An Omar's Wish or Our Need For Leaders

In one of the homes of the blessed Madina Omar was with a number of his companions and said to them: "have a wish." One of them said: "I wish this house were full of gold, and I would spend it for the sake of Allah", then Omar said to them: "Take a wish". Another man said: "I wish it had been full of pearls, chrysolite, and gems and I would spend that for the sake of Allah and in charity". Then Omar said again: "Take a wish", and so they replied: "We do not know what to say". Then Omar said: "But I wish that there were men like Abu Obeida Ibn Al Jarrah, Mu'ad Ben Jabal, Saalim the master of Abu Hudhaifa who would help me to glorify the word of Allah."

God Bless the soul of Omar, the man of inspiration, who was an expert of the bases of real civilisations, and of the grand messages, and of what makes inert nations alive. Nations and messages need underlying mines and minerals, and surface wealth. Prior to all this, they require thinking minds which they would exploit, and big hearts to protect them, and strong determinations to lead them, they need leaders.

Man is dearer than any precious mineral, and more expensive than any pearl. That is why his presence is dear to the world of people, to the point that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: "People are like a herd of one hundred camels, within which you can hardly find a she-camel'' (Authenticated as part of Ibn Omar's Hadith). The competent and good man is the elixir of life, and the soul of rebirths, and the pillar of messages and the pivot of reform.

Prepare what you want in terms of factories of arms and ammunition, and these arms will not kill without the fighting man. Write whatever number of laws and lists, and they will remain as ink upon paper if there is no man to execute them. You can also set up whatever number of education and teaching methods, such methods will not thrive unless there are the right men that will use them in their teaching. You can also appoint any number of committees and they will not establish one single project if they do not have the earnestly enthusiastic man. This is clear from actual experience.

Strength is not constituted so much by the sharpness of arms as it is constituted by the strength in the heart of the soldier. Justice is so much inherent in the text of the law as it is in the conscience of the judge. Education is not so much on the pages of the book as it is in the soul of knowledge. The realisation of projects does not lie so much in the constitution of committees as it is in the enthusiasm of those who execute them.

By Allah, there is nobody that is more precious than Omar when he did not value gold, silver, pearls, nor gems, but wished for men of the excellent type through whose hands the treasures of the earth and the gates of heaven open. One man may equal one hundred, and a man may equal one thousand, and one man may weigh as much as a whole nation; it was said before, "a man of determination will resuscitate a whole nation".

Khaled surrounded Al Hira and asked Abu Bakr for reinforcement, so he sent him only one man, Al Qa'qa' Ben Omar Al Tamimi and said, "never will an army including such a man get defeated". And he used to say, "The voice of Al Qa'qa' in an army is better than one thousand fighters!" When Amr Ben Al'As was in Egypt and asked for reinforcement, Omar Ben Al Khattab sent him four thousand soldiers led by four important men of Islam, each one of whom counted as a thousand.

But what kind of leader do we need? Is it any man whose moustache thickened and beard grew. In such a case, the number of leaders is very large!

Manhood does not consist of advanced age. How many a man has reached the age of seventy and whose heart is one of seven. He feels joy for the superfluous, cries over the ridiculous, aspires to what he will not have and holds onto what he has in his hand so strongly that no one can share it with him, he is a little boy... but with a beard and a moustache. How many a youth at the beginning of his life, in whom you see premature manhood in his speech, acts, thinking and behaviour.

Omar passed by a number of playing children, and they ran away, and a single boy remained in his place. It was Abdullah Ben Azzubair. Omar asked him, "Why did you not run away like your friends?", he said "Oh, commander of the faithful, I have not committed a sin so that I should fear you, and the path was not narrow, otherwise I would have made it wider for you!" An Arab youth went to an Ummeyyad Caliph to represent his people, so the Caliph said, "Let someone who is older than you talk on behalf of your people", so the youth said: " Oh, commander of the faithful had advanced age been the criterion there would be in the nation many who would govern before you". These are the young old, and in our world there are many old youth.

Manhood is not constituted by the volume of the body, or height or strength. Allah said about a group of hypocrites, "And when thou seest them, their figures please thee" (.Authenticated as part of Ibn Omar's Hadith) and in spite of that, "They are as though they were blocks of wood in striped cloaks. They deem every shout to be against them (Surah 63, Verse 4). In the authentic Hadith, "The big and fat man comes on the day of reckoning and does not weigh in the eye of Allah more than the weight of the wing of a mosquito", and read if you like Allah Almighty's word, "and on the Day of Resurrection We assign no weight to them" ( Surah 18, Verse 105.).

Abdallah Ben Mas'ud used to be weak and stringy. His shanks got uncovered one day, and they were thin and stringy, so some of the companions of the Prophet laughed, and he (PBUH) said, "are you laughing about the thinness of his shanks, by He who holds my soul between His Hands, those are heavier in Allah's scales than Mount Uhud".

Manhood is not constituted by age, build, money or rank; manhood is a moral strength which takes its owner to the heights of affairs, and takes him away from its nonsense. It is a strength that makes him mature, rich, and strong despite his youth, his poverty, and his weakness. This is the strength that makes him give before he takes, and perform his duty before he asks for his due: his duty towards himself, and his God, and his family and religion and society. In brief, manhood is the strength of the creation and creating the strength.

The best that a nation can do for its people, that an educational system can be based upon, that the means of guidance including press and radio, theatre and cinema, mosque and school can do is to contribute to the making of this manhood, and the upbringing of such types of man.

Lofty manhood, and upright men will only thrive under deep-rooted faiths, firm virtues, authentic values, protected traditions, and guaranteed rights. In the obscurantism of destructive doubt, unbelieving atheism, permissive decadence, and deadly depravation we will not find authentic manhood, in the same way as plants do not grow in the absence of water, air and light.

The world has never witnessed manhood at its best and in its fullest sense as it did in those noble models who were raised by Islam at the hand of its great Messenger. Those are men whose numbers grow at times of fear, and whose numbers become smaller at times of greed. They are neither flattered by promise nor frightened by threat. They are neither blinded by victory nor destroyed by defeat.

Among the men of light who stood up
As if they were made from living stars
Their moruls are their lights, whatever side
You rook' d at them, they glisten.

Today, the colonialist has spoilt the atmosphere of the Muslims with its poisoned and suffocating gases of atheism and permissiveness to the point that you now only meet pseudo-men, not men. I appreciated and was pained by reading a comment of a man who had studied the instructions of Islam, which stated, "What a religion, if it only had leaders"!

This religion which is suffering from the lack of leaders includes five hundred million men (This was the correct number of Muslims when this article wfirst written in 1956 AD. Now their number has gone beyond one .), who are relateto it and are part of it. The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: "Scum like the scum of a flood" (This is part of a Hadith which was quoted by Ahmed and Abu Dawud quoting Thawban.), or as the poet said:

They weigh on land with their number
But they are of no help in momentous events.

How could Islam be strengthened by men who are engrossed by their personality, governed by their desires, and are led by their interests. These are men who believe that their peoples are but noughts who can only serve as followers, and live as tags. They have no confidence in themselves, nor do they rely on their god. These are men who are gathered by greed, and dispersed by fear. As it is said.l they are gathered by a flute and dispersed by a stick! Men who are as if th' y were made of glass, which neither covers one's privates nor survives a stone's throw.

Had Islam had one good man in a thousand men, one who had the qualities of manhood, that would have been better for it and more efficient than these swarming crowds who are feared by no enemy and whose presence does not glorify a friend.

I wish they had been people who, when they ride
They launch a raid as horsemen and riders,
And do not ask their brother when they mourn them
In catastrophes, about evidence for what he says.

(Petikan dari Toward a Sound Awakening oleh Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi)

St Anne Church

History of the Church of St. Anne Bukit Mertajam, near Cherok Tokun.

The early settlers at the Bukit Mertajam foothill were the Malays, practicing Islam. The Malay community were scattered at Kampong Cherok Tokun, Kampong Telok Bukit and other villages down at the foothill.

It was at Batu Kawan, as early as 1833 that Catholics first originated in Province Wellesley. They were mainly Chinese and Indian. It was from here that the Catholics gradually moved to Permatang Tinggi, Macang Bubok and Bukit Mertajam. By 1840, the Chinese Catholics started settling down at the Bukit Mertajam foothill. The Chinese settlers soon opened up the town Bukit Mertajam.

The early priests were all Frenchmen and they visited Bukit Mertajam from Batu Kawan. In 1846, the first visiting priest, Fr. Adolphe Couellan decided that there was a need for a chapel and built one just below where now stands the hill top St. Anne's statue.St. Anne was (and still is) a very popular patron saint amongst the French. Naturally, the chapel was named after her.

From 1860 onwards, priests residing at Permatang Tinggi chapel took over the visiting to the St. Anne's Parish. In 1865, Fr. Maistre who was the first visiting priest from there, built a bigger second chapel. It was located lower down, closer to where the old St. Anne's church is. Today you can still see the remains of this chapel just behind the well of Saint Anne's water.

In 1869, Fr. Allard came as the first resident priest. Fr. F.P. Sorin arrived in 1875 and he built the first church and it was ready in 1888. Fr. Sorin died on 26th July (St. Anne's Feast Day), 1907, in Teluk Wang and was buried at the entrance of St. Anne's old church.

The stained glass set featuring St. Anne and also a set of three bells from France were installed at the old church in 1896 by Fr. Charles Grenier. During the Japanese occupation the bells were dismantled. Only one of them has been recovered.

In 1938, Fr. Laurent was here briefly and during his time, he organised the first church choir with Datuk Wong Pow Nee as the choir master. That same year, Fr. Joachim Teng took over the parish. It was he who bought the land where the Kim Sen school and the second church are now located. In 1941, the war broke out and masses were disrupted as the Japanese occupied the church land. The situation was back to normal after the war in 1946.

In 1948, "Emergency" was declared and the old church grounds became a prohibited area due to communist activities. The residents were resettled and church services were held in the Convent.

In 1957, the second church was built by Fr. Thomas Chin. This is the church next to Kim Sen school which has been called the "new church" for the last 45 years. The Centenary Celebration of the parish was held in 1969 under Fr. P. Grandvuillemin.

Fr. Peter Pang who took over as parish priest in 1977, built a permanent altar shed in front of the old church and also the parochial and reconciliation halls at the old church compound. He also installed the statue at the top of the hill after fire destroyed the shrine there.

Fr. Augustine Wong arrived in 1984. He removed the shed in front of the old church for a clearer view. He also reinstalled the stained glass behind the altar, which was damaged and one of the original bells which was recovered. In 1987, he built the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima at the second church and improved on the parochial and reconciliation halls at the old church. These were used for masses, retreats, and meetings as well. In 1988, the Centenary Celebration of the old church building was held.

The St. Anne's water fonts were altered to what they are today in 1997, soon after Fr. Michael Cheah was assigned as Administrator for the parish.

The Cherok Tokun Relic

The Cheruk Tokun Relic is within the compound of St Anne Church.



This Cheruk Tokun Relic can be traced back to ancient Indian Kingdom of Kadaaram, presently known as Kedah, a northern state in Malaysia.

Some Pallava scripts or Sanskrit inscriptions can be found written on the large, smooth block of granite bearing inscriptions. It was said to have been carved around the 5th - 6th centuries.

The script is Pre-Pallava and the language is Sanskrit. The inscription speaks about 'Thus vanquish, the enemies of King Ramaunnibha'.

It does make one think, what happen to the once very prosperous kingdom? Also the loyal supporters of Raja Chola? All we got now are remnants of the once very ancient 5th - 6th centuries old Penang Indian history.

And its ports were important international markets as Romans, Indians, Chinese, Arabs were the people who used to frequent these places.

Cheruk Tokun Relic: The inscription speaks about 'Thus vanquish, the enemies of King Ramaunnibha'.

The ancient Kingdom of Kadaaram was a rich source of gold. Its rivers contained gold sand. Furthermore, there were abundant spices and forest products.

The kingdom was well-cultivated and hence rich in food material. Further two stone writings or Buddha gupta inscriptions using the Pallava scripts and in the Sanskrit language was found at Guar Kepah, and Cheruk Tok Kun in Bukit Mertajam according to the Archaeological Research 1992-2001.

Southern Kedah or Lembah Bujang civilization in the early century to 20 A.D. was intimately related to maritime trade between a few countries in Asia, China, West Asia and India. The development of its entrepot trade was often tied to the Thalassocractic Kingdom of Srivijaya.

The finding of historical sites on which could be found thousands of pieces of ceramics, glass and beads from China, West Asia, India or local, the ruins of temples dedicated to Hindu gods and Buddha, the structures of sunken towns and harbors, cultural artifacts such as idols and statutes, stone writings and tools used in the community's everyday activities had indicated that this cluster as the place where the ancient Kedah coastal state was founded.






Cheruk Tok Kun Relic or Batu Bersurat within BM St Anne Church vicinity




Sungai Mas and the corridor of Sungai Mudais a historical site that crosses through pre-historic era of such cultures as the Hoabinhian, proto-history, and history.

Even though its research had taken nearly 150 years, but efforts at revealing, reviving and re-constructing history, its role and development is still being debated and had not been agreed upon.

Its status and potential is recognized by participants of the InterASEAN project: Archaeological Excavation and Conversation of Bujang Valley, Kedah in 1985, and was recognized by the Malaysian Book of Records for the discovery of hundreds of thousands of ancient beads and for being one of the comprehensive locations for the manufacture of beads in the Indo-Pacific region.

Because its harbor was indispensable and located within the trans-peninsular route between Old Kedah and Langkasuka (Patani), it developed into an important city-port.

It seems this unusual megalith is the only megalith in the state of Penang gazetted by the Department of Museum and Antiquities. The Museum and Antiquities Department built a shed over the megalith in 1973.

It seems a little late by the time it was enclosed as the one and only megalith in Penang gazette is craved or engraved by people who does not know the significant of it.

Outside the megalith stood a lone stone slab validating the find by a British army officer Colonel James Low in 1845.

Cherok Tokun

Cherok Tokun dari segi istilah nama ini memang pelik, tetapi apalah pada nama. Terdapat nama tempat yang lebih ganjil di seluruh dunia. Ianya amat subjektif sekali tetapi Cherok Tokun mempunyai keistimewaannya yang tersendiri dan menarik. Terdapat beberapa keistimewaan di Cherok Tokun yang tidak terdapat di tempat lain.

Kedudukannya yang starategik di kaki bukit Bukit Mertajam memberikannya suhu yang sederhana dan nyaman. Kampung ini mempunyai infra yang lengkap dan ianya mempunyai sebuah tadahan air 'reservoir' bagi membekal air kepada Keretapi Tanah Melayu dan pengaliran air minuman ke Ampangan Mengkuang.

Hutan tropika dengan tumbuhan asli di Bukit Mertajam membolehkan kita menikmati tumbuhan liar dan udara nyaman. Jabatan Hutan telah menyediakan hutan rekriasi "Hutan Lipur Cherok Tokun".

Yang paling istemewa inilah kampung Sdr Anwar Ibrahim.

Nama Cherok Tokun adalah synonemous dengan nama Sdr Anwar dan disebut di mana-mana jua di dalam ucapanya di dalam semua ucapan di dalam dan juga di luar negara, semenjak zaman ABIM dan Belia.

Sejak tarikh hitam 2hb September 1998 apabila Sdr Anwar dilucutkan jawatan, di'aibkan, dipecat dari UMNO dan seterusnya dipukul oleh Ketua Polis Negara, Rahim Noor dan akhir-akhir ini ternyata diracun masyarakat Cherok Tokun telah membulatkan tikad keluar beramai-ramai daripada UMNO dan menubuhkan dua cawangan Parti Keadilan.

Kini Cherok Tokun akan meneruskan perjuangan reformasi, yang dilafazkan oleh Sdr Anwar di Cherok Tokun iaitu Deklerasi Permatang Pauh.