SHORT NOTES

Diwan al-Barid

Diwan al-Barid was established since the time of Caliph Umar al-Khattab. It was founded to be the office of postal system. But, in the Abbasid period, its official tasks were later been improved. Diwan al-Barid was led by an officer entitled Sahib al-Barid. This diwan managed all the matters involving the moving of letters, correspondence or any imperial orders across the world. In the Abbasid period, it was also used as the medium of spying and giving information for the caliphate.

Using horses to pass the mails

SHORT NOTES

The Importance of Health in Islam (Islamic Civilization)

Islam always encourages Muslims to take care of health and the well-being of the body. A human body is actually was given from Allah to the human as a sign of liability. So, a Muslim should know that as a borrower (of the body), he should take care of the body and provide a better healthcare for it. In the Islamic civilization, we can see that the previous rulers and scholars were encouraging the people to take care of health. The rulers often supported and encouraged scholars to produce medicines. Many scholars were also involved in learning on medical field and served as physicians to help curing people's illnesses. Besides, there were also many hospitals were built in the previous time to show the importance of health and to provide necessary healthcare for the people. Some of the hospitals were known as Ibnu Tulun Hospital, Al-Nuri Hospital, Al-Salahani Hospital and others.

Al-Razi treating a patient

Hospital in the mosque

The Importance of Tolerance, Universality and Rationalism as main Foundations of Islamic Foundation

Islamic civilization was founded on some important foundations involving many branches like economics, social and also politics. The Islamic foundations particularly in the political branch, it focused on the establishment of an Islamic government. By having an Islamic government that implemented the Islamic foundation, it would then led to the establishment of Islamic civilization. The Islamic foundations or principles that are important in the establishment of an Islamic government involve tolerance, universality and also rationalism

In Islam, it is important for Muslims to do justice. Justice here refers to the act of tolerance for all human beings who are living in the world. An Islamic ruler who was chosen to the throne, should implement the act of tolerance unto his people. This means to do justice for the people regardless of their backgrounds; whether they were Muslims or not, their skin colours or their different races. In the previous Islamic civilization, usually the Sultan or the ruler would try to implement the act of religious tolerance towards his people, where all the people including the Christians and the Jewish community could practice freely their religion. Besides, their places of worship also were given respect by the Muslims by not destroying them.

For example, during the time of Sultan Muhammad al-Fateh, after he captured Constantinople he did not kill the Christians who were seeking refuge in Hagia Sophia. He told them their lives would be spared and they could practice their religion freely in the city. After all, the people were joyful hearing the declaration of the Sultan. So, from there, even the Christians respected and paid their loyalty to the Islamic government. This event somehow showed the importance of tolerance in an Islamic government, that it could strengthen it by gaining support from the people.

Another important foundation in Islamic government is universality. As Islamic government further expanded into a wider area, it even included the non-Arab countries. From history, we would know that there were attempts made by some Arab rulers to spread the idea of Arabism. These Arab rulers did not agree with the Turkish people who were getting stronger in the Islamic government at that time. They started to preach the idea of Arabs superiority and this made the non-Arabs dissatisfied. It led to series of revolts against the Arab rulers. To highlight the importance of universality, the Arab rulers should not implement that idea in the first place as it obviously represented the feeling of Arabs superiority which means the opposite of universality. So, from history itself we can take that a government without the principle of universality would be in total disputes and stagnation.

Besides that, an Islamic administration in the Islamic civilization also implemented the principle of rationalism. Rationalism is an act of which the ruler governs his government based on reality and reasons. But, rationalism as an Islamic foundation does not only constitute of thinking and reasoning activities of the ruler. But, the ruler has to maintain and balance between reasoning and also the revelation of the Quran and Sunnah. By having these two subjects as the basis principle, the ideal Islamic government could be established.

Rationalism also means that the ruler should conduct all his affairs with all rationality and sound thinking without referring to any assumptions without proofs. All matters that are opposite to the Quran and Sunnah must be rejected. That is because all the issues that have been mentioned in the sources is the absolute truth and carry their own benefits. Thus, if the ruler follows what have been mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah, it is most likely he will successfully maintain the harmony and peace of his government. And, all the people would support him as a ruler. This is exactly like in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) era, where all the people in Madinah were living peacefully under his supervision.

As a conclusion, the Islamic foundations are important to be implemented by every Islamic government. Any action that opposing the foundations will spark the disputes and downgradation of the Islamic rule. But, however, these principles were only meant to set up an ideal government according to the Quran and Sunnah while the Islamic governments that we are having today is the reality that we have to face.

December 4, 2015

Is Africa a condemned and irredeemable land? -From Eurocentric and Afrocentric points of view.

The history of Africa is composed of different views since its early existence in the written sources, mainly from the European and African points of view. These different views particularly discussed on the beginning of the African history, whether it is true that the African history started in the nineteenth century or is it actually began earlier than that? And, is Africa really a condemned and irredeemable land?

The African Continent

Mostly the European scholars believed that Africa is a condemned land. They believed that Africa consisted of nothing important as requirements to be considered as a civilized land. But, however, in Afrocentric point of view, Africa was actually a rich land, nothing less than the other civilizations. They have a huge amount of natural resources; mainly from the woods and seas, they were also rich in cultural aspects as they constituted of various kind of tribes. And each tribe carried different norms and customs. Besides, they were also the main supplier of human labourers to the European continent and yet, the Europeans still considered Africa as a poor and condemned land.

African slaves in a ship to Europe

Besides, the European also believed that they were superior than the Africans. They always expressed their paternal attitudes towards the Africans even until today. They mentioned that their colonization of Africa mainly was to civilized the Africans. What is meant that without them the Africans would be forever left behind and uncivilized. Meanwhile, from Afrocentric view, this was taken to be only their reason to justify their act of colonization to Africa, and even to the other parts of the world. The main factor of European power to colonize Africa was actually to control its resources and to extend their power. 

 Moreover, the Europeans considered Africa as the land with no history before their meaningful contact with the Europeans in the nineteenth century. This was due to the fact that there was no available sources that mentioned on Africa before the nineteenth century; based on their perception. However, before the European came into the African continent, the Arab muslims have already made contacts to the land, as early as in the seventh century. It could be referred to the available Arabic sources that have been written since the seventh century, like Al-Tabari's book, 'Kitab al-Rusul wa al-Muluk', that mentioned about Africa although it might be only a small part of the book. However, due to the factor that the Europeans did not know Arabic, they just managed to consider like there was no available sources and those who were aware of the sources' existence, they hid their knowledge because of their own hidden agenda. So, basically Africa is not a ahistoric land as it was actually described in the Europeans' books. 

Example of today's African history book

With the fact that there was no any available written source found on Africa, the Europeans considered that was because the mass illiteracy among the Africans. This shows another sign of African backwardness. In contrast, Africa could be considered as a part of history before the nineteenth century, based on oral evidences. The Africans were speaking with the most ancient languages of the world like the Geeze and Scribes. The African history could be taken and analyzed from those available spoken sources as long as they were first checked and confirmed to be authentic. 

So, in the nineteenth century, particularly after the Second World War, a number of African countries revolted. This period was widely known as the African Renaissance. This occurred due to the Africans response towards the European paternal attitudes over the Africans. They basically wanted a more equal atmosphere to be given to them. When the Europeans came into Africa, they brought together with them religion (Christianity) and they forced the Africans to accept their religion. Beside that, with the feeling of African inferiority, they took the Africans' lands, with justification to develop them. Unlike the Arab muslims before, the Africans were not forced to accept Islam but mainly came to Africa to do trade expeditions and show some good examples of life to them. So, from there, the Africans were attracted and ready to accept Islam. The African Renaissance was actually a period of when the Africans wanted to confront the European harshness towards Africa.

In conclusion, the African land was not actually a condemned land. It is rich with various kind of resources, and it is a civilized land by its own way. Despite the believe of European superiority over Africa, it is noted that the Arab muslims who were the earliest ones arrived in Africa and witnessed the live of the people there. From there, the Africans managed to lift their life standards by making contacts with the muslims and later develop their own civilization to prove that Africa is actually a rich and blessed land in contrast to what the Europeans believed what they were. 

African muslim women in congregational prayer

African children in a dance performance

Africa, the land of Safari!

-By Keith Syakil, November 12, 2015.

::Sweet Honey Cornflakes:: with almond

Sweet Honey Cornflakes ~

(100+ cups)

Ingredients:

6 cups of cornflakes

200 g almond flakes

1 cup butter

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoon sugar

Paper cups

Chocolate rice

How to?

1. Add the cornflakes and the almond flakes in a bowl and mix them evenly. 

Set aside.

2. Put the butter in a cooking pan, together with honey and sugar. Cook and stir well until the mixture melt. 

3. Pour the butter mixture into the cornflakes bowl. Mix the butter mixture and the cornflakes altogether using a spatula.

4. Then, spoon the cornflakes into the paper cups. Sprinkle the chocolate rice over the cornflakes in the paper cups. It will give some colour to the cornflakes !

5. Bake for about 10-15 minutes in the oven preheated with 140C. 

6. Make sure to leave the cornflakes to cool slightly before keeping them in a jar !
Now, it's time to eat !

SELAMAT MENCUBA ! (:

::Yummy Banana Cake:: with caramel sauce

yummy Banana Cake ~

Yummy Banana Cake !!!

Bahan-Bahan:

2 biji telur

2 cawan tepung gandum

1 sudu teh baking soda

1 sudu teh baking powder

3 1/2 sudu besar butter + 100g extra butter

1/2 cawan brown sugar+ 3/4 cawan extra brown sugar

pisang -dipotong slices (cukup untuk cover permukaan adunan dalam dulang)

            -mashed *dilenyek (sebanyak mana yang dikehendaki)

1/2 cawan susu cair @ sehingga mencukupi

walnut@almond cincang *optional-kalau xdak pon xpa

Bahan Caramel Sauce: 

300ml cream

1/2 cup brown sugar

80g butter

Cara-caranya:

1. Masukkan 1/2 cawan brown sugar ke dalam dulang pembakar dan ratakan. Masukkan 3 1/2 butter ke atas brown sugar tadi dan ratakan ke seluruh dulang. 

Letakkan di dalam oven yang telah siap dipanaskan pada suhu 200C dalam masa 5-10 minit sehingga butter cair. 

2. Apabila butter sudah pun cair, keluarkan dulang dan kacau rata adunan kedua-dua bahan tadi. Kemudian, susun pisang yang dipotong slices ke atas adunan.

Ketepikan.

3. Dalam mangkuk yang lain, masukkan extra butter, telur, pisang lenyek, extra brown sugar, tepung gandum, baking soda dan baking powder. Kacau rata dan jangan kacau terlalu lama. ( Beat lightly and DON'T OVERBEAT!) 

Tuang susu cair dan kacau perlahan-lahan. 

Jika anda menggunakan walnut@badam, masukkan ke dalam adunan ini.

4. Tuang ke dalam dulang, ke atas susunan pisang tadi. 

5. Bakar dalam oven yang telah dipanaskan pada suhu 200C dalam masa 30-40 minit.

> Untuk pastikan kek sudah masak, cucukkan lidi di tengah-tengah adunan dan keluarkan. Jika teksturnya lembab dan tidak melekat pada lidi, that means kek sudah pun  masak !

Caramel Sauce:

Masukkan bahan-bahan caramel sauce ke dalam periuk. Masak dan kacau dalam masa 5-10 minit sehingga gula cair. Apabila sauce sudah menjadi sedikit pekat, matikan api dan sejukkan. 

Tuang ke atas kek untuk rasa yang lebih umph!  ketika serving....

Sedia dijamah !!

NOTE: Saya tak buat pon caramel sauce tu. But still, cake tu dah cukup manis dan sedap dah. Tapi, kalau nak lebih rasa, bolehlah try buat caramel sauce tu ~ hehehe

SELAMAT MENCUBA !

The Mechanisms of the Osmanli (Ottoman) Diplomatic Relations with European Empires and the Muslim Worlds

In previous times, the diplomatic relations among states usually comprises negotiation, arbitration, mediation and treaties. So, Osmanli did having some treaties and negotiations with other states, including the European states.

Gift exchanges often being practiced during that time. For example during the time of Sultan Suleyman, he received an expensive portrait of Mehemmed al-Fatih made by a famous Italian artist. Usually, this gifts exchange symbolized recognition of superiority of the state. Although the Osmanli and Mamluks sometimes were not having a good relation, they indeed have a good time together. Just like when Sultan Murad 1’s time, while the Osmanlis were preparing to march to another state, then the Borquq envoy arrived, bringing together with them gold and precious gifts to be given to the Sultan. And later, Sultan Murad replied by giving a huge number of gold back to the ruler of Egypt.

 Another practice is based on marriages. Some sultans, kings or noblemen married their sons or daughters to another ruler’s child to strengthen the states’ relationship. For example, Gazi Sultan Murad marrried his son, Yildrim Beyazid to the daughter of Suleyman Shah (the ruler of Germiyan Emirate). From that marriage, he received few states as dowry.

Osmanli was also having a good relationship with European states, especially in trading system. The merchants came to Osmanli territories brought benefits to the devlet. To attract more European merchants coming into Osmanli areas, the sultan established the Ahdname system.

Ahdname system is literally known as the letter of promise. This letter of promise was not a peace treaty, but basically it was a business treaty. As for that time, ambassadors usually represented the merchants and not the political leaders. This ahdname system is the high-ranking system containing oath made by the Osmanli sultan declaring the diplomatic and commercial relation between the states, the privileges, rights and personal immunities of the ambassador while being in the Osmanli areas. This means, the ambassadors were freed to Osmanli’s prosecution, judicial power and conscriptions. This led to more and more European people came into Osmanli territory.

Besides, the action of giving honorary titles to the leaders also became known as the style of diplomatic relations at that time. For example, Sultanu Guzat al-Mujahidin of Mamluks was called as Sultan of Champions and Warriors of the Faith. Another example is the title Al- Janab Al-Ali Al-Amiri, given to Mehmet 1 by the Mamluk officials. And even Sultan Mehemmed al-Fatih was given several good titles symbolizing his victory defeating Byzantine and opening Constantinople to Islam.

After the Byzantine Empire ended, the European power started to move into the Asian continent. The Portuguese at that time reached India. So, Mughal sultan at that time, Akbar asked help from Osmanli devlet to defeat the Portuguese influence in India. So, Osmanli sent such a big number of forces to India and helped Humayun against the Portuguese. This helped India free from Portuguese attacks for about two and a half centuries.

The relation between Osmanli and Safavid was also sometimes good, despite their endless wars. They did have several treaties made before waging wars again and again. Even after the victory of Sultan Mehemmed al-Fatih opening Constantinople, he even sent the letter of announcing the success to the Safavid sultan to share the great news.

2015, IIUM