Notes From The Quran Imraz Ikhbal Debunks Deviant H A B A R

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 Yousuf Ali  :  O ye who believe! there are indeed many among the priests and anchorites, who in Falsehood devour the substance of men and hinder (them) from the way of Allah. And there are those who bury gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah: announce unto them a most grievous penalty - Surah 9:34.
 
Note:  Non Muslim readers can skip this. This could be heavy going. I hope Muslim readers will read this.  


The video of that kepala balut fellow has certainly gone viral. 
Imraz Ikhbal our very own "Voice Of Moderation" has made a sharp rejoinder basically thrashing the kepala balut. Here is his video and I hope this video goes viral too. I have some comments after this.

 


 
My Comments :
First of all these folks are just ahli parti politik. They are politicians and most certainly they are not ulama of any kind - I will explain what I mean.
Let us not defile the word ulama by addressing these kepala balut as such. 
Even by their yardsticks these fellows are not scholars or learned. They do not publish scholarly papers in reputable scholarly journals and they will not even know what is a scholarly journal. H-r-mkah Online is certainly not a scholarly journal. None of them are acknowledged by internationally known scholars outside the country. They are never invited to present any scholarly research papers at any internationally acknowledged or academic conferences in the very same subjects which they themselves claim to be expert.
Their village people (orang se-kampong) labelling them "learned" does not make them learned. 
And tell their orang se-kampong to double check their qualifications. Show your degree or certificate. Where is it from? What are your detailed grades? Did you pass? Fail? Distinction? What? If they studied at University of Ain Qamar well it does not even exist.
I would like to share some information about two words ulama and habar that are found in the Quran. First the word ulama:

Surah 35:27-28

 
The context in the two verses above Surah 35:27 & 28 are continuous. Verse 27 flows into verse 28.  When both verses are read together it looks like this : 
"Do you not see that Allah sends down rain from the sky, and We produce thereby fruits of varying colors? And in the mountains are tracts, white and red of varying shades and [some] extremely black.  And among people and moving creatures and grazing livestock are various colors similarly. Only those fear Allah, from among His servants, who have knowledge. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Forgiving.

Verse 27 begins with 'alam tara' which means 'Do you not see'.  Or "Do you not observe".
Seeing or observation is the basic building block of Science. 
And observe what? The verse explains.  Do you not observe:
the rain from the sky (atmospheric science, meterology)
fruits of varying colours (horticulure, agronomy)mountains, coloured rocks with shades of red, white, black (geology)color of people, animals, livestock (biology, anthropology, animal sciences) Then the verse mentions the word "ulama".  This is the only, one, single mention of the word-form "ulama" in the entire Quran. There are numerous mentions of ilm, alim in the Quran but the word-form "ulama" is found just this once in Surah 35:28. 
It refers those who have knowledge. The knowledgeable people. 
These are the people who reverence Allah swt, ie the knowledgeable people. Those who observe the rain, the sky, the plants, trees, animals, mountain rocks and stones, the colors of people, animals, livestock etc. These are indeed the knowledgeable people. These are the ulama. 
In Arabic the word knowledge is ilm. The knowledgeable people are ulama. In Latin knowledge is called "scientia" or science. And scientists are certainly ulama or knowledgeable people.
 
The Quran has another word H A B A R. The Arabs may pronounce it as "habr" or sometimes "hibr".



 
Sura 5:44 Pickthal :   Lo! We did reveal the Torah, wherein is guidance and a light, by which the prophets who surrendered judged the Jews, and the rabbis and the priests (judged) by such of Allah's Scripture as they were bidden to observe, and thereunto were they witnesses. So fear not mankind, but fear Me. And My revelations for a little gain. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are disbelievers. 
In this verse "priests"  is the translation of al-AHBAARU which comes from HABAR.
In Bahasa Indonesia they translate AHBAARU as "pendeta" which also refers priests.

This word HABAR appears again in Surah 5:63, 9:31 and 9:34.
 


Again in Surah 5:63 above the word AHBAARU is translated as pendita-pendita or the priests.
Next up is Sura 9:31 which mentions AHBAAR.





They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of Allah, and (they take as their Lord) Christ the son of Mary; yet they were commanded to worship but One Allah: there is no god but He. Praise and glory to Him: (Far is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him). — English Translation (Yusuf Ali)

Mereka menjadikan pendita-pendita dan ahli-ahli ugama mereka sebagai pendidik-pendidik selain dari Allah, dan juga Al-Masih ibni Maryam, padahal mereka tidak diperintahkan melainkan untuk menyembah Tuhan Yang Maha Esa; tiada Tuhan melainkan Dia. Maha Suci Allah dari apa yang mereka sekutukan.  — Abdullah Muhammad Basmeih

Abdullah Yusuf Ali translates AHBAAR as priests whereas Abdullah Basmieh translates it as pendita-pendita.
Finally Surah 9:34


Yousuf Ali  :  O ye who believe! there are indeed many among the priests and anchorites, who in Falsehood devour the substance of men and hinder (them) from the way of Allah. And there are those who bury gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah: announce unto them a most grievous penalty

Again Yusuf Ali translates AL-AHBAARI above, in red circle, as priests.


 
Conclusion:
So the Quran clearly associates the word ulama with knowledge or science and links it to the observation of natural phenomena including human beings, the flora and fauna around us as well as the sky, the rain, the mountains and the rocks in the mountains. (Surah 35:27-28 above). Scientific observation.

In some sharp contrast, the word HABAR and its derivatives (AHBAAR, AHBAARI) are reserved specifically for the priests or pendita-pendita. Those who deal in religion.  
And it is very apt to read carefully the last verse above Surah 9:34 :


Yousuf Ali  :  O ye who believe! there are indeed many among the priests and anchorites, who in Falsehood devour the substance of men and hinder (them) from the way of Allah. And there are those who bury gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah: announce unto them a most grievous penalty.
Do not forget "kereta Mecedi", RM90 million 1MDB stolen money.  
'the priests who in Falsehood devour the substance of men'.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

By Syed Akbar Ali 

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