Wise words from a Johore prince.

First, it is only proper that people know that Johore is one of the states in Malaysia.

And when somebody's wife shook the hands of the prince from Johore, there were so many negative comments, he had no alternative but to comment on them.  
Below is the prince's comment which was published on Malaysiakini on 9 July, 2016.
As i find his words has so much wisdom in them, I hope to share them with anyone interested .

COMMENT I was informed by our club Johor Darul Takzim FC's website that there were a lot of negative comments on how JDT player Mohd Safiq Rahim's wife shook hands with me.
There are a few individuals who are trying to be an ustaz or the state mufti on Facebook.
To me, when it comes to religion we are nothing compared to the Almighty. Therefore only Allah can judge us and not human beings.
Only Allah can decide whether our prayers are accepted or not. Only God can judge whether we go to heaven or hell.
We are simply human beings and therefore should not judge others especially on petty things. Islam is about love and respect and not about judging others especially when it involves hatred.
The problem is, too many are trying to be smarter than the Quran.
Although I am born to be a ruler, I am also just a human being. I have no rights to judge whether Allah will accept you or otherwise. Unless you rape people or hurt children, kill people, steal or take from the needy.
Here is some honesty that some of you hypocrites are not used to because too many of you are used to pretentious people in your life here.
I am a Muslim and the holy religion of Islam is much bigger than me. I must say I am not an expert when it comes to Islam but one thing I believe is that Allah will bless you, if you have a good heart, kind, honest, helping one another and respecting others.
Who's to say which path leads to heaven?
There are many school of thoughts in Islam. Who are we to say which one of us will go to heaven? Who are we to say which school of thoughts is the right Islam.
As for me, I prefer to stick with what I have been taught since I was young and to abide by the Holy Quran.
I'm also going to stick to my customs and traditions of a Malay because I'm born Malay.
If there are some of you who wish to be an Arab and practice Arab culture, and do not wish to follow our Malay custom and tradition that is up to you. At least I'm real and not a hypocrite and the people of Johor know who their ruler is.
I don't pretend to wear a jubah but behind closed doors be addicted to drugs and neither am I a gambling junkie. I do not steal from my people and I always speak the truth.
I have the courage to speak what others dare not because of their own personal interest and with me, what you see is what you get.
I always strive to be as real and transparent as I can with my people because as I've mentioned numerous times its better to be hated for being honest and real than be loved and be a fake and a hypocrite.

Pada suatu ketika di Padang Seri Gelam. Perkara yang aneh telah berlaku sebentar tadi.----A very unusual incident happened at Padang Seri Gelam some time ago.
Posted by JOHOR Southern Tigers on Monday, February 22, 2016
Education is key
I respect your choice even though I'm amazed why we Malaysians, especially the Malays, are so easily influenced. The answer is simple. Education.
Education allows us to see the world differently. Education gives you the knowledge to abide by your principles and policies in life.
I have no rights to tell you what to believe or follow and all I have is my honest, humble opinion that we shouldn't try to be smarter than the Quran. All we need to know are the basics.
To my fellow Johoreans - be Muslim, not extremist. Being Muslim is to respect one another. Johor has its own tradition and culture and the same goes to other states. We are all different - different in our interpretations of the teachings of Islam, different in religion and different in ethnicity.
Pointing fingers and judging each other will not make this country a better place. We shouldn't have any place in our heart for hatred.
Do you know how we can make this country a better place and live in harmony? Simple, educate yourself, and respect one another.
Long live Johor, may Allah protect the sultan and the state of Johor.

A lady all religious leaders ought to learn from.

Today I read of an incredible Sarawakian lady by the name of Zabariah Matali who used a Christian center with a cross on the wall for an interfaith 'buka puasa' (opening of fast) event. Defending her usage of a Christian center with a cross on its wall, Zabariah said that there was nothing offending as the cross is just a religious symbol of the place just as the Islamic sayings on the wall of her own Islamic center would not have been offending to members of other faiths should they come to her center.

To me, she is truly God's messenger of peace and unity for all humans no matter what religion they belong to. After all, God is the creator of all humans, no matter the race or religion. Would God wish any harm or disrespect to any of his people, no matter what name humans call their God. For me, God has always been God and I have no name for Him as He certainly has been here before any of us. When man created a name for God, it is obvious that they use their own language and as they wanted it.

Fortunately for the world there comes a lady who can see clearly that we should praise and pray to God and have respect for Him no matter how we name Him. The world would certainly be a better world if all religious leaders were to follow the example set by the Sarawakian lady.

It is certainly time for religious leaders to set aside their own human beliefs and ideas so as to return to the true path of God. This is obviously necessary as we see religions throughout the world go separate ways to form their own groups with differences which are less than holy and can bring calamities to the world as they want others to believe only in their own philosophies and human beliefs. Let us return to the true teachings of God without changing or misinterpreting them to suit our own desires, be they political or human egos.

Health involves exercise, rest and diet

I lost a friend a week ago and it was not because he was not health conscious. This friend knew he had to exercise to keep physically fit. He would cycle long distances, sometimes into a neighbouring country to enjoy the scenes and improve his health.

Once, about three or four years ago, he invited me to partner him in a canoe race along the Merbok River with the competition ending at Pantai Merderka (Merdeka Beach).For me it was the first time I had ever paddled anything in a river and, knowing that, he got us involved in taking a boat from Pantai Merdeka to the starting point about five days before the competition. That was exhilarating but extremely tiring. Fortunately, our muscles recovered sufficiently to find us ready to the race.

This friend likes to travel around on his bicycle and it was good exercise for him. His stamina was good. His rest was usually enough, being able to sleep soundly through the night each day. However, he forgot about limiting the amount of certain foods in his diet until it was a little bit too late. His diet consists of too much fata and oils and this lead to high blood pressure. It was only when he discovered that his cholesterol level and blood pressure were too high that he decided to eat less fats and oils and take oats for breakfast.

Unfortunately, his arteries were already narrowing and one morning, while he was driving somewhere, someone honed loudly as a car overtook his and that caused a heart-attack from which he lost his life.

Perhaps, if he had looked into his diet earlier, he could be alive today. Whatever it is, let us check ourselves and confirm we have enough exercise, rest and a healthy diet so that we may move into our future with greater assurance of good health.Let us give good health first priority.

Of course, there is hope for brain injured children

A few days ago, I wrote about having hope where some doctors said there were none. I was talking about brain injured children. Somehow I got interested in brain injury and the kind of help available to such children. Down's children is fairly commonly seen. There are children with hyperactive brains and there are those who are mentally retarded. As a teacher I have seen some of them in schools. As for brain damaged, autistic cerebral-palsied and brain-damaged children we seldom see them but that is not to say that they do not exist.

Having gone through some of the books, watched the you-tube videos and read about the well known people involved in neuroplasticity, I know there is hope for brain injured children and adults, no matter the cause. In my previous posting I have written about Glenn Doman and his Institute For The Achievement Of Human Potential which developed the therapies for brain injured children through their understanding of the cause of the limitations of brain injured children and the stages of development of the human child. Besides Doman, there is Anat Baniel who had worked with Feldenkrais and developed a method for getting the brain to register movements to overcome limitations imposed by brain injuries. Her book 'Kids Beyond Limits' is very informative on the techniques she uses. Her success in this field has been well known to many who needed her assistance.

Feldenkrain himself had trained practitioners to help such brain injured children too. To know what such practitioners do, go to you-tube where you can see movements they use to assist the children.

Besides Anat Baneil, there are many other practitioners trained by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. One of the practitioners I frequently visit on you-tube is Jeremy Kriauss whose method is clear and interesting to viewers. His explanations on his approach, The Jeremy Kriauss Approach, is very clear on how he achieves the aims he desires.

For further information on neuroplasticity, two excellent books by Norman Doidge are Brain's Way of Healing and The Brain That Changes Itself. They contain information that can lead you not only to solutions for brain injured children but also for well childrens greater development and adultswith brain problems such as stroke and possibly prevention of Alzhemer's.

Well, hope the above information can be of help to someone..

And there is always hope

.

A few years ago, someone told me the brain cannot replace the cells and neurons that have died due to some kind of injury, be it from birth or some other external traumatic forces. Why can other parts of the body be repaired naturally and not the brain? As someone who is growing older each day, I was suddenly curious about this as I know aging people can develop brain problems such as slowly and gradually forgetting things. Now that started me on reading up on the matter. Unfortunately, there was nothing in our libraries or even the local bookstores with such a subject available. Then, the point in my destiny came and I read somewhere about The Institute of Human Potential. I sent them a letter and the beautiful thing was, they replied to my queries with pamphlets. There was a booklet which revealed their work. Parents accompanied their little brain-injured child to the Institute so that they could learn what to do each day to overcome the problem faced by their beloved children.

A few years later, I bought the book 'What to do about your brain-injured child' by Glenn Doman, the founder of The Institute For The Achievement of Human Potential from the Popular Bookstore. I learned from the book and knew there is always hope for people with brain in jury.

Then, one day I was told by the 'Longevitology' group to which I participate in that a brain injured child need the help of two volunteers. I gladly offered my assistance as I could see that my destiny beakons.

The next day, when I reached the eight month old baby's residence, the mother told us, actually 'Chang Sen Sue' or Longevitology was not their first choice. But then, nobody seem to be able to offer any help, especially those people in the medical profession. When I heard that I told her what I knew of the Institute For the Development of Human Potiential. That evening she went to the internet and found that this particular institute was holding a course in Singapore. She immediately contacted them and the next morning found her at the course and allowed entry despite the fact that she had missed one day of the course. Yes, she had been successful in her pleas for permission to attend with the understanding that she must go through the first day of that course at a future date at another location.

The mother had finally found hope for her child. Before this, doctors had told her the child will always be unable to do everything a normal child can no matter what treatment is applied.

And with hope, lots of patience, universal qi from Longevitology and the right movements, the child has slowly but gradually improved. The parents, their relatives, friends and myself are obviously delighted with the development of the baby. There is certainly hope, hope of one day having this little girl running towards us for a hug.

When fear rules

Fear!
That can help us avoid doing the things which can hurt us.
However, it can also sometimes prevents us from doing what is right.
And that is not the only consequence of experiencing fear. Remember that most of us are parents and as parents we are the examples which our children will follow. Our children will inherit the very same thoughts and attitudes towards things they face in life.

Now, where do the above thoughts emerge from? Well, in Malaysia today, the citizens have to be careful with what they utter in public, write on paper or on face-book. If the authorities were to deem what has been said or written as insulting to the government, the Islamic religion or one of our many rulers, the author of such material can be facing the sedition act.

So, it is not uncommon these days to not say what they see,  hear or know or believe in, for a statement of fact can be construed as seditious as long as certain people's feelings have been claimed to be hurt. So what kind of situation has arisen as a result of this? Perhaps, it is best illustrated by a comment from one of the readers from Malaysiakini, a news portal. Below is the copied comment with my comment given within brackets:
    
The comment: Remember the story of a young boy who shouted, "The emperor is not wearing any clothes"?

All the members of the court said the emperor’s clothes were the finest they had seen. The public agreed with the courtesans. (Why? Because all of them were afraid of disagreeing with the emperor. They fear the consequences of telling the truth!)

The emperor was fooled into believing the flattery of his inner circle. (And so, the emperor thought he was majestically right in his lovely invisible clothes when in actual fact he was totally naked.) Only the innocent boy really saw what everybody said they did not see. Sometimes real life is like that. (How true it is!)

It was only yesterday that someone told me her female neighbour was so stupidly courageous as to throw an old worn-out Malaysian flag into a dustbin. In a most horrified expression, she asked me to imagined what could possibly happened if somebody were to see it and report to the authorities. Oh, my God, imagine the trouble she could have got herself into, the lady cried.

Upon hearing this, I asked her what could be wrong with throwing away what is no longer useable. It obviously is the right thing for her neighbour to do. So, I asked her if she were the one with such a flag, how would she dispose of it.

"Oh, no!" she replied. If I were her, I would stealthily burn it when I am absolutely sure no one is around. I wouldn't want to get myself into trouble even though the flag ought to be replaced with a new one." she exclaimed. That is the kind of fear that may have got a good grip on Malaysians. 

"Not only that! Soon after that, another person came; wanted the stick holding the flag and so, ripped off the flag to be able to take only the stick home," she continued.

So, I asked her what was wrong with that. The guy wanted the stick but not the worn out flag. Certainly, he had to remove the flag from the stick.

"Ripping the Malaysian flag?" She put on a horrified face and stood rooted to the spot with some kind of fear in her expression.

Imagine such unwarranted fear even when there is no disrespect shown or felt for an object; even when it is doing the necessary.

Is such fear healthy? Maybe good for members of the Malaysian society to avoid being charged with sedition, but when society becomes so easily fearful over such small matters, there is certainly something wrong somewhere.

There are Muslims who do accept God's most intelligent animal.

It is heartening to read in the Malay Mail Online this morning of the acceptance of a dog by a Muslim cab driver.
Below is part of the report on Mohd. Kamil, the cab driver.

Mohd Kamil said he was not afraid of dogs as his mother once told him to help a stray dog that lay in the middle of the road after being hit by a car.

“It started in 2010 when I was sending mum to the airport for Umrah and then she saw a dog lying on the road helpless.

“She suggested that we help and I carried the dog to the side of the road and contacted the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,” he said.

His view on dogs changed since then.

“Muslim passengers need not worry because I cover my seats with newspapers and clean it with a lint remover once the dog and its owner get off,” he said. 

“I was initially worried what the community will say if they found out. So I kept quiet about what I did. But I believe there is nothing wrong to help those in need.”

Mohd Kamil said there was no policy stating a taxi driver cannot carry animals. He had even consulted other Muslim taxi drivers regarding this matter. 

Land Public Transport Commission chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar previously said there should not be a problem allowing guide dogs to assist the disabled in using public transportation, as well as in public places.

“Most of the other Muslim taxi drivers I talked to were also receptive to ferrying animals including dogs but they rarely talk about it fearing negative reaction from the community,” Mohd Kamil said.

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/hop-on-board-doggie-says-cabbie#sthash.BKXS1HWa.dpuf

Without a doubt, the dog is one of the most intelligent animals, if not the most intelligent, created by God. As such, I have always felt so sad to see so many Muslim children throw things at them. Such ill-treatment from God-fearing children ought not to have happened. 

When it comes to this animal, it is one that we should care for for its loyalty, unconditional love and assistance towards mankind. I write through experience with this animal as i have reared them and in return it has given me so much love, happiness and feeling of security in my home.

Even the police in a country like Malaysia where Muslim form the majority of the citizens use dogs to help them to track criminals and smell out drugs. In doing so, they indirectly acknowledge the well-known intelligence of dogs. 

I have known of a Muslim teacher who have dogs in his plantation to look after it and from the way he talks about them, he obviously appreciated their presence.

I may have been wrongly informed but according to what i do know, dogs ought not to be ill-treated as all animals (Even pigs which I have written about elsewhere in this blog in which I reproduced with permission what a Muslim scholar said about them when people condemned a university student for holding one of them.) are the beloved creation of God. All followers of God have to admit that God is all powerful and having only creatures He wishes to have in this world is certainly within His power. Only atheists have the right to deny the power of God. 

I was also told, correctly or not, that a law was once passed to disallow the touching of the dog due to rabies, the mad dog disease which was prevalent at that period of time. However, rabies is no longer a problem during the 21st century and therefore such fear and dislike of the dog, one of God's most wonderful creatures, should no longer exist. 

Furthermore, where is the need to dislike dogs when it is said that what have to done after contact with the dog is to wash the hands a number of times.

So, it is so good to wake up to the fact that a Muslim cab driven can accept dogs in his cab when it is necessary to have them accompany their responsibilities to various destinations. Not only that! Sometimes the wisdom of ordinary people is so much greater than those who hold higher positions in society. In them, I see the greatness and blessings of God.

 

 

Mohd Kamil said he was not afraid of dogs as his mother once told him to help a stray dog that lay in the middle of the road after being hit by a car.
“It started in 2010 when I was sending mum to the airport for Umrah and then she saw a dog lying on the road helpless.
“She suggested that we help and I carried the dog to the side of the road and contacted the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,” he said.
His view on dogs changed since then.
“Muslim passengers need not worry because I cover my seats with newspapers and clean it with a lint remover once the dog and its owner get off,” he said.
“I was initially worried what the community will say if they found out. So I kept quiet about what I did. But I believe there is nothing wrong to help those in need.”
Mohd Kamil said there was no policy stating a taxi driver cannot carry animals. He had even consulted other Muslim taxi drivers regarding this matter.
Land Public Transport Commission chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar previously said there should not be a problem allowing guide dogs to assist the disabled in using public transportation, as well as in public places.
“Most of the other Muslim taxi drivers I talked to were also receptive to ferrying animals including dogs but they rarely talk about it fearing negative reaction from the community,” Mohd Kamil said.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/hop-on-board-doggie-says-cabbie#sthash.BKXS1HWa.dpuf