the last place I went to in and around the bay of Lamuri. Thus this is the last story here regarding my Saturday activities in Aceh ya. Just for my record, this is the 377th article in this blogspot. Take care! :]

p/s: Later on in the night I found the old pamphlet from Aceh which features the fortresses I've highlighted here. It says the official name of bay is Teluk (bay of) Lamreh. Never mind, it still refers to an area which is said to be the seat of the ancient kingdom of Lamuri. Thus calling it Teluk Lamuri or the bay of Lamuri is not far off the mark. Besides don't the words Lamreh and Lamuri sounded almost the same?

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