Masjid Salman - Tampak Dalam

Dan yang disebut “tata suara” itu bukan hanya masalah beli pengeras suara. Berikut kutipan descripsi pekerjaan itu:

Pada beberapa titik di dalam masjid, suara ceramah cenderung bergema dan tak jelas, untuk itu perlu dilakukan penataan ulang suara di dalam masjid agar jamaah bisa menangkap butir-butir ceramah dan presentasi di dalam masjid.

Ini namanya pelayanan jamaah, memberikan kenyamanan bagi jamaah masjid untuk beribadah, dengan menggunakan teknologi. Dan kalau anda teruskan ke bagian akhir proposal itu, memang rincian biayanya adalah untuk biaya konsultan serta peralatan pengukuran.

Masih ada bagian “tata cahaya”, yang permasalahannya sekarang lebih sederhana:

Pada 4 pilar di bagian depan masjid, perlu dipasang lampu sorot berkekuatan kecil untuk  melayani jamaah yang akan membaca Al?Quran, sehingga meningkatkan pemanfaatan Al?Quran waqaf, dan menahan lebih banyak jamaah di dalam masjid di antara waktu shalat.

Untuk lebih lengkapnya silakan lihat proposal lengkapnya di sini. Dan tentunya jangan lupa ikutan menyumbang.

***

Bagaimana Masjid Salman sekarang? Berikut seluruh kompleks masjid tampak dari atas.

Masjid Salman - Bird View

Tadi pagi hujan lebat di Padang. Ketika kembali menuju rumah dengan jas hujan di atas sepeda motor, saya berpapasan dengan seorang anak laki-laki berusia kira 10 tahun yang berteriak nyaring menjajakan dagangannya. Sangat mengejutkan bagi saya bahwa di tengah hujan lebat seperti ini, tanpa penahan air apapun di tubuhnya anak itu masih terus berjalan menjunjung dagangannya. Kira-kira 5 meter melewatinya, saya berbalik. Anak ini menjual 3 macam gorengan: pisang goreng, ketela rambat goreng, dan bakwan. Gorengan itu disusun seadanya di sebuah baskom plastik sedang, ditutup dengan plastik putih yang lusuh. Tidak ada pembungkus apapun untuk membawa gorengan ini pulang. Anak ini menawarkan diri untuk pulang ke rumahnya mengambil plastik. “Rumah awak dakek, Bang”…rumahnya dekat katanya. Meskipun saya tidak yakin rumahnya benar-benar dekat, tapi dengan itu, saya mengerti betapa dia sangat berharap saya jadi membeli di tengah hujan lebat ini. Saya menolak dan mencari plastik di bawah jok. Saya menemukan plastik kresek hitam yang berbau ban dalam. Setelah menyerahkan uang, dengan sengaja saya sentuh tangannya sambil berdoa dalam hati semoga Tuhan tidak meringankan bebannya hari ini, tetapi memberinya, ibunya, dan seluruh keluarganya kelapangan dada. Saya membawa gorengannya pulang sambil mengusap mata saya yang basah karena hujan dari langit dan hujan dari hati saya.

Di akhir perbincangan kami, adik saya berkata bahwa untuk itulah mungkin Tuhan memberi akhirat untuk kita. Agar mereka-mereka yang hidupnya sangat berat di dunia ini bisa mendapatkan piutang keadilan yang menjadi haknya. Agar orang-orang yang berhutang keadilan di dunia ini, juga dapat membayarnya di sana. Di akhiratlah mungkin segala piutang lebih mudah ditagih dan segala hutang lebih mudah dibayar.

Di dalam hati, saya merenungi seperti apa akhirat yang akan saya jalani nanti, bisakah saya dibangkitkan bersisian dengan orang-orang berpiutang seperti ini?

Di Boise juga dia membesarkan anak-anaknya. Sayangnya tak sekalipun dia berbicara tentang kematian kepada mereka. Apa yang terjadi? Sang anak pun belajar sendiri, menyerap dari lingkungan mereka tentang apa makna kematian.

Tibalah masa sekarat bagi Vahim. Napas sudah tinggal satu dua, bicara pun sudah susah. Anak-anaknya berusaha memberi kenyamanan bagi dia dalam menjalani masa sekaratnya, tentunya sesuai dengan pelajaran yang mereka dapatkan dari lingkungannya.

Yang mereka lakukan? Mereka menidurkan sang Ayah dalam posisi nyaman di tempat tidur, menyediakan makanan yang cukup di sisinya, dan menyalakan TV dengan volume yang cukup besar tepat di kaki tempat tidur. Ini adalah kenyamanan dalam menjalani masa sekarat, dalam versi yang dipahami oleh anak-anaknya.

Dalam kondisi itulah kawan-kawan dari Islamic Center of Boise menemukan keluarga itu, setelah mereka mendapatkan panggilan telepon tentang kondisi Vahim. Anak-anak ada di ruang tamu, juga sedang nonton TV. Sang Ayah sedang sekarat sendirian di kamar tidur, ditemani oleh TV yang membahana.

Segeralah salah seorang kawan mengubah keadaan itu, dan setelah memberi ceramah singkat tentang sekarat dalam Islam, mereka segera mematikan TV dan men-talqin-kan sang Ayah. Tak berapa lama, Vahimpun meninggal, semoga Allah menerima iman islamnya.

Kawan-kawan dari masjid pun keluar untuk berembug dengan anak-anaknya tentang apa yang harus dilakukan setelah ini. Seorang kawan menjelaskan garis besarnya, bahwa masjid akan membantu pengurusan jenazah, tetapi akan jauh lebih afdhal kalau anggota keluarga terdekat yang mengurus jenazahnya, mulai dari memandikan sampai menguburkan. Nanti akan ada seseorang dari masjid yang akan ikut mengawasi.

Berikut jawaban Si Sulung: “You guys do what you need to do. There is no way that I am going to touch that thing“.

That thing itu beberapa saat yang lalu masih dia sebut sebagai Ayah.

Kejadian ini diceritakan kembali oleh kawan saya itu ketika kami mengadakan kursus memandikan jenazah. Anak-anak kita akan membuat definisi mereka sendiri bila kita tidak pernah berdiskusi dengan mereka. Tentang masalah apa saja: bisa masalah kematian, sekarat, akhirat, narkoba, seks, whatever.

Folks, talk to your kids, OK?

Again, I am not joking with the title. There is such a thing as a Muslim urinal. I knew it many years ago when I work with the interior designers at Matahari Dept. Stores on toilet stuff, and they said we usually choose Muslim urinals for our stores.

Say what? Up till that time I have not heard such a term. Of course I have seen such urinals, but I have no idea that they were actually called a muslim urinal.

If you have not seen one, here is one example (a product of TOTO, located in one of the toilets at Batam Airport).

See that little hook-like metal sticking out under the flush pipe? Supposedly, that is what makes this urinal “muslim”. As discussed in the previous article, water is very important element of a muslim toilet.

The reason that I did not realize that this is a muslim urinal is because I do not use the water coming out of that hook to clean myself after urinating, EVER. Not before I know that it is a muslim urinal, not even after I know what it is.

The main reason is that the hook is usually installed as the picture above. It can be rotated, but most of the times, it is exactly like that. Which means that the water coming out of that hook will flow away from anybody using that urinal.

With water flowing away from you, trying to wash your genital with the water involves a lot of circus of trying to peek where the water actually is, and at the same time trying to reach further away (deeper) into the urinal. Which of course will make you look weird if there is somebody else in the toilet.

Well, the the hook can be rotated of course. If you rotate it 90 degrees, then the same problem happens, only that you either have to move to the left or to the right end of the urinal to be able to catch the water from the hook.

All this circus, of course, assume that you are in the right height. If you are higher or shorter than the assumption of whoever designed the toilet, then the circus will involve some body movement to make yourself shorter or higher. And you will certainly look pathetic.

My solution is simply to forget about the hook. This is of course too bad. Somebody has tried to accommodate the need of muslim consumers. And this somebody is not just anybody, but a leading manufacturer like TOTO.

But then, nobody has ever understand how to use the hook in muslim urinals. Is it supposed to be a hands-free sprayer to the genitals? Or is it just providing additional water “on site” for whatever the user will use it for? [NOTE: that this is certainly my own ignorance. If you know how to use it, please use the comments to enlighten myself and other readers].

For further information, check the product description from TOTO Indonesia. Note that there may be other products from other brands, please let me know in the comment section below.

***

Other than the above, is there any other solution?

Yes, of course. Here is one example from a mosque in Singapore.

This is a typical urinal with automatic flush. The difference is the hand-sprayer on the side. I have to warn you though, that the water pressure varies depending on the building. To avoid any surprise, try to spray some water away from you, just to test the water pressure and spraying pattern. I found one case that the pressure is so high that I cannot use it without getting myself wet.

Another, much simpler solution is from a mosque in Pasar Baru, Bandung, Indonesia.

[note: I have to find the picture]

Just a long gutter/drain with one water tap each, with a knee-high barrier as a splash protection. If you need to clean up or to flush, just open the tap.

Of course, there are many other solutions, and I will add along the way. If you happen to know other solutions, please send the link in the comment section.

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Sobats sekalian, assalaamu alaikum.

Menyambung posting saya sebelumnya, ketika saya mencoba memulai kembali program tahfiz, ternyata memang ada satu kekurangan (yang sangat penting) ketika memulai program tahfiz tanpa seorang guru, yaitu tidak ada yang memberikan petunjuk bagian mana yang harus diulang. Waktu ngaji bersama Ustaz Alaina, beliau selalu memberikan jatah untuk ”yang lama” dan juga “yang baru”. Beliau punya catatan sendiri tentang kemajuan murid-muridnya, dan dari situ beliau menugaskan kita untuk mengulang bagian tertentu dari yang sudah kita hafal.

Masalahnya: bagaimana kalau menghafal tanpa guru? Berikut sekelumit pemikiran saya.

Fakta 1: Apal kaji karena diulang, begitu pepatah kita. Kalau diulang maka bisa hafal.

Fakta 2: menghafal itu mudah, tapi mengulang supaya tidak lupa itu yang susah

Fakta 3: sesuatu yang kita hafalkan maka suatu saat akan terlupakan, kecuali kalau hafalan itu diulang sebelum lupa.

Fakta 4: semakin banyak ulangan, maka akan semakin kuat hafalan kita, sekalipun hafalannya sudah dihafalkan puluhan tahun yang lalu. Misalnya yang paling gampang adalah surat AlFatihah. Sekalipun ini adalah surat yang pertama kita hafalkan, karena diulang terus maka sekarang ini disuruh lupa pun insya Allah nggak lupa. Sebaliknya, surat Al-Ma’arij yang baru dihafalkan beberapa tahun yang lalu sudah banyak lupanya.

Fakta 5: karena waktu setiap harinya yang dialokasikan untuk tahfiz terbatas, maka kita perlu pengulangan strategik (strategic repetition), i.e. mengulang bagian dari hafalan sesuai dengan prioritas mana bagian yang paling mudah terlupakan.

Dari kelima fakta tadi, saya membayangkan sebuah metoda untuk program tahfiz (bisa jadi software) yang fungsinya:
1. merekam kemajuan hafalan kita (misal: surat sekian ayat sekian dihafal tanggal sekian)
2. merekam juga bagian mana dari hafalan kita yang dibaca ulang.
3. dari rekaman data tadi, sang software akan membuat perhitungan, dan menyimpulkan bahwa pada hari ini bagian yang paling mudah terlupakan adalah surat sekian. Maka pada hari itu kita baca surat itu, dan kita rekam kembali bahwa kita sudah ulang dengan hasil baik.
4. Perhitungan itu bisa dilakukan dengan membuat sebuah model dengan input:
a. daya ingat => kuat, agak kuat, sedang, agak pelupa, pelupa
b. waktu suatu bagian dihafalkan
c. berapa kali sejak dihafalkan sudah diulang.

Dari tiga hal ini saja kita sudah bisa membuat model yang cukup baik untuk me-ranking hafalan kita sesuai dengan potensi terlupakan.

Saya bertanya kepada Wak Google mengenai software untuk membantu program tahfiz, ternyata yang keluar adalah software bacaan AlQuran. Tidak ada satupun software yang bisa digunakan untuk mencatat kemajuan hafalan kita. Padahal kalau dibuat dengan PHP dan MySQL kayaknya gampang sekali. (Any takers?)

Hati kecil saya bertanya sebenarnya: why make it so hard, pakai software segala? Padahal toch orang jaman dulu nggak pakai software udah pada jadi hafizh.

Well, orang jaman dulu (dan juga jaman sekarang) yang bisa full-time ikut program tahfizh tentu saja nggak perlu software-software-an. Tapi kalau kita ingin menjalani program tahfizh part-time sambil bekerja full-time, tentu tantangannya jauh berbeda.

Metoda di atas akan tidak relevan lagi kalau kita punya waktu sekian jam sehari (empat-enam jam) untuk tahfiz. Tapi kebanyakan orang tidak bisa mengalokasikan sekian jam sehari untuk tahfiz, karena itu saya memimpikan metode ini.

Segala macam komentar ingin saya dapatkan dari sobats sekalian. Terutama mereka yang konsisten menjalani program tahfiz.

Memang itu nama masjid di Cihampelas, tapi coba baca lebih teliti lagi apa arti Mungsolkanas:

Mangga urang ngaos shalawat Ka Kanjeng Nabi Muhammad SAW

Cerdas? Agak maksain sih memang, tapi lumayan kreatif dalam menciptakan kata baru yang bunyinya pun terasa sangat Sunda.

This is going to be a long article (in fact its so long that I need to break it up into two postings – at least). I will start with the why: why bother writing this article. And then I will provide some basic information on what muslims need in a toilet, and I will try to formulate the idea of islamic toilet.

In the next post, I will cover the design parts. This should be fun for architects and interior designers. I am also going to identify some common problems found around the world. Hopefully, in the end we can see some solutions coming out.

0. Why do we need this posting?

For muslims:

1. While Islamic creed teaches cleanliness as part of the faith, toilets in muslim facilities are notoriously dirty. No I am not talking about the big shining mosques in the capital cities, but the small neighborhood mosques in the heartland muslim communities. You just do not want to even glimpse at them, because then you can smell the nerve-cracking odor.
2. Cross-cultural  interactions have alienated muslims in terms of toilet. When muslims move (to study, or to work, or even to migrate) to a western country, they found toilets are less accommodating to their needs (more on these needs below). On the other hand, new buildings even in muslim countries are built with toilets that are, again, less accommodating to the muslim needs.  The western-style of toilet designing is rampant. My interaction with architects taught me that this is in fact the only style of toilet designing, because there is no such a thing as muslim-style toilet designing, at least that is taught in mainstream architecture schools. Any previous attempts to put some muslim values into the design style only provide cultural shocks (as will be shown later, probably in the second post).

For non-muslims:

1. Just FYI
2. To develop cross-cultural awareness and understanding, so that at least you would understand if muslims acts abnormally (by western standard) in toilets. If you happen to be an architect, this information would enable you to design better toilets for muslims.

So here we go.

1. What muslims need in a toilet?

Before we come to that question, there are two relevant concepts that need to be understood. The first one is the concept of aurat, and the second one is the concept of najis.

Aurat is part of the body that should not be revealed to other people. There are different opinions on the details, but the general consensus is as follows. For male the aurat is between the belly-button and the knees. For female is the whole body except the face and the hands.

With this concept, the concept of privacy for muslim has a different angle compared to the general “acceptable” privacy policy for toilet. Urinals must have partition so that the neighbor cannot accidentally see other people’s private parts. Shower must always have enclosed partitions.

Najis are the things that are religiously dirty. Out of many dirty things, there are a number of these things that fall into the category of najis. Rotten food, for example, is dirty but is not najis. The most relevant najis for toilet are urine and feces. The most important part of this concept is that muslims may not pray if there is najis on their body, their clothes, or in the place where they pray. And, as you know, muslims pray, not once but five times a day. For convinience, muslims keep themselves away from najis, because if you have najis you have to clean it up before you can pray.

That is why one of the first lessons in Islam (if we look at the classical text of islamic teachings) is about how we clean najis if we have it in our body, or our clothes, or the place where we pray. Toilet training, basically, but more extensive.

So back to the question: what muslims need in a toilet? The answer is quite simple, there are three basic requirements: (1) privacy, (2) ability to clean up from (our own) najis, (3) assurance that we will not be exposed to stray najis.

2. How do muslims clean the najis?

I am not going to bore you with the gory details of everything about cleaning najis. The basic requirements are simple: you have to get rid of the najis so that you cannot see it, you cannot smell it, and you cannot taste it.

The last one needs further explaination. It certainly does not mean that you have to taste whatever you have clean. Its just a hypothetical requirement: if you have a najis on the floor, and then you have cleaned it, the floor is considered clean when you can ensure yourself that if you were to taste the floor you will not taste the najis but floor. Of course this is only hypothetical, because even without the najis on it, you are not suppose to taste the floor. I believe that the early scholars put this requirement as additional step so that muslims has additional awareness about the najis.

On top of that basic requirements, there are many technicalities that are so diverse that I will skip it here. There are a lot of opinions about the technicalities so I will present some general consensus.

Consensus number one, it involves water. So here is the first culture shock between east and west: people from muslim countries cannot associate between toilet and tissue paper. If they find tissue paper in the toilet, they do not know what to do with it. They need water.

And this is not only for the big thing but also for the small thing. When muslims defecate or urinate, they have to clean the private parts with water. By default is a must, but there are exceptions in various situations where water is can be replaced with something else.

Consensus number two it should involve enough amount of water. Many of the original text says that the najis has to be wash “seven times”. Some muslims take this literally and they actually count the number of wash. In the old days, this probably make sense because people has water in a big tank and they take the water with a small container so that they can literally count how many times they pour the water over. But the era of water tap, counting does not really make sense. So people interpret “seven times” as “repeated times just enough” to clean the najis. It should be noted that over-consumption of water (and in fact, of everything else) is prohibited in Islam.

Consensus number three: there are exceptions to the water rules. However, while there is consensus that there are exceptions, the extent of the exception depends on the interpretation. Some like it hard, and use a very strict interpretation of the exception, some like it soft and use a very lenient interpretation to define the exception.

Again, without going into the details, below are some of the topics in the exceptions, just to give you a perspective on the diversity of the opinion.

Exception on the situation: what situation constitute the “emergency” where medium other than water can be used to clean up the najis. The religious texts says “when you cannot find water”, so some says that that is the exception: when you literally cannot find water. So a dry toilet with only a roll of tissue paper will not qualify for exception, according to this interpretation, because there is a water tap just outside where you wash your hands. On the other extreme, there are opinions that says that it is simply not convenient to insist on using water when the toilet is designed to be dry, so convinience is a reason for exception to not use water.

In between there are people who seeks the middle ground. Yes it is designed to be a dry toilet, but water is still available. No, it is not convinient to insist on using water as in wet toilet, so some kind of improvisation is needed. More on this later.

The second exception is on the medium used: if not water then what? The religious text, that is relevant for the situation in the desert environment, says that stones should be used if there is no water. At least three stones (and only stones with smooth surface, btw) must be used. But stone is totally irrelevant for a multi-story building, you cannot expect somebody to rush down the building just to collect some stones while on the way to the toilet.

For this reason, another opinion says that (dry) toilet tissue is a valid medium to wash the najis. Logically, using toilet tissue is cleaner then using stone. However, the main argumen against this opinion remains: water is available so there is no reason to use other medium.

The middle way: wet toilet tissue. My friend has posted this article in his blog (in Indonesian language only). In a nutshell, put some water over several (three-four) sheets of toilet tissue. That in effect becomes the source of water, so instead of pouring water, just squeeze the wet tissue to extract all the water. The argument against this opinion is the amount of water provided by the wet tissue, it is simply too little to clean.

Yet another solution: dry tissue followed by the wet tissue. Cleaning up with dry toilet tissue will reduce the amount of water needed to clean the najis. But then again, this is relevant only for the small one (urinating). For the big one, I do not think wet tissue will do the job, and at least a small bottle of water is needed. So keep those recycled bottle of mineral water handy.

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That’a all folks, its already long for an introduction. Let me know in the comment section below if I missed anything. I will continue with the second post later next week.

Sebelum membahas apa itu sabun sertu, ada baiknya saya bahas sedikit tentang najis dari sudut pandang Islam. Najis adalah kotoran dalam pengertian religius. Barang yang terkena najis harus dibersihkan dengan tata cara tertentu, berdasarkan klasifikasi najis. Yang najis yang dimaafkan, cukup dihilangkan saja najisnya. Sementara najis yang ringan, cukup dibasuh dengan air satu kali.

Di dalam sebuah riwayat, ada kejadian di mana Nabi mencuci najis dengan air tujuh kali salah satunya dicampur dengan tanah. Yang dicuci adalah bejana (tempat makan) yang terjilat anjing.

Saya tidak akan masuk ke dalam perdebatan apa yang terkategori sebagai najis berat. Ya, ada banyak sekali pendapat di sini, tapi itu untuk diskusi lain waktu. Yang ingin saya tekankan di sini adalah apa yang sudah disepakati bersama bahwa ada najis yang harus dibasuh dengan air tujuh kali salah satunya dengan air bercampur tanah. Proses bersuci dari najis berat inilah yang disebut dengan sertu (dalam bahasa melayu)

Pertanyaan saya (kepada pembaca muslim) adalah apakah anda pernah melakukan sertu? Mungkin belum pernah ya? Sebabnya adalah salah satu dari dua. Yang pertama karena ignorance, tidak tahu apa yang terkategori sebagai najis berat, serta tidak tahu bagaimana proses mencucinya. Yang kedua adalah karena dalam masyarakat yang cukup homogen seperti di Indonesia, ditambah lagi dengan ketidakjelasan apa yang terkategori sebagai najis berat, kemungkinan kita terkena najis berat juga jadi minim sekali.

Lain kondisinya dengan di Singapura. Ada dua kondisi yang menyebabkan situasinya juga berbeda dengan di Indonesia. Kondisi pertama, secara fikih mereka sangat konservatif, artinya mereka mengambil pendapat yang paling berat dalam menentukan najis berat. Menurut pendapat ini, yang tergolong najis berat termasuk: tersentuh liur anjing (baik badan, barang, ataupun tempat), daging babi dan seluruh derivatifnya. Dengan pendapat seperti ini, maka alat makan yang pernah menghidangkan menu babi haruslah disertu. Kalau ada restoran yang baru mendapatkan sertifikat halal, dan restoran itu sebelumnya menghidangkan babi, maka semua alat masak dan alat makan restoran itu harus disertu. Dengan alasan ini pula, restoran muslim di Singapura memakai alat makan yang berbeda, sekalipun berada di kompleks hawker center yang sama.

Kondisi kedua adalah ada interaksi kehidupan yang sangat intens antara kaum muslim dengan non-muslim. Dan perbedaan itu seringkali sangat diametral, misalnya kedai Muslim bersebelahan dengan kedai Cina yang menjual makanan mengandung babi. Persinggungan diametral ini tidak terelakkan, sehingga ada kebutuhan untuk mengelolanya dengan baik.

Salah satu produknya adalah teknologi tepat guna, dalam hal ini adalah sabun sertu. Perkenalkan: Almughallazoh (ini adalah merek sabun itu, dan kata yang digunakan adalah kata Arab yang berarti “najis berat”).

Coba bayangkan, dengan mazhab fikih yang demikian ketat, bisa dibayangkan betapa seringnya seorang muslim Singapura harus melakukan sertu. Makan di resto yang tidak halal, sekalipun hidangannya vegetarian misalnya, tetap saja mustahil karena alat masaknya dan alat makannya pernah digunakan untuk menghidangkan babi dan belum disertu. Yang lebih hebat adalah kalau orang muslim beli rumah baru dan penghuni sebelumnya adalah non-muslim, dijamin rumahnya harus disertu. Sering ada keluhan di perumnas di Singapura ketika ada penghuni baru muslim, yaitu saluran pipa pembuangan tersumbat lumpur. Kenapa? Ya itulah penghuni baru yang sibuk melakukan sertu di seluruh lantai rumahnya dengan menggunakan tanah yang mengakibatkan air lumpur turun melalui saluran di kamar mandi.

Itu karena mereka belum tahu tentang produk Almughallazoh ini.

Dengan adanya sabun ini, cara mencuci najis berat jadi lebih ringan, tidak perlu lagi susah-susah mencampurnya dengan tanah. Memang masih harus dibasuh tujuh kali, tapi setidaknya proses pencuciannya tidak messy lagi.

Sabun ini bisa dibeli di sini:

Kesimpulannya?

Saya teringat Almarhum Ama Endang Saefuddin Anshari. Beliau bilang bahwa Islam itu bukanlah budaya, tapi bagaimana orang berislam adalah budaya. Teknologi ini adalah buktinya bahwa akan ada produk-produk budaya baru yang akan kita buat selama kita terlibat secara konstruktif di dalam kehidupan global yang sangat beragam.

Ekspresi keberagamaan akan berkembang justru bila kita dihadapkan dengan situasi-situasi yang seolah membatasi kehidupan beragama kita.

Pilihan pertama: do nothing, makan apa yang disediakan. Pilihan ini tentu saja terbatas pada penerbangan yang mengklaim menyediakan makanan halal. Berikut petikan beberapa perusahaan penerbangan (dari situs masing-masing perusahaan).

Garuda Indonesia:  ALL MEALS SERVED ON GARUDA INDONESIA ARE HALAL.

Malaysian Airlines: All food served on Malaysia Airlines is Halal.

Emirates: All meals on Emirates flights are suitable for Muslims and are prepared in accordance with the Halal method.

Yang saya permasalahkan dalam setiap klaim seperti ini adalah:

1. Tidak ada pihak ketiga yang memverifikasi klaim itu. Tanpa adanya verifikasi ini (misalnya dalam bentuk sertifikat halal) maka status klaim ini sama seperti “self-certified halal” yang juga banyak kita temukan dalam produk makanan lainnya. Saya pribadi cenderung menghindari produk-produk yang statusnya “self-certified halal“.
2. Produk makanan yang konon halal itu tidak jelas apakah hanya main dish saja, atau juga termasuk side dishes. Yang jelas klaim “semua makanan” di situ tidak termasuk minuman, karena semua penerbangan itu menyajikan minuman beralkohol. Pengalaman saya pribadi dengan Garuda, ketika Garuda masih terbang ke Belanda, membuktikan hal ini. Ketika pramugarinya bersikeras bahwa makanannya halal, ternyata makanan itu juga menyajikan keju produk Belanda, yang kami sendiri selama tinggal di Belanda tidak pernah memakan merk itu.
3. Tidak adanya verifikasi ini semakin membuat kita bertanya-tanya bila pesawat berangkat dari tempat-tempat di mana makanan halal tidak selalu tersedia. Apakah perusahaan penerbangan itu sudah memiliki kerja sama dengan katering lokal di semua tujuan penerbangannya? Apakah pesawat yang terbang dari tempat-tempat tersebut membawa persediaan makanan untuk penerbangan kembalinya? Tidak ada kejelasan di sini.

Saya tidak merekomendasikan pilihan pertama ini. Kalaupun anda ingin melakukannya, lakukan dengan sangat selektif. Misalnya, ketika terbang dengan Malaysian dari Kuala Lumpur, karena kateringnya kemungkinan besar sudah bersertifikasi halal. Tapi apakah anda akan melakukannya untuk penerbangan dari, misalnya, Finlandia? I do not think so.

Pilihan kedua: minta makanan muslim – kodenya MOML (moslem meal). Pilihan ini biasanya tersedia di hampir semua perusahaan penerbangan, tapi pilihan ini tergolong sebagai special meals, yang harus dimasukkan ke dalam data reservasi pada saat pemesanan, atau minimal 24 jam sebelum keberangkatan. Kebanyakan airline malah mewajibkan minimal tiga hari sebelumnya.

Problem solved? Jangan terlalu cepat mengambil kesimpulan. Sekali lagi, mari kita lihat apa yang dimaksud dengan MOML dari berbagai perusahaan penerbangan (juga dari situs web masing-masing perusahaan).

Garuda Indonesia: MOML – Meal doesn’t contain pork, by product of pork or foodstuff containing alcohols. All meat product such as beef, lamb and chicken must be slaughtered according to Moslem rites. ALL MEALS SERVED ON GARUDA INDONESIA ARE HALAL.

Malaysian Airlines: MOML – All food served on Malaysia Airlines is Halal. Alcohol is forbidden; and the use of alcohol in cooking is prohibited. Meat such as beef, lamb and chicken must be slaughtered according to Muslim rites. Pork or pig products are forbidden.

Emirates: MOML – All meals on Emirates flights are suitable for Muslims and are prepared in accordance with the Halal method. This meal type can only be ordered for passengers routed on other airlines. It contains one or more of these ingredients: lamb, chicken, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit and dairy products. It does NOT contain pork, alcohol, or non-Halal prepared meats.

Singapore Airlines: MOML – No alcohol/pork/ham/bacon.

United Airlines: Muslim meals – Below are the guidelines United follows when preparing Muslim meals. Prohibited: Pork, sausages, alcohol, eel, animal fats. Allowed: Fresh fruits and vegetables, yogurt, nuts, rice, corn, pasta, eggs, herbs and spices, cheese and dairy products, dried beans and peas. If locally available, poultry is slaughtered according to the specified Halal methods.

Perhatikan dalam definisi Singapore Airlines, tidak disebutkan syarat bahwa daging harus disembelih sesuai ajaran Islam. Dalam definisi United Airlines, daging dzabiha hanya akan disediakan bila “locally available“.

Berdasarkan pengamatan saya setelah beberapa kali terbang dengan meminta MOML, keberatan saya adalah:

1. Yang diberikan sebagai MOML hanyalah main dish, sedangkan side dishes persis sama dengan penumpang yang lain.
2. Lagi-lagi, tidak ada jaminan bahwa yang diberikan kepada kita itu memang benar makanan halal. Apalagi dengan status kondisional a la United di atas, kita tidak tahu apakah pada saat tersebut United punya supplier halal (sehingga makanan yang diberikan adalah halal), ataukah pada saat itu tidak ada supplier halal (sehingga makanan itu sebenarnya tidak halal). Kalaupun kita tanyakan pada cabin crew, mereka sama sekali tidak tahu karena urusan katering kan ditangani oleh ground staff.

Pilihan ketiga: memesan makanan vegetarian. Saya tidak akan berpanjang lebar dalam kategori ini. Intinya, apa yang terjadi pada pilihan kedua di atas juga terjadi pada pilihan ini. Hanya saja memang makanan vegetarian ini akan dipandang lebih tidak aneh dibandingkan dengan makanan muslim, sehingga kemungkinan kita mendapatkan makanan yang betul-betul vegetarian lebih besar ketimbang makanan muslim. Keberatan saya dengan pilihan ini persis sama dengan keberatan saya dengan pilihan kedua di atas.

Pilihan keempat: memesan makanan kosher. Inilah pilihan yang saya ambil dalam beberapa penerbangan terakhir dari Amerika. Berikut apa yang mereka sebutkan dalam situs web masing-masing.

Malaysian Airlines: KSML – These meals must conform to Jewish religious laws. It is important that these rules are strictly adhered to. Pigs, rabbits and their products are forbidden. Animals and poultry such as cows and chicken must be slaughtered in a special manner called Shechita. Processed foods must be prepared under rabbinical supervision. Milk and milk products are not be used in the preparation of meat meals or served with or immediately after meals.

Singapore Airlines: Kosher Meal: Pre-packed and sealed; contains meat.

Garuda Indonesia: KSML -  These meals are prepared to comply to the Jewish Religious Laws.

Emirates: There is no option for this.

United Airlines: Kosher Meal – We purchase all kosher meals from a certified kosher vendor. They are prepared under rabbinical supervision and wrapped and sealed accordingly. During Passover we serve only kosher for Passover meals to customers who request kosher meals. United is working closely with Heart Smart Restaurants International to develop healthier choices for our kosher customers. Prohibited: Pork, sausages, cured meats, shellfish, rabbit meat. Allowed: Poultry, beef, lamb, liver, sweetbreads, eggs, cheese and dairy products, flour ingredient products, fresh fruits and vegetables, sugars and preservatives, potatoes, rice, herring and fish with scales.

***

Karena itu di penerbangan yang lalu dari Amerika, kami sekeluarga memesan makanan kosher. Ternyata memang sangat terjaga kualitasnya. Seperti tertulis di foto di bawah ini:

1. Makanannya dibungkus dua lapis dan disegel.
2. Hanya penumpang yang boleh membuka segelnya, dan kemudian diserahkan lagi ke pramugari untuk dipanaskan.
3. Bahkan alat makannya pun (sendok, garpu dan pisau) disediakan di dalam kemasan yang disegel itu (emangnya ada alat makan yang kosher?)
4. Tidak boleh ditambahkan makanan lain selain yang di dalam kemasan bersegel.

Dalam penerbangan dari Portland ke Tokyo, makannya disediakan oleh vendor dari New York. Di kemasannya jelas tertulis bahwa makanan itu sudah disertifikasi sebagai makanan kosher. For whatever reason, dalam penerbangan sambungan dari Tokyo ke Singapura, makanannya disediakan oleh vendor dari Antwerp, Belgia. Waah, jauh benar makanan ini terbang untuk disajikan di Tokyo.

Di foto berikut terlihat makanan yang masih dalam kemasan bersegel.  Makanan yang perlu dipanaskan disediakan terpisah, dan memang saya sendiri (penumpang) yang membuka segel kemasannya. Nampan plastik itupun, sekalipun ada tutupnya, juga dibungkus plastik rapat dan bersegel.

Salah satu kekhawatiran yang masih tersisa dalam memilih makanan kosher adalah masih adanya kemungkinan disajikannya alkohol. Memang ada beberapa mazhab kosher yang membolehkan dipakainya minuman beralkohol (seperti wine, rhum, dll) dalam makanan. Tapi ini tetap bisa dijaga, karena dalam kemasannya pun disertakan daftar kandungan makanan, seperti terlihat di foto di bawah ini.

Dan akhirnya, makannya lengkap tersaji seperti di bawah ini. Cukup yummi.

This is the transcript of my sermon delivered on Friday prayer 21-Mar-2008 at the Islamic Center of Boise.

Brothers and sisters,

I start this khutbah with an advice for every one of us to always increase our imaan and taqwa to Allah s.w.t. Allah says in the Quran (surah Ali Imran, surah no 3, verse no 102)

[3:102] O ye who believe! Have taqwa to Allah in the real form of taqwa, and do not die except in a state of Islam.

Our whole life is a struggle to get closer to Allah. According to this ayat, muslim is not a state of being, but a process of becoming. The ayat challenges us all to live however we want, and the only requirement is that we should be a real muslim at the time of our death. We will not succeed in that challenge if we do not seek the true meaning of takwa throughout our life.

Brothers and sisters,

In the month of Rabi’ul Awwal, the month of when the Prophet s.a.w. was born, the best topic to discuss in this khutbah is how we should remember the Prophet s.a.w. In particular, I want to explore how we should defend his noble status in the hearts of muslims, in this crazy world where people can freely mock the Prophet with insulting cartoon. I want to share my exploration into this matter with all of you, to see just how the Prophet s.a.w himself wants us to respond to such provocation.

Brothers and sisters,

If we love someone, we will talk about that person, we will honor the person, we wish the person well, and always remember the person. Our love to the Prophet is much stronger than our love to other people, even stronger than our love to our own parents. Our love to the Prophet is not only based on stories from his life, but also a religious obligation.

There is no wonder if many muslims are so angry if the Prophet was drawn in insulting cartoons. There is no wonder that so many muslims are even willing to die when the Prophet’s name was mocked.

However, curiously enough, many of those muslims who were so angry and even willing to die for that purpose, many of them are not devoted muslims. We see ourselves in our home countries, that many muslims are simply not practicing Islam. But when it comes to demonstration and public show of anger, they will be in the front row defending the Prophet and Islam.

Angry demonstration, public show of anger, killing people, those are extreme acts that can result from insulting the Prophet s.a.w. In this khutbah, I want to warn every one of you, Brothers and Sisters members of our congregation, that we should not defend our Prophet by doing any of these extreme acts.

The obvious reason for this warning is that because these extreme acts are against the law. Of course, you can say that I have to say this because we live here in the US, where you cannot say anything to approve those acts.

But let us stop there, and imagine that we live in our own countries, where you can get away with running amok, burn churches, harass the westerners, or even kill people, all in the name of defending the Prophet. Think about this question: does the Prophet really want us to do those things?

Does the Prophet really want us to kill those cartoonists who drew insulting cartoons? Absolutely not. Why would he want us to do that? He used to be called a witch, in front of his face. People called him crazy, in front of his face. They boycotted him. They spit on him. They put a wet camel skin over him when he prostrated in an attempt to kill him.

In the famous story that everyone knows, he was chased out of a village where everyone threw rocks on him. And what did he say to those people? Did he ask them all to be killed? Even when an angel lost his temper (can you imagine an angel lost his temper?), and proposed to the Prophet that he throws a mountain on that village, what did the Prophet said to the angel? He did not approve such action and said that “they are just ignorant people. If not them, I hope that their children will embrace this religion.”

And now these cartoonists depict the Prophet as terrorist, should we all kill them? Absolutely not!

Brothers and sisters, imagine it in your heart, ask that question to the Prophet: Ya Rasulallaah, should we all kill those people who insulted you?

Ask that question in your heart, and let the history of the Prophet answer that question for you. You would not believe that this kind hearted Prophet would approve such a thing, when he himself during his life time would resort to other ways of responding.

Ask another question, Brothers and Sisters, because these cartoonists are from Christian nations, should we burn the churches? Absolutely not. You will not believe that this kind hearted Prophet would approve burning churches in response to insulting him, when he himself during his lifetime has never burnt down any places of worships, from any religion.

But then the question remains, brothers and sisters, how should we respond to those insults?

O yes, I am sad and angry for those cartoons insulting the Prophet. We are all sad and angry, because people are mocking and insulting our beloved Prophet s.a.w. But our sadness and anger should not be shown in manners that are not consistent with the teachings of the Prophet s.a.w. How should we show our love to our Prophets in this uncertain time?

Brothers and sisters, the answer has been written down by the Prophet himself in the history of his life. I will summarize two ways of responding it.

The first way is on the personal level. Looking inward, what we should do is measure our love to the Prophet.

Allah says in the Quran, surah Al-Ahzab, surah 33, verse 6:

For the believers, the Prophet is “awla” even to themselves.

“Awla” means to have priorities in various forms. If you love the Prophet, you love him more than you love yourselves. If you protect the Prophet, you will protect him more than you protect yourselves.

Look at those cartoons, Brothers and Sisters, and if you feel nothing, then there is a problem with your relationship with the Prophets. This unfortunate event is an opportunity to gauge our love towards the Prophet.

Increase our love to the Prophet by repeating the shalawaat to him. Teach your children about this particular form of remembrance. In Indonesia, we even sing it together in the Masjid while we are waiting for the prayers to start:

[Allaahumma shalli alaa Muhammad, ya rabbii shalli alaihi wa sallim, Allaahumma shalli alaa Muhammad, ya rabbii balligh hul wasiilah]

Also on the personal level, do not forget to pray for those cartoonist who insult the Prophet, exactly the same prayer that the Prophet said to those people who chased him out of the village: May Allah bless them with hidayah. If not them, may their future generations be blessed with hidayah.

We as muslims believe that Allah is the “Muqallib al-quluub”, the One who change the feelings in our heart. As you all know, we cannot control how we feel. How many times that your anger was washed away by things outside your control? How many times that your joking mood erupted into anger?

We cannot even control who we love or who we hate. We have seen cases where the love of thirty years was changed into hate because of one single incident. We also have seen cases where eternal enemies suddenly become jealous lovers.

Allah is the One who has full control of our feelings. That is why we always pray to Him, that He would keep our hearts steady in this religion.

In the same spirit of what the Prophet has done, we should always pray, may Allah change the hearts of those cartoonists. They may now hate the Prophet s.a.w., but may Allah turn that hate into love. And if not them, let their future sons and daughters be blessed with love and tolerance.

Brothers and sisters,

The second level is the public level. What should we do in public? The best way is to educate the people around us. We need to tell them that this is how we feel about the Prophets, about Muhammad s.a.w. and also all of other Prophets.

There was one incident not long ago in the Middle East. A western teacher (meaning a non-muslim) was asked by her student what is the best name for her teddy-bear. She answered “Why don’t you call it Muhammad?”

What happened next was typical of our reactions to this matter: public show of anger. It’s like: the more you show your anger, the more you love the Prophet. It’s a race in showing bigger and greater outrage.

The teacher lost her job, and might have faced criminal prosecution. I did not follow what happened next, but that is irrelevant for this khutbah.

What I want you to do is think about it. When she said to the student to name her teddy-bear Muhammad, did she intend to insult? On that very specific occasion, on spontaneous reaction to her student’s question, did she really mean to insult?

I don’t think so. The worse that could have happened is ignorance. The teacher might have even meant well when she suggested the name Muhammad. Probably she knows that Muhammad is a beloved person to muslims, and muslim girls love teddy-bear. So why not call the teddy-bear Muhammad, to show affection, to reflect love.

This is the ignorance on the teacher’s part. She do not know that we muslims do not show our love to the Prophet by calling a doll Muhammad. In fact such action can be seen as insulting. The fact that she does not know this disqualifies her from being a teacher.

But looking deeper into the community where she comes from, how could we blame her? The people in the western culture, including the people here in the US, they generally do not know how to show respect to religious figures. In this culture, people can affectionately call their dog Jesus, or Adam, or Moses. And this can happen innocently, without any ill spirit.

When somebody from this culture goes to muslim culture, and sees that muslims girl affectionately loves both teddy-bear and the Prophet, it is not hard to imagine that they would suggest Muhammad as the name of the doll. And mind you, there might not be any insult, it is plain ignorance.

Brothers and sisters,

And what is the best cure for ignorance? One word: education. Muhammad s.a.w. was sent to ignorant Arabs with a single mission: [li utammima makaarimal akhlaaq], to improve the moral values.

How did he do that? Not with killing those ignorant people, not by burning their churches. By education.

And the best education of all is by example. It means that we should show them how to respect all religious figures, including religious figures from other religions.

There is a constant question from this community, a question with accusing tone: if Muhammad was insulted the whole muslim world erupted. Would they do the same thing if religious figure from other religion is insulted?

I want to be able to answer this question with a strong: YES. But unfortunately, the reality is not.

But this only shows that education is really the answer to this issue. Let us start teaching and training ourselves to respect religious figures, whatever the religion is. Try to understand how other religion show respect to their religious figures, it might be different from us.

There was one important lesson from Indonesia that I want to share with you. A few years ago, a Muslim musician publish his song with a cover on the CD showing himself riding a bird-like figure. There is a complaint from Hindu community that this bird-like figure in the CD cover is one of the representations of Wishnu (one of the Hindu Gods).

Immediately after the complaint, the musician made a public apology, and all of the CD was withdrawn to be given a new cover.

Now think about this: Hindu is a very tiny minority in Indonesia. The musician and the authorities can simply ignore them, and with a little bit of intimidation the Hindus will probably forget about it. But instead of just ignoring them, the musician made a public apology.

This kind of spirit should be shown in our daily life: showing respect towards religious figures from other religions. This is the best education that you should always demonstrate and explain to the people around you.

Brothers and sisters,

Those are the main principles on how to show our love to the Prophet in the crazy world that we live in today. May Allah keep the love alive in our hearts towards the Prophet s.a.w., and may He keep us strong in our efforts to be his followers. May Allah guide us how to respond to the insults on the Prophet, and may our guided acts be an inspiration for others to know the beauty of mutual respect.