{"id":27555,"date":"2020-07-24T20:44:51","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T20:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/new-wp\/?p=27555"},"modified":"2020-07-24T20:44:51","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T20:44:51","slug":"mans-duty-to-live-a-decent-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/mans-duty-to-live-a-decent-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Man\u2019s Duty to Live a Decent Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFinally,\nI managed to overcome the uncontrollable lust through prayers. Allah the\nAlmighty tests us with trials and desires to let us endure and win the fight.\u201d An\nhonest confession was made in a recent local television programme by Jefferi\nMohd Nor, a teacher who once became a transgender. Jeffrey admitted that the\nfight against homosexual tendencies was really hard. This highlights the\nimportance of unconditional support given particularly from the family and\nsociety. The struggle to return to man\u2019s natural inclination (<em>fitrah<\/em>) is\na manifestation of believe and submission to the Creator as stated in Quran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As such, Islam is called <em>deen al-fitrah<\/em>, the religion of human\nnature because its teachings are in full harmony with belief and supplication\nto the Creator. Meanwhile one of the connotations of the term <em>al-deen <\/em>comes\nfrom the root word <em>daana<\/em>, which\nis defined as an indebted person.&nbsp;\nAccording to Professor Naquib al-Attas, this is significant as man is\nindebted to Allah for his existence and sustenance. The debt that must be\nreturned is his own self, and this can only be achieved through supplication to\nAllah.&nbsp; By worshipping and obeying Allah\u2019s\ncommands, man is fulfilling the ultimate objective of creation and existence. In\nthis regard, if one is aware that he belongs to Allah and is forever indebted to\nthe Almighty, he would not do things simply according to his whims and fancies.\nIn addition, he would not claim as having self-ownership and self-determination\nover his body or keep insisting \u201cMy Body My Choice\u201d as he is aware that the\nreal owner of the self, body and soul is Allah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Therefore, he would never do any reassignment to his God-created body\nupon dissatisfaction over what he has which will lead him wanting to become a\ndifferent person from what he has been originally assigned at birth. Neither\nwould he commit suicide out of failure to endure the pain from sadness and\nheartbreaks. A thankful servant would always be grateful for what He has given or\ndestined for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Allah\u2019s servant is also aware that man is distinguished from other\ncreations for the intellect and free-will endowed to him. Thus, he could use\nthese faculties to complement his <em>fitrah<\/em> and live a good life. However according\nto Asha\u2019irah, one of the major theological schools of thought, it is not\npossible for the human intellect to comprehend good and evil unless it has been\nstated by the Lawgiver (Allah).&nbsp; Thus,\nwhat the Lawgiver perceived as good is good and what He perceived as evil is\nevil. A human being is incapable to understand both of these concepts without divine\nguidance through Allah\u2019s revelation and His messengers. Essentially, the values\nand principles determined in Islam are absolute and consistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfortunately, there is a major dispute between the Islamic and western worldviews.\nA big part of the western society reject religion which has led to\ninconsistencies in the principles that they embrace with regards to what is right\nand wrong. On top of that, the philosophy of humanism adapted by them glorifies\nhumanity and human freedom without religious restrictions. This philosophy\ngives full autonomy to man in making decisions based on his own thought and freewill.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apart from the concepts of right and wrong, Islam also teaches the true\nmeaning of freedom which is free from ignorance of his own self and God, his\ndestiny, God\u2019s purpose for his creation as well as what keeps him safe or leads\nhim to destruction in the hereafter. Islam also teaches man that he is\nresponsible and accountable for his actions.&nbsp;\nIt empowers him to struggle against the wrong-doing of his lower self (<em>nafs<\/em>)\nand negative influences from social circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Undeniably, at times man would fail to control his lower self although\ndirections and good examples have been given. However, Prophet Muhammad SAW reminds\nthat, \u201c<em>Every son of Adam makes mistakes and the best of those who makes\nmistakes are those who repent<\/em>.\u201d (Al-Tirmizi). Therefore repentance,\nself-improvement and doing good deeds are applauded in Islam.&nbsp; These actions could be performed by enjoining\ngood and forbidding evil as propagated by the Quran. Helping others to follow\nthe straight path and abstaining from reprehensible acts is an expression of the\nmeaning of brotherhood (<em>ukhuwwah<\/em>) as emphasized\nin Islam. The concepts of love and brotherhood include the act of saving others\nfrom oppression. This involves prohibiting others from committing sins which\nmeans oppressing one\u2019s self and instead, leading them to the right path and\nattain Allah\u2019s mercy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is under this spirit of love and brotherhood that JAKIM\u2019s\nrehabilitation programme is implemented since 2011 for the LGBT Muslim community\nto assist them to live a\nbetter life. Though the programme has received unfair criticism, it has been\nsuccessful to help its participants who have voluntarily took part to lead a\nnormal life. The programme also complements Ministry of Health\u2018s initiative in\ntackling HIV\/AIDS. Apart from this programme, JAKIM also holds series of\ndialogue session with the transgender community with an aim to help them\novercome problems faced by the transgender <em>hijrah<\/em> community and to foster\nclose co-operation among themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Laws\nand punishment are enacted inter alia to preserve public order and rehabilitate\nthe offenders. It is the responsibility of citizens to abide to them and ensure\nthat their actions would not cause heightened sensitivity to the community at large.\nThis is particularly relevant, taking into consideration the high position of\nIslam in the Federal Constitution, and the importance of principles of morality\nin our society. Adherence to rules helps to keep everything in order, and\nassures harmony in the society to be preserved. As what people normally says, when\nin Rome, do as the Romans do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cFinally, I managed to overcome the uncontrollable lust through prayers. Allah the Almighty tests us with trials and desires to let us endure and win the fight.\u201d An honest confession was made in a recent local television programme by Jefferi Mohd Nor, a teacher who once became a transgender. Jeffrey admitted that the fight against&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}