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[June 9th, 2022] Seni Merayu Tuhan (The Art of Persuading God) - 120/224

We can trust a barbershop to do things with our hair without us looking at it. Why? Cause we believe in the barber. From "Lesson of Faith from a Barbershop" chapter, we realized that we can put a belief in humans, a mere creatures. There is no reason for us to not believe in the almighty God, The Creator. Sometimes, we might not understand why do we live this way? Why is it so difficult? Why are we like this? Things we want to reach are out of our sight, we run and run, but it is an endless road. But believe that God knows the best, that we don't know anything but keep loathing. Look, we won't know how many times God has saved us from the danger without us knowing. God gives us the air to breathe, water to drink, and sunlight to grow the crops for us to eat. We can't count on God's mercy, we can't.

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"Whoever know themselves, know their Lord." is a quote by the Sufis, also the opening sentence of the chapter "Seeing God on the Mirror." The book explains it in a general way when I expect more explanation about that Sufi quote. So, I found it deficient. Nevertheless, this chapter taught about how we should look within ourselves before looking at others, for us to fight our lust, the demon inside, first. Do our best to follow Prophet Muhammad SAW.

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Arrogant is one frightening behavior. It isn't just showing off wealth and achievements. The way we, as a human, tend to feel better than others, underestimate others, feel the rightest, reject the truth, and stop ourselves from learning are also counted as unconscious pomposity. Sometimes, we want to win, but the win doesn't mean glory. So that conceding doesn't equal loss. That's what "Giving in, Giving in to God [1]" told us. There are times in an argument when we believe we're right, trying to inform others the truth, but they refuse, no matter what.

Arrogant. Goodness, I once experienced arguing on Twitter with someone because I said something like, "because Islam in Indonesia is mostly ritual without understanding the concept, people pray and such but ignore the essence of Islam, they keep feeling the rightest and despise the others." We keep arguing. There is this saying, "the sane one back down." However, we can't be silent forever, right? (Or maybe I am the one who's actually insane). Or maybe, it's just not my place to speak from the beginning. Who am I to speak anyway.

In the chapter, there's a sentence like this: "Fanaticism towards a certain opinion isn't Islamic teaching. We were forbidden to be fanatic on one opinion because this attitude resembles the devil's teaching." How to be more controversial? Considering the growth of the caliphate movement in Indonesia. Fanaticism… Ehm.

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"I Don't Know!" That word, yes. I remember back then when I was in university, the lecturer allowed us to write "give up" to the question that we didn't know the answer or when we were stuck with the calculation. We will still get some mercy points by writing "give up" rather than writing nonsense (The questions are essays), which results in zero points. The reason? Because by writing it like that, we admitted that we don't know. It requires courage and self-awareness. Not all people are brave enough to say "I don't know," as if saying it would be a shame and make us worth less.

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"It's ok to hate, as Long as We Follow the Terms and Conditions." What are the ToS? You'll find it in the book, yeah. The main thing is even God has something God doesn't like. One of the conditions is that we can hate a person because of God, not to fuel our lust. I often heard the Buddhist teaching, "sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta," may all beings be joyful and secure (If I am not mistaken, I searched it tho). It was Buddha's discourse on loving-kindness for all beings. Based on these only, I think all religions are based on love. Even hating something should be because of love as well. What are we without love?

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In the "Humanity Before Diversity" chapter, The content doesn't really speak about the relationship between humanity and diversity. It is more about how God upholds humanity; That God puts humanitarian value a lot on the religion's rules and practices. Where's the title come from? It's from a book title, which probably explains more about its relation with diversity. I don't know, only my assumption, haven't read that yet.

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It said that "The Greatest Worship: Giving Happiness to Others." But how if the way to make someone happy is through a lie? The happiness that is given is all lie. That doesn't sound right to me. I always thought it's better to die than to conceal a truth? Which one is better? __

"A Syar'i Crazy Rich" more or less explained how wealth is seen in religion. We often hear to live with modesty. Also, the Sufis are known to let go of any attachment to worldly matters. One of them is wealth. However, sometimes, we need the power to implement the religion's teaching. We need the power to do good deeds, to lift up the economic system, to get a better education, etc. Pursue the world, as long as it doesn't make you blind. __

Here, in "Tretan! [2]" chapter, I once again found one of my favorite quotes. It is by Imam Ali, son of Abu Thaleb. It said, "A person is either your brother in faith or your equal in humanity." I sometimes wonder how here in Indonesia (In my opinion, of course), the power lies in the majority. Let alone equal stand in humanity, brother in faith is not even fully implemented since there are still many disputes within.

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At this point, I feel like I am writing too much. I don't have any words in the end cause I've tired out. It was meant to be a casual reading log, but I end up thinking too much and writing something like a resume for each chapter. Geez… What am I doing? Anyway, the next one should be much shorter. I'll just write anything that comes in mind when I read things. No analysis, no further thinking.

NOTE:

[1] In the original language (Indonesian), It was actually a pun with the same meaning more or less "Ngalah Itu Ng-Allah." In a right place, conceding is one way to submit to God.

[2] "Tretan!" is like a Madurese's "bro!" A way to call someone. Madurese: A local language in Indonesia where the writer came from.