Arts in Islam Session

786

Arts in Islam Session

Available to Adults is a Two Hour Course in understanding/ interpretation of The Art in Islam Symbolism in Islamic Carpet Designs, Tile Designs, Clothing, Artifacts, Architecture, book illustrations, and calligraphy. Practical skills will also be taught and guided with basic materials

Bookings Available to suit the participant: Local or Tourists

Please Contact: Mogamat Faadiel Arnold

email: mfarnold@gmail.com

Ph: 021 4243921 / 0833945701 or sms

Bo-Kaap Misrepresented

786

Bo-Kaap Misrepresented by M.F.Arnold(PTD, B.A, Ph.D [HC])

By Whom: The Colonial Narrative

Why: To reduce the Value of Islam as the Spirit of Strength and Freedom in Bo-Kaap

How: By degrading Faith as part of Culture

Method: Creating a narrative of a “Colourful Bo-Kaap” by intention that the people of Bo-kaap are descendants of colourful coons and a community with no real roots, but the descendants of slaves

Intended Impact: Disrespect for the value of the people of Bo-Kaap

Function of This misrepresented Narrative: To attract European Tourists to see a living museum of people who were colonised by the Dutch and British and who today need them to survive

What is the effect on the People and their property: They are flooded with strangers and their privacy and property disrespected.

What is the reality: Bo-Kaap was The Bastion against Apartheid

Why: because it was the only city centre area that withstood the government’s attempts the declare it “White”

How: Three attempts of City Council to Build a bridge through Bo-Kaap cutting it in half  [like they did in District Six] and then declaring the upper part white and the lower part business.

How was it thwarted: Three attempts to build a bridge connecting De Waal Drive with Sea Point through Bo-Kaap was dislodged by a different Mosque of the Bo-Kaap that stood in the way of building the bridge – which they were fearful to demolish

The Result: The in-complete bridge at the entrance to the Waterfront – where the engineering failed and the funds were withdrawn

Why: The Spiritual Presence of Bo-Kaap with its 10 Mosques dotted through it that protects its area and the spiritual luminaries buried there– By The Grace of God

So Why are Tourists attracted to Bo-Kaap: Whatever the narrative:  People’s natural inner-heart- yearning for the Call to God is personified in Bo-Kaap

So What is the History: The people are not the descendants of the Slaves, but the emancipators of slaves through the spiritual presence in Bo-Kaap and because Tuan Guru started the first public school that taught religion and secular sciences holistically in the Owal Mosque. The free-time slaves had, were spent with the Muslims in Bo-Kaap, who welcomed them in the Mosques, schools and homes for spiritual occasions and offered them the opportunity to marry – under the Eyes of God. This gave them honour as a family – which the Dutch denied them – for they were not allowed to marry, but allowed to procreate to have children to be owned by the slave owner as slaves. The slave quarters in churches slowly emptied, because the African slaves became Muslim.

Proofs:

1.       “By the 1820’s About 370-491 free and slave blacks were taught Islam by Malay priests in their homes” [Behr, Shell, Ajam]

2.       The Plakaat of the Dutch Government prevented slaves from:

a.        Keeping their family names – Muslims in Bo-Kaap still have their original family names

b.       Slaves were not allowed to marry, but to cohabit – Muslims married and Their Faith does not allow cohabiting

c.        The Slaves had to follow the faith of their owner – Muslims were always free and kept their religion and the Bo-Kaap Muslims, established the first public school and mosque in South Africa in 1794 - The Owal Mosque in Dorp Street– Slavery was only abolished by the British in 1836

d.       Slaves could not own property – The Bo-Kaap people own the houses in Bo-Kaap for generations

3.       A Muslim does not submit to the enslavement by a human and hence would fight and die for his faith – knowing he would go to heaven for fighting oppression – the Dutch and British thus feared Muslims and would rather employ them as craftsmen and women but not as slaves – and some black slaves, who became Muslim, killed their abusive, oppressive slave owners, to free the other slaves–[ See Lady Barnard’s history]

4.       The moneys earned by the Muslim servants and craftsmen allowed them to become the property owners in Bo-Kaap.

5.       The emptying of the slave quarters in churches and the increased Slaves becoming Muslim – prompted the government to start Christian Missionary Schools – prior to that, there were no public schools – so the Muslims of Bo-Kaap initiated public school education [ Lord Charles Somerset promulgated in 1823 compelled Christian slave owners to send their slave children to Christian Missionary schools – after Lord Caledon’s complaint since 1807 “ that imported Mozambiquecan slaves were becoming Muslim”[Ajam 1986]

6.       The The first recorded arrival of free Muslims known as Mardyckers is in 1658. Mardycka or Maredhika implies freedom. The Mardyckers were people from Amboyna [an Indonesian island] in the southern Moluccas and were brought to the Cape in order to defend the newly established settlement against the indigenous people, and also to provide labour in the same way that they had been employed at home, first by the Portuguese and later by the Dutch, in Amboyna. Jan Van Riebeeck had requested that the Mardyckers be sent to the Cape as a labour force. The Mardyckers were prohibited from openly practising their religion: Islam. This was in accordance with the Statute of India [drafted by Van Dieman in 1642] which stated in one of its placaats [statutes]: "No one shall trouble the Amboinese about their religion or annoy them; so long as they do not practise in public or venture to propagate it amongst Christians and heathens. Offenders to be punished with death, but should there be amongst them those who had been drawn to God to become Christians, they were not to be prevented from joining Christian churches. " The same Placaat was re-issued on August 23, 1657 by Governor John Maetsuycker probably in anticipation of the advent of the Mardyckers to the Cape of Good Hope. The Placaat governed the Cape as part of the Dutch Colonial Empire.

7.       The Muslims of Bo-Kaap are also descendants of influential political exiles who fought the Dutch and who were too dangerous to be jailed on the islands of their origin, because of their influence on the people against the Dutch. This explains the strength still inherent of the Bo-Kaap Muslims.

8.       The Colour technology of Plascon Paints was only possible in the late 1990’s – early 2000, Therefore the Red Bus Tour claim that Bo-Kaap people were so happy to be freed as slaves that they painted their housed different colours – is not only derogatory , but blatant ignorance of modern life and history – there was only white Chalk paint in those times, hence the beautiful white old Bo-Kaap, Dutch and British houses

ICRA Outreach

786 Understanding the west and east dilemma & offering a Solution

The destructive weather patterns, political, religious and educational worlds have caused many to spend hours in discussing their take on it, but waiting for others to fix things. Such conversationalists prefer being armchair critics - the real aim of the western educational illusion. What is clear is that we can no-longer depend on the clear-cut illusionary systems that the modern world leaders have made us believe in, to fix things. We were part of the whole trick they spun in front of our eyes - which was go to school and university, work hard and you will acquire success. For the entrepreneur it was not necessary to go to school and complete a university degree because he/she had the motivation to start a business which the rich and banks financed and then to plan to give it over to his/her children to run it, while making others beg for a job through going to schools and universities and interviews. So what was the trick? The rich and political leaders created curricula and assessment criteria's that are based on memory for those who will become medical doctors - who often succeeded because they were already talented and could afford extra tuition - thus the schools did not produce them. It is not possible for conventional schools to produce A- Grade students - A-Grade students were often chosen on their already known skills to come to "top" schools. The rest must fall out along the way to serve the doctors' needs - even to get sick from the stress of trying to climb the corporate academic ladder. Titles are created for those who succeed so that everyone else knows their place. Most academics thus became the gatekeepers of Capitalism and everyone else the support structures to keep the elite in their positions - unknowingly - rather oblivious of their contribution to oppression because they are blinded by their own ego-worship and the power they enjoy in the bureaucratic life-style that constantly feed the two blinding tools just mentioned.  The elite in the business world determine the needed certificates to enter the job market and it is in this way that the academic world then becomes the gatekeepers of Capitalism - which primarily promotes individual success at the expense of the masses and in this way create a class structure that will defend the bureaucratic  culture. The underlying feature that made us all fall for the trick of "leadership culture". In Capitalism "developing leadership skills" culture taps into our lower-self need to be in power over others and to do this the structure taps into on our low innate nature of ego-worship [ the satanic characteristic that cause satan to lose his place in heaven}. We thus see the egoistic, power struggles in education, politics and religious positions. Now when we want power we actually want to compete with the Possessor of Power, which only results in humiliation of different categories, even a child's rudeness is a humiliation from the Creator to bring us down a peg or two. Stress is another hurt which one brings upon oneself when one is too self-centred. In order to feed the egoistic power people drive we even go in debt to impress and subdue another person, family, friend or colleague. Degrees, possessions, votes, cellphones etc. are all traps to create dependency of individuals to systems placed there by the rich to keep everyone in wanted, by feeding the egoistic-power drive - often coated in words like "self-esteem and individual rights". This simple trick Satan practiced in refusing to submit to God and thus advises all people in one or another way to be better than another person - better blog, instagram, better tweet, car, Ph.D, school, university, etc. This is simply - getting attention that feeds the ego and this  has become the life-style of West and East - competition. Now one can understand why it is reported from the tradition of the Sunnah that The Prophet Mughammad Pbuh, did not fear that his community will not believe in God, but that he fears when they start competing with one another for the world. Now for us to admit to our own contribution to the global negative changes is hard for us to face - because we have spent so much time building our "self-esteem" - the academic "trick for the traps of dependency" - where teachers and lectures pass or fail students. The moment one submits to another judging one's worth by external means, one has been a partner in the crises that is beating us up at this moment. The East has Islamised the western models and are suffering more because of that - but blinded with arrogance to see it. Most of us are all guilty of falling for the illusion of power struggles - except those who stopped and reflected on the question" Is what we accept as dominant culture, really correct?" My research has concluded that prescriptive state school curricula that squash new minds into old markets is the biggest official form of child-abuse into the Capitalistic culture that drives wedges between people and that many of us have accepted without questioning and are still supporting, while we know or can feel it is wrong - because we believe that only this accepted system will bring us success - a job. We have become slaves of Capitalistic worldviews and uphold their structures with such professionalism that the real enemies can sit back and the people will do their dirty work and destroy themselves and others while the elite gets richer and the poor gets poorer. So how do we know that Capitalism tricks everyone through the educational system - the thousands of self-help books and motivational talks that adults attend. They put self-esteem and individualism up as a target, then break it down with prescriptive schooling and high fees for tertiary education and titles. In other words they make you dependent then they sell you books in adulthood how to be independent through self help books - how dumb were we ! They own the publishing houses and then again make money on our broken self-worth which they also caused ! Let us not blame them, blame ourselves for allowing them to fool us.  Now we can perhaps understand the Qur'anic Guidance than mankind suffer by their own hands, but this is a chance to return to Trust in Allah SWT. So after we have trusted in man-made institutions we soon discovered it was all an illusion and that we should really put our trust in Allah SWT. So what is the greatest driving force that allows us to be caught in the spiral of ego, power, bureaucracy and debt? Fear. The manipulators use fear as the driving force to trap us into submitting to their dependency systems, the educational system - if you do not have a degree you will not get a job, The insurance systems for education, retirement, health etc. and when it comes to paying out they take the greater portion, Medical aid cover and car insurance - when you need it you must pay out of your own pocket and then  make a claim - Now the Qur'an relates that fear comes from satan. The Qur'an's anecdote is, do not fear, not even death, and to put one's trust wholeheartedly in Allah SWT - it then tells stories of those who feared and became tyrants and those who were fearless and became the protectors of the weak and downtrodden. Protectors of the weak have no fear of disappointment or death. These believers, who put their trust in Allah SWT, know that they are successful whether they live or die in establishing good [Ma;ruuf] or fighting for justice. Disbelievers fear this because they plan against an enemy who actually fights to die. So the disbeliever thus prefers attempts to disorient believers than to fight them face on. The people who have recently claimed to fight for Islam.but overstepped the boundaries of goodness/ sharia soon lost the war because it was not fought in defense of Islam, but in aggression against those other than them. Muslims do not hurt civilians - they fight a fair fight on a battle field. The attack on people by so-called "Muslims" is actually a tactic of non-Muslims to try and discredit Islam - to. prevent people from becoming Muslim - a phenomenon which creates the veil to keep the ardent disbeliever from entering Islam so that he/she faces the severe punishment for not keeping to his/her primordial promise to believe and serve only Allah, The Exalted. What I have just mentioned is a hard pill to swallow - because we know that cutting ties with the lower-self and reaching into the spirit within is truly the greater Jihad [Holy War with the self] So how do we get out of that rut? First Believe that the world and everything in it is an illusion -  to test mankind's commitment to God Alone. Whenever anything or anyone is more dear to a believer, and he/she becomes dependent on it/ him/her, and when Allah SWT Love's him/her , then He takes it or him/ her away from the believer so that he/she must come back to Him, repent and rekindle his/her connection with God sincerely. The disbeliever is allowed to wallow in his /her chosen ignorance/veils and get deeper into trouble with Divine destiny - The Wrath of Allah SWT - which comes when he/she least expects it.


ADD YOUR COMMENTS I am going to continue some other time - GOD WILLING - in shaa Allah

NoDebtYouth Promo

The New Learning Culture

What is the Nafs ?

786

Understanding Nafs

Using reflective, integrative holistic use of the Arabic Roots and I,II,III,V,VI Arabic Verb Forms

Nafs in its Arabic meaning relates to the soul, the psyche, the mind, nature, essence, identity, actuality, reality, creature, human being, desirous, spirited. From the above meanings one can deduce that Nafs refers to the real, autonomous self that is a living creature, having a specific identity, wrapped in a certain nature that makes up its essence due to its desire to be spirited or not.

Within Islam the Ruugh – is the inner Divine Spirit that energises the nafs (self) towards Divine potentials, while the bodily cravings draws it towards earthly constrictions. The intensified effort [II] of the self, strives towards comfort, reassurance and appeasement. To do this the self has to dispel[II] and banish refuse to uncover its lower desires, control its means of venting its anger, control its voice to prevent the exposure of its lower tendencies – allowing it uncover[II] its higher positive features of the self. The ability to do this is to see the self as precious, valuable and priceless [I]. If not, the self will be lost and cease to exist [II, nafasa].

When the self has to relate to others [iii, vi] it has choices to fight, involve in rivalry, contention, competition or to seek balance through divine guidance and aspire towards innate goodness [Fitrah] through a struggle [jihad] between good and evil tendencies.

The means to acquire a higher choice of character, the self has to, reflectively [v] take a breather/ rest before decisions – not to hurry with actions or reactions. Taking a breath, means that one is actually allowing Divine Blessing that activate the Ruugh or Spirit to enter the mind via the relaxed/ oxygenated blood-heart-pump before acting and not acting while the breath is shallow or exhaling impurities from the lungs – characterised by sighing and gasping [v]. Relaxed inward breath, raises the conscious awareness of all possibilities and prevents base/ shallow reactions based on superficial awareness or illusion.

The negative development features of the self are stimulated by withholding the self through niggardliness, envy and to begrudge others[I].

A deeper realisation of the self is to consider the body (space-time bound vessel) as a capsule (sanafa) that contains the self [nafs] and the Divine Spirit [Ruugh] ( spaceless-timeless entities – the nafs, having choice between good/evil; the Ruugh being the energising, motivating Divine, Good Force that permeates every nucleus – waiting to be tapped).

The Nafs has basically 3 levels – The Lower Nafsul-ammaarah stage – desirous, hasty, self-satisfying, without control, appetite. The Middle-self or Questioning Self is the nafsul-lowwaama – the self that starts becoming aware and starts questioning the validity/value of the thought or action – within the context of Divine Pleasure. The High/ Self-at-Peace is the Nafsul-Mutmainna – the self that has attained the realisation of its pure essence in total awareness of the divine attributes within the self – thus adoring God and is totally in service of His Divine Guidance, and experiencing His divine presence – become then “ godly “ and in this state the self is not in opposition to the spirit of god within – thus the nafs/Soul, Rugh/Spirit and Jism/ body acts in unison and the eye, ear, hand and foot operates within Divine Will and the individual is now back in Fitrah – absolute divine goodness – able to surpass space, time and operates without lower-human-created barriers. The person now operates in pure grace and orbits in praise of The Creator and then exhibits divine powers. It 

The above reflective life, gives one the choice either to enter the world of space/fields (Fasana) or the world of destruction [nasafa] through pulverising/ scattering or blowing up all the self’s potentials through negativity, hastiness and non-reflective actions.

And Allah SWT Knows Best.

MFaadiel 20-12-2017