Just another attempt to convince us that we need to become pious Muslims. Religious scholars/leaders never seem to grasp the fact that it is the existence of god (allah) that got people questioning. This article does nothing to convince people! If anything, the far-fetched stories and silly reasoning is driving people away.
Fyi, our local newspapers are monopolized by the government.
"Why the need for Negara Zikir?"
Sunday, July 7, 2013
ONE may wonder, why Brunei Darussalam is keen on advocating Negara Zikir (literally, the State that persistently remembers God)? Is the Islamicity of the State's philosophy Malay Islam Monarchy (MIB) inadequate? At a glance, MIB itself is already embedded with Islamic values that may include the elements of the zikir (the remembrance of God). Then why the need for the Negara Zikir anymore?
Yes, zikir is indeed supposedly to be already embedded in the MIB philosophy. But without a clear emphasis on it, one may forget it. Moreover, a state that is operated on the basis of Islam as is portrayed by the MIB philosophy could not accomplish its holistic criteria unless her population themselves are fully aware of the presence of God and remember Him at all times in all their deeds, hence the zikir.
Zikir here does not confine to the rituals that entangled with the mosque and oral tasbih alone. Zikir here does not demand all Bruneians to carry their rosary wherever they go.
Instead, Negara Zikir necessitates the consciousness and remembrance of God within Bruneians, and that consciousness and remembrance of God has to be grounded in their mind and heart, as much as in their deeds and behaviour.
Why is it so?
Zikir, and subsequently the Negara Zikir, ensures a consistent culture of remembering God and conscious of Him that entail with the development of faith (iman) and piety (taqwa).
The consciousness of God, faith and piety are three important prerequisites for, and a right avenue towards, a blessed state. Allah SWT says:
"Yet if the people of those communities had but attained to faith and been conscious of Us, We would indeed have opened up for them blessings out of heaven and earth" (Al-A'raaf 7:96).
It is primarily for this reason that Negara Brunei Darussalam aims for the establishment of the Negara Zikir that makes possible "a good land and a Forgiving Lord"(badlatun toyyibatun warabbun ghafur) as mentioned by God through verse 15 of the Quranic Surah Saba (34).
In so doing, Negara Brunei Darussalam indeed goes beyond other states by not only endeavoring a developed nation through its Vision 2035, but also futuristically protects the developed nation-to be by faith and piety through the remembrances of God, the zikir. Negara Brunei Darussalam in fact bravely pioneers the establishment of the Negara Zikir as its prime aim of development, while other states endeavor to just establish only a developed nation, without clear spiritual protection.
A developed nation without faith and piety (achieved amongst others through zikir) is actually exposing itself to the anger, disgrace and punishment of God and destruction of the nation. Many verses of the Quran have exhibited such a danger, two of which for instance are as follows:
"And, indeed, We destroyed before your time (whole) generations when they (persistently) did evil although the apostles sent unto them brought them all evidence of the truth; for they refused to believe (them). Thus do We requite people who are lost in sin"(Yunus 10:13).
"your Lord would not destroy towns unjustly while their people were negligent" (Al-An'am 6:131).
Many other Quranic verses such as the above show that the history of mankind, since the outset of human creation, has witnessed a great deal of disastrous events due to their negligence of God. These events have struck mankind at two levels, firstly, at the level of individuals, and secondly, at the level of communities.
In the first case, disasters took the form of either that of normal physical disasters such as murder, drowning at sea, being swallowed by a big fish and being buried alive by the earth, or the form of non-physical event such as being thrown out of Heaven, humiliated, disgraced and disowned, fixed to become enemies to one another and made permanent inhabitant of Hell.
These disasters, with the exception of the one that befell Pharaoh and his people, were more of personal disastrous experiences rather than communal ones, as can be seen from Table 1.
In the case of the second type, ie, the type that befell the people as a community, the disastrous events that took place were only physical in nature. This type of disasters is more akin to the calamitous events regarded as disasters by contemporary scholars as they inflicted more damage and suffering on larger group of people in the form of flood, earthquake, violent upheaval of the earth, thunderbolt, strong loud voice, hot breeze, deadly tempest, stoned-hard blows of rain, stormwind, plagues brought about by locusts, lice and frogs, drought, scarcity of fruits, water turning into blood, towns turned upside down and drowning in sea, as summarised in Table 2.
All in all, the advocation of the Negara Zikir in Negara Brunei Darussalam is actually a right and commended effort to not only developing the state, but also protecting it from disastrous events such as that have been befallen on many states in the past, and some even in present time.
Prof Dr Muhammad Syukri Salleh, Director Centre for Islamic Development Management Studies (ISDEV), School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
The Brunei Times
http://www.bt.com.bn/news-national/2013/...gara-zikir
Fyi, our local newspapers are monopolized by the government.
"Why the need for Negara Zikir?"
Sunday, July 7, 2013
ONE may wonder, why Brunei Darussalam is keen on advocating Negara Zikir (literally, the State that persistently remembers God)? Is the Islamicity of the State's philosophy Malay Islam Monarchy (MIB) inadequate? At a glance, MIB itself is already embedded with Islamic values that may include the elements of the zikir (the remembrance of God). Then why the need for the Negara Zikir anymore?
Yes, zikir is indeed supposedly to be already embedded in the MIB philosophy. But without a clear emphasis on it, one may forget it. Moreover, a state that is operated on the basis of Islam as is portrayed by the MIB philosophy could not accomplish its holistic criteria unless her population themselves are fully aware of the presence of God and remember Him at all times in all their deeds, hence the zikir.
Zikir here does not confine to the rituals that entangled with the mosque and oral tasbih alone. Zikir here does not demand all Bruneians to carry their rosary wherever they go.
Instead, Negara Zikir necessitates the consciousness and remembrance of God within Bruneians, and that consciousness and remembrance of God has to be grounded in their mind and heart, as much as in their deeds and behaviour.
Why is it so?
Zikir, and subsequently the Negara Zikir, ensures a consistent culture of remembering God and conscious of Him that entail with the development of faith (iman) and piety (taqwa).
The consciousness of God, faith and piety are three important prerequisites for, and a right avenue towards, a blessed state. Allah SWT says:
"Yet if the people of those communities had but attained to faith and been conscious of Us, We would indeed have opened up for them blessings out of heaven and earth" (Al-A'raaf 7:96).
It is primarily for this reason that Negara Brunei Darussalam aims for the establishment of the Negara Zikir that makes possible "a good land and a Forgiving Lord"(badlatun toyyibatun warabbun ghafur) as mentioned by God through verse 15 of the Quranic Surah Saba (34).
In so doing, Negara Brunei Darussalam indeed goes beyond other states by not only endeavoring a developed nation through its Vision 2035, but also futuristically protects the developed nation-to be by faith and piety through the remembrances of God, the zikir. Negara Brunei Darussalam in fact bravely pioneers the establishment of the Negara Zikir as its prime aim of development, while other states endeavor to just establish only a developed nation, without clear spiritual protection.
A developed nation without faith and piety (achieved amongst others through zikir) is actually exposing itself to the anger, disgrace and punishment of God and destruction of the nation. Many verses of the Quran have exhibited such a danger, two of which for instance are as follows:
"And, indeed, We destroyed before your time (whole) generations when they (persistently) did evil although the apostles sent unto them brought them all evidence of the truth; for they refused to believe (them). Thus do We requite people who are lost in sin"(Yunus 10:13).
"your Lord would not destroy towns unjustly while their people were negligent" (Al-An'am 6:131).
Many other Quranic verses such as the above show that the history of mankind, since the outset of human creation, has witnessed a great deal of disastrous events due to their negligence of God. These events have struck mankind at two levels, firstly, at the level of individuals, and secondly, at the level of communities.
In the first case, disasters took the form of either that of normal physical disasters such as murder, drowning at sea, being swallowed by a big fish and being buried alive by the earth, or the form of non-physical event such as being thrown out of Heaven, humiliated, disgraced and disowned, fixed to become enemies to one another and made permanent inhabitant of Hell.
These disasters, with the exception of the one that befell Pharaoh and his people, were more of personal disastrous experiences rather than communal ones, as can be seen from Table 1.
In the case of the second type, ie, the type that befell the people as a community, the disastrous events that took place were only physical in nature. This type of disasters is more akin to the calamitous events regarded as disasters by contemporary scholars as they inflicted more damage and suffering on larger group of people in the form of flood, earthquake, violent upheaval of the earth, thunderbolt, strong loud voice, hot breeze, deadly tempest, stoned-hard blows of rain, stormwind, plagues brought about by locusts, lice and frogs, drought, scarcity of fruits, water turning into blood, towns turned upside down and drowning in sea, as summarised in Table 2.
All in all, the advocation of the Negara Zikir in Negara Brunei Darussalam is actually a right and commended effort to not only developing the state, but also protecting it from disastrous events such as that have been befallen on many states in the past, and some even in present time.
Prof Dr Muhammad Syukri Salleh, Director Centre for Islamic Development Management Studies (ISDEV), School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
The Brunei Times
http://www.bt.com.bn/news-national/2013/...gara-zikir
