Mission 2019 wrap up.

Wrapping up "Mission 2019", which was to visit as many waterfalls in Malaysia as possible (as mentioned in the first post here).

Well, we only had time for 5 waterfalls in Malaysia, 2 in Japan and three disappointing waterfalls in Koh Samui.

The disappointing finds in Koh Samui was not mentioned in the post on Koh Samui (here & here), but we did visit three of their waterfalls there. Unfortunately, it was dry season in Koh Samui at that time and consequently there was not much "water falling", as it were. One was only a trickle and the other two was too murky.

One of the waterfall we visited in Koh Samui.

While in Osaka earlier this year, we visited two waterfalls, one in the outskirts of Osaka city (here) and another one in Kobe (here). If you are ever in Osaka or Kobe, and you are nature lovers like me, these two waterfalls are highly recommended.

However, as we were there in early spring, it was still too cold to enjoy the water directly. But for hiking enthusiasts and nature lovers, the beauty and tranquil hiking trails are a welcome break from the hustle & bustle of the city and work.

The five waterfalls we visited in Malaysia this year were Lepoh, Serendah, Kanching, Tengkorak & Pelepah Kiri.
Serendah & Kanching are recommended for a relaxing hiking and the waterfalls were, as always, exhilarating.   
If you want a bit of a challenge, then, Lepoh, Tengkorak & Pelepah Kiri is for you.
But as always, the waterfalls were welcome rewards.

All in all, it was a "productive year" in the travel & relaxation department. Mother Nature, as always, is nurturing to the souls, if you take the time to know her. And when you are in her domain, remember;

Take nothing but pictures,
Leave nothing but footprints,
Keep nothing but memories,
Kill nothing but time.

Salam.

Sumpah Laknat.

When God put Man on this Earth as khalifah or vicegerent, He wants Man to take care of Earth and its residents, humans and animals and the environment.

One of these duties is to ensure justice to victims of crimes through the rule of law. God does not want Man to refer to Him every time a crime occurs. God gives Man intelligence to investigate, the power of logic to deduce and infer from available evidence in order to bring criminals to justice.

Imagine a world where every time a criminal is accused of a crime, he can get away from worldly punishment simply by uttering a so called Sumpah Laknat, whereby he says he will be doomed to eternal torment by God if he does indeed do the crimes.

That may be so, but if we employ this procedure to resolve all crimes, leaving everything to God to exact retribution in the Hereafter, then what is the point of God appointing Man as his vicegerent?

For those of you who says that the perpetrators of crimes will not escape God's justice in the Hereafter, just because he utters Sumpah Laknat, and that we should treat the person as if he is innocent just because of that Sumpah, then you have a serious case of delusions. God's justice, wherever or whenever it is meted out, belongs to God.

On the other hand, justice on this Earth is a human responsibility and a right of the victim. It is the responsibility of the living to "avenge" the dead according to the rule of law. Otherwise, there is no point in God making Man vicegerent or khalifah on this Earth.

So, I do not know about you.
But I give zero weight to the Sumpah Laknat utters by any person accused of any crime.
(A murderer who murders can just as easily lies, even to God. He already destroys God's trust in him as vicegerent by murdering one of God's creation, another human being. It will be easy then to destroys God's trust by lying.)

I will rely on the evidence and hope that justice will be served, here and now on this Earth.

 

The cringe that is "Malu apa Bossku".

I cringe whenever people say, even jokingly, "Malu apa bossku".
Even when it is used in the context of encouragement to do something positive.

The origin of the phenomenon of "Malu apa bossku" is an indicator of the moral
standard of this country, or to put it bluntly, the lack of moral standard.

Its origin has "baggage" and it implies do not be ashamed when you commit a crime or do something immoral. Those who first coined the phrase do not see anything wrong in the acts that was done by their leader, even though it was as clear as daylight, that they cheer him on, "Malu apa bossku" in that condescending tone that implies there is nothing to be
ashamed of, since, in their mind, no wrongs were committed.

If you uphold a truly good value system, you should feel ashamed or embarrassed when you commit a crime.
If you uphold a truly good value system, you should stop supporting leaders who are clearly corrupt and who commit crimes to cover up their corruption.
If you uphold a truly good value system, you should demand explanation from your leaders for perceived hypocrisy and if no clear explanations are given, you should stop supporting them or at least criticise the hypocrisy instead of making excuses for them.
If you uphold a truly good value system, you would never say that breaking the law is OK as long as you are not caught by the authorities.

In western countries, those who are accused or perceived to have acted illegally or immorally, have the decency to resign from public office, even if they were not prosecuted.
In Japan, two hundreds ago, the shame of such a situation would drive them to commit harakiri. Personal honour and integrity is their highest calling and without them, life is meaningless.

But now, we in Malaysia, turned illegal acts and crimes into humour to make it acceptable and palatable. It is not even satire, which is commonly used to shame those who deserved to be shamed.
It is just plain good-natured, joking around type of humour as if nothing wrong were committed. The humour, in fact, is used to wash away the shame, to make the corruption shameless and acceptable.

"Malu apa bossku" may have been appropriated by the general public as satire to ridicule the corrupt. But now people are using them even to encourage positive behaviour that may be deemed embarrassing or caused by shyness (for example first time public speaking).

It is commendable to encourage positive behaviour, but using a phrase that has shameful origin is cringey. I do not want to be uptight, but I wish people would stop using that phrase and find some other neutral phrase for positive encouragement, like "Good job!" or "Never say never!" or a simple loud cheering.

That is just my two cents worth of ranting.

Ciao.

Scientific verses in the Quran: Part I

Muslims always take pride and love to point out to others the scientific miracles in the Quran.
These Muslims assert that the scientific verses are proofs that the Quran is from God, since 1400 years ago, these scientific facts were supposedly not known to human then.

Well, 1400 years have passed.
All these facts and so much more scientific facts that are not in the Quran have been discovered.

Are we Muslim always going to use these same scientific facts as proof of the authenticity of the Quran?
Is it the only reason why God revealed these facts?
So that Muslims can just sit around on their asses while non-Muslims do the fun scientific stuff, and then when these non-Muslim scientists discovered something, we would just sit up, and shout "Aha!...THAT WAS MENTIONED IN THE QURAN...SEE!... THIS PROVES THAT QURAN REALLY IS FROM GOD... THIS PROVES GOD EXIST...!"

And then, after having done shouting, we go back to our small insignificant lives, content that we have contributed to humanity's progress just by shouting those assertion.

It is a shame.
We are now just using the Quran to prop up our ego as a society that is now falling behind scientifically and technologically. Way, way behind...

The Quran is more than just a guide on how to live.
It is so much more.
When God says to look at how birds can fly (67:19, 16:79, 24:41), how the mountain stand (27:88, 35:27, 88:19), how the earth has many coloured layers (16:13, 35:27, 39:21), how the "heaven" works (3:190-191,30:22, 34:09), etc, it is an imperative to go explore and discover.

To be curious.
To ask questions.
Like a true scientist.

And not just to answer those questions that God asked in the Quran, but to find new questions about the world and the universe and answer them.

That is why those scientific verses are there.

As it is, the western non-Muslim scientists are living the Islamic life as per God's commandment.
They are doing what God intended us to do.
So, who is more Islamic?

I once had a theological "discussion" with one of my friends.
When he cannot answer a question, he simply said "sometime we cannot use "akal" to reason out this thing".
I felt frustrated with that statement.
Sadly, many preachers use the same tag line.
It implies Muslims cannot use "akal" or reason.
This is a dangerous thing to say.

The Quran never say do not use reason.
The Quran encourages us to use reason (2:164, 2:242 and many other verses). 
Those who do not use reason, the Quran says are "deaf, dumb and blind" (2:171) and "the worst beast" (8:22) and "an abomination" (10:100).

If we do not know something, even about God, the answer is NOT "we cannot use reason".
The correct answer is "I do not know" and/or "I will find out".
There is no shame in admitting we do not know something.

Men have been trying to prove the existence of God scientifically and/or philosophically since ancient history. From Aristotle & Plato to Ibnu Sina, Al-Ghazali & Ibnu Rushdi to Stephen C. Meyer (and many more).
All these men, never say "I do not know" and stop thinking and not use the brains that God has given them.
They set out to find answers.
Scientifically and/or philosophically.
Using logic and reason.
Using their brains.

Never say "cannot think or cannot use akal".
Do not be afraid to use God's greatest gift to us.
It's that thing in your head, the brain.

Kimse Bilmez (Nobody Knows).

KIMSE BILMEZ
Bulut geçti, gözyaşları kaldı çimende,
Gül rengi şarap içilmez mi böyle günde?
Seher yeli, eser yırtar eteğini gülün,
Güle baktıkça çırpınır yüreği bülbülün.
Bu yıldızlı gökler ne zaman başladı dönmeye
Kimse bilmez, kimse bilmez...


English translation;

NOBODY KNOWS
The cloud has passed and left its tears on the grass,
Isn't it one of those days to drink a rose wine?
Early morning wind blows and tears the petals of the rose,
Looking at the rose, the nightingale's heart flutters,
When have these starry nights started revolving?
Nobody knows, nobody knows...


(Lyrics was inspired by a poem from "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam".)


The universe is vast.
While we do not know everything about the universe, we know a lot more now compared to 100 or 200 years ago.

In ancient times, the Chinese thought that eclipses happen because dragons were trying to eat the moon.
Ancient wise men came up with constellations to help them navigate.
Ancient Asian civilisation count times using the moon cycles.
Then, people in the northern hemisphere with temperate climate found that counting the years using the sun is more useful and the solar calendars were invented.

Astronomers of the Islamic empires observed the heaven and recorded the stars and gave them names.
Galileo and Copernicus also observed the heaven and revolutionised not just our understanding of the heaven but also, arguably, broke the chains of religious dogma that stifled the modern age of scientific enquiry (with their heliocentric model of the solar system).

Newton, with his law of gravity and the Gravitational Constant, and Hubble with his observation of the expansion of the universe, expanded our understanding of the movement of stellar bodies.

Einstein, with his Theory of Relativity, Stephen Hawking and their contemporaries also expanded our understanding of the universe.

The universe is not just vast.
The universe is infinite.
It makes our existence almost insignificant.
But do not let it make your life insignificant.

When you snuggle in your warm bed after the morning rain, admire the beauty of the rose petals and listen to the heart flutter of a nightingale, do not just look or listen.

Have a glass of your favourite drink and just live.