CONVERTS TO ISLAM; the new guardians of the faith…

“You are the sha’itans, not me,” red-faced, he screamed at those in the mosque who were pointing fingers at him. “I am a new Muslim. You should teach me not to ridicule and call me names.” The Indians in the Jama’a tried to calm him down.

Although I didn’t hear the story firsthand, I doubled over laughing when his wife told it to me.

“Next time, you pray in another mosque,” his wife told him.

In Saudi Arabia, we call the places where car repair shops are concentrated “Industrial areas.” You find small mosques in such areas.

He was not adequately instructed on what to do when praying in a group (Jama'). He was very slow because he was still in the process of memorizing the prayers in Arabic. So, in the mosque, while everybody was in Sujjod (bowing/prostrating), he was still standing, LOL!

As I am not getting younger, I've made appointments to visit friends and relatives whenever possible. My uncle must be at least 80 years old, one of the few of my mother’s many siblings still around. Some say he is senile and bedridden, but guess what? I found him sitting in bed. Mounted a few meters away on top of an old closet was a small 12” Television. If he can hear and see that far and understands what he watches, he is not senile. He is in full command of his intelligence.

“These Muslim converts know more about Islam than most people I know,” he said. I smiled. He was watching a Muslim convert lecture on Islam (cable TV), and yes, the lecture was in Cebuano/Visayan, meaning my uncle is sane, not senile: December 26, 2013.

If there is one factor that has the light of Islam shine brightly in a profoundly far-reaching way, it’s the World Wide Web…the internet. Although the net is a two-edged sword, it has delivered the message of Islam in a positive light more than it has hurt the faith. The more Islam’s detractors attack it on the net, the more Islam gets adherents. It seems like the trick is to get your attention for whatever reason, and then you get hooked…the truth grabs you.

Not all converts to Islam are genuine, though. Some did it for reasons of their own that had nothing to do with true belief. I remember back in the early 80s when I was new in KSA. Our hospital had a big party for 8 Filipinos who converted to Islam. Someone told them that they would get 4,000 Riyals from the government if they converted to Islam. Tents were set up around the hospital, with special guests from the Ministry of Health in attendance. It’s sad to say that none of them really adhered to the faith. 

I have seen their likes come and go, but many I witnessed hang on to it, especially those who become almost fanatic. You see them on television. You find them debating the unbelievers in the streets. You hear them deliver the message to invisible audiences on the radio. They are in the mosques to pray and, more often than not, to provide the qut’ba (sermon). They lead the prayers. They are the new guardians of Islam, the new messengers of the faith.

My friend’s experience in the mosque was not the end of it. Because he has been here in Saudi Arabia for a long time, he saw Muslims pray anywhere when the A’than is called. 

He parked his car on the side of the road and, after ablution, spread his carpet and began praying. Saudis drove by, stoned him, with some making a hit. His handler at the Abha Da’awa Center told him to get the car's plate number the next time anyone did. In the early days of the Prophet’s ministry, he was stoned by the unbelievers in Taif.

https://www.amazon.com/Nosca-Khalid/e/B01NA7APYQ

VHONG was obviously set up…

Vhong obviously was set up for what else, money or if rumor is true that Denise and Cedric are lovers; a love triangle. Cedric seem to be the real bad boy; a habitual criminal with previous history of copycat crime of violence to exhort money from celebrities who would rather pay up than to be in the public eye. A witness and other CCTV footage showed that the cars of Cedric and his band of criminals were already in the vicinity about an hour before Vhong showed up. When Denise left shortly after Vhong arrived in her condo unit; she didn’t look like someone running away from a rapist. Observe her facing the mirror inside the elevator. Cedric Lee is not as genius criminal as he thinks he is for not taking into account the CCTV cameras that track their every move in the building. (5 minutes video clip from 24oras)

THE GOOD LIFE…

If you enjoy the sunset as much as the rising sun mesmerizes you, everything in between is just the fill of a cup of joy. NK

Happiness is extreme; joy would be more fitting for one living in bliss. NK

Throughout history, man has tried in vain to create ‘Nirvana/heaven’ on earth. NK

The utopian world exists only in the mind. It does not exist in the real world. A homeless man stumbling upon a discarded sofa where he can pass the night in comfort is no less happy than a rich man screaming at the hotel maintenance for the humming of an old air-conditioner that gave him a sleepless night.  A street boy who picks up a discarded half-consumed burger from the garbage is no less happy than the discontented customer who left it uneaten. We all have our moments of bliss. NK

Kings and emperors have promised their subjects heaven on earth. They have slaughtered millions trying to achieve that goal, only to create hell that makes the angels cry in heaven. NK

The USA waged wars on all continents. Every US president has promised to damn the rest of the world if it must to protect a single American life; to safeguard the USA’s democratic way of life. “They (Muslims) hate us,” President Bush thundered, “because of our (utopian) way of life,” and I NK says LOL! America’s utopian way of life is a farce to the extreme. Good-hearted young men and women join the USA’s military to save for a college education. The government sends them either to die in war or be forever scarred by the horrors of war. The government turned them into repentant murderers. Bothered by their conscience, many lose their sanity, while many others are physically disabled for life. NK

There has to be something absolutely wrong with a super-power nation lording it over the rest of us while living in the fantasy world of animation, where every time, it’s number one (Frozen) at the box office. Imagine Mickey Mouse, lord of the chain that shackles the world. NK

I can define the good life in only two words, and most, if not all, of mankind will agree with me: “worry-free,” in which case, no life is truly good, but hey, life is a joy. The trick is to tread along the path of life without falling into its many holes, and if and when one tumbles down, he must get up as quick as he fell. Defining the “Good Life” is futile because you define beauty as being “…in the eyes of the beholder,” and so is the good life. NK

When I was young, I used to visit my uncle’s (Pondiong) family in the Barrio. My cousins knew how much I enjoyed riding their ‘albino water buffalo,’ so whenever I showed up, they would hand me its rope to graze. Looking back, riding the red-skinned white beast was a joy that I cherish to this day. It is no less nostalgic than driving my car in the middle of Makati’s traffic.

NK

JIHAD

Returning from a battle successfully won, the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) turned to his men and said, “You have left the lesser Jihad, now you are coming to the greater Jihad, the struggle against yourself,” meaning the battle against your own demons…and that is the greater jihad.

If you are a drug addict, a womanizer, an alcoholic, a gambler, a corrupt politician, or simply a smoker, you know that battling your own demons is a war that very few can win. It is a jihad that is easier said than done, and many, except for a few, succumbed to it in the end. Not only does it destroy oneself, but it also causes pain and sometimes destroys the people around you, much like collateral damage in times of war. It is a jihad you and the people around you must wage to victory or be destroyed.

Instead of quoting Moses telling the Pharaoh to let his people go, Cory Aquino, after being sworn in as president, could have better quoted the prophet of Islam: “the jihad against our corrupted ways must now begin, and that is the greater jihad.” Pork Barrel…anyone?

The word jihad has been around for as long as the Arabic language was spoken, but it has never been as abused as it is in recent times, thanks to the Western media that recast it with malevolent meaning. Jihad simply means the struggle against evil, either of tyrannical kings or the tyranny of oneself.

Saladin (Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub) was a jihadist who struggled and fought to win Jerusalem from the unheavenly grips of the crusading demons from Europe; they who slaughtered Jerusalem’s original inhabitants of Jews and Muslims.

Osama Bin Laden was a Jihadist who fought against the tyranny of empires, first against the Russians and later against the American empire. Not only did he contribute to the downfall of the Russian empire (Russia’s defeat in Afghanistan), but he also pauperized the American empire beyond repair: 17 trillion dollars in debt and counting. For the victims of the beasts of empires, OBL was a superhero.

Jihad, with its malevolent meaning, is a modern creation of the Western media, since the word ‘Moro’ applied to the Muslims of the Philippines was a Spanish creation.  It is an intellectual conditioning where repetitiveness becomes as sticky as glue. Continued use of such words not only becomes acceptable, but it also becomes the word of the day. “Jihad” becomes acceptable to whoever struggles against their leaders and governments perceived to be deviating from their own brand of Islam. The West has successfully created chaos (fitna) in the midst of Islam.

Every disgruntled revolutionist (they think they are) is proud to be tagged as a jihadist since most, if not all, Muslims in the south of the Philippines are happy to be (mentally conditioned as) a Moro. I am a jihadist battling my demons, and I am a Moro battling the tyranny of the Spanish inheritors of my country.

NK

PICTURE PERFECT; a cheap and rewarding hobby

With technological advances come a myriad of new, fanciful words displayed in more ways than one in photography; selfies, Flickr, Instagram, muzzy, YouTube, etc. You track it, and you get lost in the cloud. Without photos and moving pictures, the net will be boring as hell (whatever that is). Facebook, G+, and other social websites owe their existence to the inventor of photography. Without pictures, the world will be like a blank wall, but oops…not quite. There were, and there are painters, but how many of them are realists who tried to depict scenes and events as close to reality as possible? There were a few. Maybe the world will not be a blank wall after all, but it will be decked with abstract paintings; who wants to live in an abstract world of distorted lines, dwarfed and elongated figures, soaked in hallucinatory colors? First and foremost, I am a realist. I neither like nor hate the abstract. We live in a world of fast tracks and bullet trains where contemplating the absurd is a waste of time. You must keep moving on, or you will be left behind while everybody races to the stars. That reminds me of a scene on MIB I watched a zillion times last night. “I have a plane to catch (to the stars),” said the alien dog while being shaken by an MIB (Tommy LJ) for galactic info :-)

We all remember the awe of seeing our picture for the first time. The earliest photo I can find of my childhood was taken at the “Provincial Meet” when I was in the 4^th grade. Nishreen is taking a selfie with her gadgets at the same age and grade. She takes pictures of herself in front of the mirror and captures photos and videos of her friends and classmates in seemingly insignificant settings. To the present and future generations, planet Earth is a small setting. The world has changed and changed so great it truly boggles the mind.

Photography used to be a hobby for the wealthy. Even if one could afford a camera, one needed to buy the film and pay for the print. It used to be a pastime for the few.

Today; every dick, Mary, and Harry are photography enthusiasts so lost in their fancy that when they upload pictures to the net; they upload the whole pack regardless of whether it’s full of not only ugly, poorly taken shots but embarrassing scenes as well. They have fancy but do not have a sense of art.

If you took a hundred photos and only a few turned out to be picture-perfect, deleting the undesirables will have cost you nothing. That is the real beauty of photography as a hobby. Take the advice: delete and edit before you upload for the “wow” factor… it's picture-perfect. 

Infused Water and Body Beautiful!

One of the few things I picked up, or rather learned, during my two-month stay in Manila was the importance of infused water. Although fresh fruits and vegetables are furiously expensive (your mercury can hit the roof) for a tropical country that is basically a nation whose life hangs in the balance on agriculture, infused water is a far better alternative (for those who can afford it) to the chemically infused drinks that most of us can’t live without. On sale, fruits and vegetables at the hyper-marts in Saudi Arabia are ridiculously cheaper than what you pay for the same fruits and veggies in Manila.

 Some might mumble, "Why can’t I just swallow the fruit?" But hey, why not? This is flavored water, after all. Imagine your life eventually shying away from drinks, which is by and large making you sick, maybe not now, but as time marches on in your life. By the time you realize you have poisoned yourself, it will be too late.

Long before there were gargantuan machines that manufacture drinks and medicines, primitive humans were extracting juice from roots, leaves, barks, and fruits for illness remedies. Infused water is no different except that you are doing it with some class. The tea bag, if you have observed, is a glaring example of how plant natural products steep into your drinks.

I searched the net for a scientific study comparing the health benefits of infused water to simply consuming the fruit to your heart's content, but I couldn’t find any. I came to the conclusion that the benefits are the same, except for one that I believe is particularly significant: adopting a healthy lifestyle, whose benefits are immeasurably huge in the long run. Imagine: instead of a Coke or a zest O (these companies will kill me) in your lunch bag, you carry a chilled natural drink of apple cinnamon or a lemon/cucumber. Instead of serving your visitors with a Pepsi, you hand them glasses of chilled infused water of carrots and honey :-)

Steeping the fruit in your drink doesn't mean you have to give up eating the fruit or your veggies altogether. If you can gulp a chemically synthesized orange drink and munch on an orange fruit, why not opt for the real thing altogether? I eat the orange fiber I get from the fruit after removing it from the jar of water. The orange fruit has become tasteless, but since I am after the fiber, I eat it just the same. Hey! You don’t have to do it. I tried it with the apple, but it tastes really bland. By the way, don’t keep the fruit or veggie, whatever, for more than 6 hours because after that, it becomes bitter. Honey is expensive, but if you can afford it, a teaspoon in a liter of water will make a significant difference in both taste and health benefits. Do you know that honey doesn’t spoil…I mean, forever?

I have been virtually mumbling without coming to the point: the health benefits of infused water. Fruits, including the peel, especially the peel that you discard, are antioxidants. These are vitamin C and E, the essential vitamins that you get from fruits and veggies, and others. It neutralizes and removes potentially damaging oxidizing agents from your body, which you also consume through meat and unnatural foods. It maintains the well-being of the collagen in your body, the building structure of your connective tissues, meaning you get beautiful skin and a beautiful body.

Note: I have been reading lately about “freelancer” writing as a job. I may or may not steer in that direction in my retirement years (I can see it from here…must be close), but what the heck! I learned in just a matter of a few clicks what SEO means, what web content is, press releases, news writing, and keywords. As a freelance writer, you will be asked to write about subjects you have no knowledge of, and I said, okay…infused water for mental gymnastics. 

MARAWI/ILIGAN floods and landslides…

If you have lived in the area all your life, you would have noticed the physical changes that concern most people, but not nature’s climate variance. How frequently have you heard that the Lanao provinces have been hit by typhoons, floods, and landslides in the past? Rarely, if ever. Next time you travel between Iligan and Marawi, or to Cagayan de Oro City, take a moment to notice the world around you —the environs you have taken for granted. The trees have grown to gigantic overgrowth; the Matampay road, on a final climb to Marawi, is probably the most dangerous rain or shine road in the world, where giant trees can bury you and your car at any moment while driving through. I used to climb the forested cliff from Bito/Rorog-a-agus to the Matampay road when I was younger. I have walked the entire length of the forested road a few times in the past, but I don’t remember the plants and trees being so gloriously in bloom. I wonder if trees ever age the way humans and animals do, because along the Matampay Road, the trees seem to grow without end. I won’t be surprised if giant insects suddenly ram your car or a T. rex jump (a.k.a. Jurassic Park) in front of or behind your car to chase you out of your wits.

Obviously, climate change has brought even more rain to the nation’s wettest city. If there were no people, Lake Lanao would be a tropical paradise. I recommend that the Mindanao State University establish a small weather station that will measure the province’s annual rainfall and a daily temperature “media” broadcast so that the Maranaw Diaspora can, wherever they may be, feel the cool embrace of home. 

2 minutes video edit from GMA's Saksi