Notes From Penang

Diary Notes From Penang :
24 January 2006

We had go to Penang attending the Port Commission meeting plus visiting the Tanjung Marina Project last month and during the free day/hours, we roamed the area around City Bayview Hotel. Here are the lights of such encounter with many people and the signs of Allah put across the time, place, worldly activities and landscapes.

When you speak from the heart, speech is the act of separation. It give you power and dominate over the hearers. They listen to what you had to say, whether true or otherwise. Whether they understood or not. So speech is sensory. Speech can also originate from the realm of meanings. From the Unseen, from the Angels, from the spirits/ruh and from the Divine Presence. But who is the receiver of this speech. Not everyone is ready and have capacity to reach this station. Even in silence, there are voices and speech that we can hear inwardly.

But the meanings or reality, knowledge, awareness, trust, elevation and tasting that coming from this speech is called gatheredness. But if this speech lead to conflicts, hatred, distrust, bad opinion , love of rank and the world, greed and forgetfulness of Allah, then it bring separation.

Meanings can spring from separation or gatheredness. Silence is gatheredness if done with reflection. You absorb the news or noises from the world outside your body. But you can also ignore as not hearing it although it exist around you. This called deafness. Silence can also be separation if you keep quite, not moving to acquire knowledge, not to ask and sleep too much. So there are silent dhikr and loud dhikr. What is the degrees of silent ? Can silent make us withdraw deep into contemplation and witnessing. What ? There is no end to this sufic wayfaring unless you got stuck in intellect mudholes.

What do you desire from Sufism ? Sufism without the living awliya are madness. You cannot study Sufism from books. You already developed split personality when wrongly embark on learning Sufism from books and speech of the Sufis. They are the mirror to your hearts. Your heart can get darkened if you unknowingly take their prescription without knowing the condition of the age and people they live in. Like dealing with Japanese are not the same as doing business with the Indians. The Chinese have their myriad feng shui practices. All to bring health, wealth and
Peaceful life, but how do we measure the Divine meanings and purpose of creating human beings ? Are we left free to choose ? Are we able to think out our ending into the spiritual world. Are we be raised up again after death .How ?

The man in annihilation on the path of Allah is inwardly light, outwardly dark. Creation flee from him bcos they don’t recognize him. He is inwardly wide and outwardly narrow. Who can contend and compete with him in this station. He witness the Real and withdraw from creation. But the journey has not finished yet. He is in intoxication, not sober. Outwardly in separation and inwardly in gatheredness. This man need to be proctected, isolated and nurtured if not he is danger of falling out. He will get into trouble.

We have not spoken yet on why and where you have to find and take a Shaykh for this Path. Where do we stand in relation to the stations and task of the Awliya ?

You can read up all the books in the library but only emerging out more confused and with a heavy heart. You need to drink from their vast spiritual overflowing and their magical baraka to transform you. Magical in the sense that you cannot make tricks with your words or writing to claim this knowledge is under you scrunity. You has grasped it ? Wow, ask all the european/western orientalists, why not they become Muslims to earn this greatest gift in existence. To be truly submitting to the Divine Revelation. If they reject and unable to accept the Quran as speech and command from Allah to His Last Messenger, why bother to study the Sufis and Shuyukh as if they produced different truth and wisdom.

So we can see that, the kafirun view the world in separation, cut off from meanings. Still trapped in realm of the sensory. They are outwardly intelligent and inwardly empty. They reject the Unseen knowledge and developed the most advanced technology of today. What is the value of all this worldy existence , just become dust, when the Last Hour coming. Allah preserved and resurrect the ruh, give them a new body to be accounted for their iman, action and life. This is the moment of gatheredness and meanings become reality. No escape. Are you ready?

Beware when people make claims this or that man is a wali or sufi. You cannot prove it by pictures and words, not by websites and books. We only too happy to ask, please bring me to this wali. We don’t want free advertisement that force us to buy what is the rubbish story of sensory, outward separation. Knowledge belong to Allah, He gave it to whom He loves.

We ask Allah to open our inner eyes to His muraqaba and musyahada. Bi-judika wa fadhlika..and to illuminate our secrets to the tajalliyat of His Names and Attributes bi-hilmika wa karamika and to annihilate our apparent existence into His real existence by His overflowing and generosity. And gave us the station of going-on sustained by Him not by ourselves, protected by the Shariat of Your Prophet. Verily You have power over everything.

The Makam of Sayyidu Shaykh Mustapha Idris

On January 21, 2006, we took a walk based on the sunna of dhikr of the feet moving around the central of Georgetown to find out some signs and bakara where formerly exist a large Indian muslims shops, community and many small masjids and tombs. Not far from the Penang Police Hq IPK, along Jalan Transfer suddenly we saw a green flag wavering over a old building with a small cresent sign of moon and star. Around was a warung selling capati and roti canai, but on the upper door hangs an interesting inscription. Inilah makam Sheikh as-Sayidu Mustapha bin Idris, Wali Allah.

But the front door and another right side entrance make of new polish lacquered wood were closed. We walk around this building hoping to find an entrance or someone who open it but none. About a few meters at the back of another vacant building we sit down on a clean street stairs step to make doa of Surah al-Fatihah and Qul HuwaLlah. May Allah show us something baraka from this wali tomb, may his descesdants still alive to keep this knowledge. If not here but spread to somewhere else. We try to ask somebody that may tell us the story of this wali. How he came here, what is his da’wa and teaching, do he left any doa/dhikr and books, is he a sufi and what tariqa he belongs.

Madrasah Nurul Islamiyya,
Lorong Popus, Georgtown, Penang

After that , we observed another bakery shop called Ismalia was just infront of this makam. We traveled down the street further 200 meters, then found a Lorong Popus, where inside another 100 meters stood a big Madrasah Nurul Islamiyya. So we went beside, took down the contact names at the signboard : Shaik Abdullah Hassan 012-4809412 and Ustaz Ahmad Jamal 016-4989493.

In a few minutes, a man arrived by motorbike in front of this madrasa, he waved and called me after giving salam. “ Do you want to see me ?” So I said, yes and sat down inside the classroom. “Can you tell me something about this makam wali nearby ?”. He replied, he dare not to tell anything because he don’t have complete knowledge about its history. “Kita tak boleh cerita sebarangan fasal wali Allah. Nanti salah, kita dapat susah. Saudara boleh pergi Tanya pada satu famili yang tinggal dibelakang makam tersebut. “

We told him this wali makam need to be renovated, cleaned and cleared of the current warung using it outer walls to do business. We must find out and write a official history of this wali or sufi Shaikh Mustapha Idris, how he do da’wa and happen to be buried here . If supported by the muslims, the Penang Heritage Society and Government agency, this site can be declared as Heritage Site/building with historical value for visitors and tourists. Surely the karama and baraka of any true wali will not lost but still gave us benefit in many ways.

Alhamdulillah, during the conversation, Shaikh Abdullah was the man about 30 years who just now riding the motorbike now confirm to us that he is a former student of Dr. Abdad of USM. Now he served as lecturer in the Department of Tamadun Islam dan Tamadun Asia, Pusat Pengajian Jarak jauh, USM. What a coincident, where we had just visited Dr. Abdad at his house in Taman Century, Batu Uban. One step for the path of Allah and another wisper of prayer bring many unforeseen encounters.

On tomorrow, the Friday evening, we went to pray Asar at this very old Batu Uban Masjid about 3km from Penang Bridge, near the seaside built and founded in 1734 even before Francis Light arrival. The Indian/arab muslim traders and their ships normally stopped at this spot to wash, pray and get fresh water supply from a well beside this mosque. There are 4 very old wooden pillars at the main hall inside this unique mosque was just about 600 square feet ( 20 x 30 feet across), but many more new space extension were added to the left, right and back portions . Insya Allah, Dr.Abdad intend to organize a zikir and burdah session here by murabitun in future when things are ready. With another friend called Mahathir, he told me about another wali tomb at Jalan Chulia, very near the famous maginifucent Masjid Kapitan Keling about 0.5 km away. He was sad bcos cannot bring me to visit these places. He got some work to do today.

One day hopefully we can do something to discover who are these awliya and how to revive their knowledges and establishing new centers, surau, madrasah or masjids to enlighten the community around them. Oh Allah, give us success in our endeavors.