Change The World

This is a nice video clip of a movie I think entitled 'Pay It Forward'. Honestly, I have not seen the movie nor even heard of it, but received the link via email. Do kindly watch it.


What I do like about this clip is that it is trying to reach to the mass to correct the mess of the world we live in. It may seem like a line from John Lenon's song 'Imagine', but I think the message here is more down to earth.

In this clip, the teacher tries to expose his students of 7th Graders to the real world of the community they live in. He does not reprimand his students for their initial objection, nor force them outright, rather persuasively guide them to a level of thinking they may have not been accustomed to. Off course, some may say this is just a movie and is not part of the US Education Syllabus, which may be the premise where the movie is based upon. But when I look at my nieces and nephews who were born and raised there, I think the premise is not far fetched at all. But let's leave the movie aside for a while, for watching it brought my attention to 2 other matters, distant as they may be, but related.

Before I begin on the matter, again I have to emphasise here that I am no religious scholar. But I am inclined to believe that the imparting of knowledge and perhaps wisdom by the teacher in the movie above is in line with Islamic values and thinking. Islam after all, is not confined to spiritual obligations alone (Hamblum MinAllah), but community obligations as well (Hamblum Minnanas) - apart from our obligations to Allah s.w.t., we are also to assist fellow beings(which is include plants, animals and even the environment). And one of the strong mind enforcement of both is the Solah Jumaat; the solah itself as our obligation to Allah, while the khutbah is the reminder to our duties not only to Allah, but the community we live in.

Here sadly, has been the failures of many khutbahs where the social aspect of the THE community are hardly touched. Rather, most of khutbahs seem out of touch with the reality of the community and worse, have been part of the propaganda machine of certain parties especially in the west coast and southern part of the peninsular. It has come to such that there have been individuals who ridicule the very idea or legitimacy of the khutbah! And when you reflect this on the teacher in the video clip, I for one, would think he can give a better sermon than some muslims, including myself; the only aspect missing from the teacher's khutbah would be regarding the reminder for Muslims towards Allah. From here, this thought led me to a quote by an unkown Ustaz, and one which is gaining more fame.

The quote I mentioned is: "Di negara sosialis kemudahan asas di beri percuma ( rujuk negara barat berfahaman sosialis). Tapi pelik di negara umat islam bermazhab sunnah waljamaah dan islam hadhari perkara ini menjadi rebutan untuk memiliki syarikat air dan naikkan tarif air.

Seorang ulama islam pernah berkata bila aku pergi negara orang kafir ada islam tapi umat nya kafir tapi bila aku pergi nagara umat islam umat islam ada tapi islam tiada."

Simply put, it means there are now more Islamic values in non-Islamic countries rather than the Islamic countries, of which Malaysia claims to be part of.

Anyway, these are just the thoughts that drifts in my mind. You may agree, and you certainly may disagree; such are your rights - and mine - in this life we live.