Carilah yang halal (di Internet) dengan I'm Halal

Anda Muslim? Anda ingin mencari sesuatu di Internet, tetapi bimbang yang anda akan 'terjumpa' yang, urm, haram?

Usah khuatir kerana kini ada enjin carian Internet yang halal iaitu I'm Halal. Enjin carian yang Islamik ini bertujuan untuk membantu pengguna web Muslim menggunakan Internet secara bertanggungjawab, selamat dan berkesan. Sistem Haram Rating I'm Halal akan memberi amaran kepada pengguna tentang tahap kandungan eksplisit sesebuah laman web.

Pengguna bukan Muslim juga menyambut baik kemunculannya sebagai satu alternatif yang baik untuk anak-anak mereka. Tahniah dan ucapan semoga maju jaya buat tenaga kerja I'm Halal!

Let's learn Muamalah

I am indebted to my former lecturer, Dr. Abdi Omar Shuriye, who struggled to teach us the non-syariah students the subject of Muamalah. This was back in my second year as an undergrad. At the time I wondered why the U wanted us to learn this, especially when the subject involves a lot discussions and difference of opinions between the mahzabs. I thought it was a rather complex subject. But then again I was probably scared because the subject had no particular textbook. I wondered how on earth am I going to pass.

Dr. Abdi's solution was a mass oral exam instead of the normal paper exam. I remember that I couldn't answer properly and I was surprised he gave me a passing grade. We were the last batch of student required to take the subject. It was replaced by Islamic World View or Akhlaq and Adab or something like that. No more syariah subject as requirement.

I never gave the subject much attention until a few years later, when a friend from Al-Azhar asked me to help translate a paper he wrote on the Islamic Banking system. It was a very informative paper and I could understand it because I had seen it before in Muamalah class. I realised how fortunate I was to had been 'forced' by the U to learn Muamalah.

Now as a working person, these things have become very important. They help me to think about what is halal and what is haram. Things are not as simple as we believe. For example, what does the syariah say about multi-level marketing?

Does it matter if we whether we've learned it before or not? Not really. The important thing is to continue to learn more if we have. If we haven't, why not start now? This is more than a matter of life and death. This is a matter of life and afterlife, which is a very, very, very long life.

A Man Without A Country

Although I may sound like a discontented book buyer in this previous entry, I was happy with what I bought, most of it. Some required 'repair and restoration' because of their condition. But not all.

I was happy with finding this at the sale. This is the second last book released by the esteemed American novelist, Kurt Vonnegut, who wrote Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five. He passed away in 2007. I don't know much about American literature and never read any of Vonnegut's books.

A Man Without A Country is a collection of Vonnegut's writings on many issues. A few issues keep reappearing throughout the book like the US under the presidentship of George W. Bush and the state of the environment. He was over 70 when he wrote this, and many times he relates back to when he fought in Germany during WW2. Slaughterhouse Five was based on that experience.

I finished the 146-page book in a few hours. Vonnegut was difficult to put down, at least with this one. In a scant number of pages he goes from reflective to amusing to informative, visiting topics like writing, history, politics and human nature.

Some of the things from the books that made me stop to laugh and think.

I am, of course, notoriously hooked on cigarettes. I keep hoping the things will kill me. A fire at one end and a fool at the other.

Do you think the Arabs are dumb? They gave us our numbers. Try doing long division using Roman numerals.

When I got home from the Second World War, my Uncle Dan clapped me on the back, and he said, "You're a man now." So I killed him. Not really, but I certainly felt like doing it.

Syawal reunion

During this month of Syawal, by His Blessing, I was reunited with a few people with whom I have not met in years.

They are my cousins in the north. The last time I saw them was about 9 years ago. The two youngest ones were just little then. Now they are in secondary school. Their elder sisters are overseas, one of them managed to fly back home from Germany for Raya. I also haven't seen her in years. This is a young woman whom I am both envy and proud of. The eldest of the siblings is dashing young man who was once a very boisterous little boy who I grew with. Many Rayas ago we were suggested to go visit the houses in our grandparents' neighbour for duit raya. But we were too shy. After two hours of walking aimlessly from one corner of the neighbourhood to another, we came back with empty pockets. Other kids might have made RM50 or so easily on such a trip.

It was very bitter sweet. In fact, as we were sitting for lunch and munching kuih raya, I was remindng myself that is all real. Here they are, all grown up in front of me.Time has really passed me by. The grandchildren are heading into adulthood and soon the great grandchildren will make their appearances.

In this world there are many different kinds of family. On the same occasion we met a family of 16 siblings that are able to gather entirely for Raya year after year. Everyone and their own family would  flock back to the grandparents' home in Perak, where meals needed to cooked kenduri-style because there's just that many people to feed. I can't help but to salute these people. That's no easy job trying to keep 16 families united. Can my family pull off something like that? "Maybe" is the best answer I can think of.

But God know best. Miracles do happen, right?

Jualan gudang buku: murah, tapi...

Jualan gudang Pearson dan Penguin Books sedang berlansung dan akan berakhir Ahad ini. Saya sempat ke sana minggu lepas. Kepada sesiapa yang ada kesempatan, saya rasa elok pergi. Pertama kali saya ke sana ialah dua tahun yang lalu. Jualan ini hanya sekali setiap dua tahun dan harga yang ditawarkan boleh dikatakan murah.

Boleh dikatakan murah jika dibandingkan dengan harga di kedai buku biasa. Contohnya buku ini. Harga buku kulit kerasnya dalam lingkungan RM60-RM70.

Di sana harganya, kalau saya tak silap, RM15 untuk edisi paperback. Dan buku ini baru setahun lebih dalam pasaran.

Buku ini tentang pengalaman seorang saintis dan pengkaji otak manusia yang ditimpa angin ahmar atau strok. Beliau menulis tentang bagaimana pengalaman tersebut mengubah hidupnya serta pandangannya tentang kehebatan otak manusia (yang sememangnya hebat kerana Allah yang menciptanya).

Adakah kebanyakan buku di sana seperti ini? Tak. Ini jualan gudang, yakni jualan penghabisan stok. Buku-buku baru memang ada tapi harganya mungkin murah sikit daripada harga biasa. Yang banyak adalah buku-buku yang diterbitkan lebih daripada dua tahun yang lalu.

Menurut komen yang ditinggalkan di laman everyday.com.my (pautan yang sama seperti di atas), harga buku pada jualan kali telah naik. Dulu harganya dalam RM8, tapi kini RM10 dan RM15. Mahal.

Berapa yang boleh dikatakan mahal? Nampaknya harga adalah sesuatu yang relatif. Sesuatu yang mahal bagi saya mungkin murah bagi orang lain, dan juga sebaliknya. Masing-masing ada cara yang tersendiri dalam membuat perbandingan.

Bagi saya ini masih dikira murah. Sesuai untuk orang yang seperti saya, golongan yang tak bergaji besar. Jualan seperti ini sangat dinanti-nantikan.

Tetapi jangan harapkan suasana yang nyaman kalau ke jualan gudang seperti ini. Kalau tak hawanya panas, mungkin akan terasa debu-debu melekat di tapak tangan. Jangan lupa, namanya pun jualan gudang.

Perkara-perkara sebegini lansung membuatkan saya terfikir tentang nasib pembaca buku di negara kita. Secara umumnya harga buku adalah mahal. Untuk nilai yang lebih, kita mencarinya di jualan-jualan gudang seperti ini.

Kenapa harganya lebih murah? Pada pandangan saya sebagai seorang pembeli, harganya murah atas beberapa sebab. Seperti yang saya cerita tadi, keselesaan membeli belah seolah-olah tidak perlu lagi diadakan. Cukup dengan mempamerkan buku di atas meja-meja. Biasanya buku-buku dilonggokkan dan disusun mengikut kategori umum fiksyen dan bukan fiksyen. Jualan gudang sebenarnya mirip kepada ekspidisi mencari harta karun. Kalau jumpa buku yang dicari, itu memang rezeki.

Bagi saya ini tak seteruk mana jika dibandingkan dengan keadaan buku yang dijual. Ada yang yang kemek-kemek, berconteng (mungkin dengan sengaja, agar pembeli tak menjualnya semula dengan harga yang sama dengan yang di kedai) dan yang berlengas dengan gam pelekat harga. Kadang-kadang kulitnya nampak kotor kerana debu-debu sudah melekat pada gam tadi. Sedih hati ini melihatnya. Mengapa teruk benar keadaan buku-buku ini?

Ada sekali di jualan gudang yang lain, buku-bukunya terlekat pada satu sama lain Mungkin kerana kelembaban semasa dalam simpanan di gudang. Satu lagi kerja bagi para pembeli untuk memisahkan buku yang ingin dibeli, sekaligus merosakkannya.

Ada masa pelekat harga yang digunakan sangat kuat gamnya hingga sukar untuk ditanggalkan tanpa meninggalkan kesan pada kulit buku. Tertekan rasanya jiwa apabila ini berlaku.

Tujuan saya menulis semua ini bukannya untuk merungut. Saya hanya ingin pihak penganjur jualan gudang buku lebih prihatin dalam mengendalikan buku-buku yang mereka ingin jual. Jangan kerana harga sudah dipotong buku-buku dibiarkan kemek, helainya berlipat-lipat atau seumpamanya.Ini buku, bukannya sekadar barangan jualan atau komoditi semata-mata.

Kepada yang belum pernah ke mana-mana jualan gudang buku, inilah antara realiti yang terpaksa dihadapi sebagai pengunjung dan pembeli.

Namun, saya masih bersyukur atas wujudnya jualan sebegini. Selain daripada harganya yang jauh lebih rendah, jualan gudang adalah peluang yang baik untuk mencari buku-buku yang sukar dijumpai di kedai buku. Saya akan tetap memanfaatkan jualan gudang buku, walaupun terpaksa bersabar dengan suasana yang panas serta pulang dalam keadaan bersalut debu. Demi buku, semua ini sanggup kuhadap!

[ Terdahulu dan berkaitan: How to prepare for a book sale ]