Im Your Leader, Your Servant - Umar

here are a lot of stories i wanna tell about my road-trip in New Zealand. Rasa bersyukur sangat diberi rezeki oleh Allah untuk experience such a wonderful + pahit journey. Yups, of course ada pahit. But pahit tu yang buat it a perfect trip kan? Hehe. Ye lah Roe.

Why pahit? Cossssssssssss saya adalah jenis yang senang loya dan mual kalau jalan jauh naik keta and keadaan perjalanan tu kena pusing2. You know how New Zealand is filled with gunung ganang so pastilah jalan pun berpusing2 keliling the mountains. So sepanjang road tripping tu, most of the time i was not in a good shape. But bila dah sampai, walla! Happy and healthy as a horse!

Pusing kecil pusing kecil pusing lah besar..


Anyway, today im not gonna talk about my trip. That can be done later2. Hehe.

I've told you before that me and my girls (6 of us) are on whatsapp 24/7. I pun tatau apa lah yang we borakkan but ada je benda nak cakap. Hehe.

One day Ilya suggested that each day, one of us kena kasi tazkirah as a reminder to each other. We are striving to improve ourselves dunia dan akhirat so we need friends who are supportive to fulfill that mission. Okay why do i feel im so skema right now. Haha. Maafkan saya.

So long story short, i pilih hari Rabu untuk kasi tazkirah sebab Rabu = R = Roe. Ilya amik hari Isnin sebab Ilya = I = Isnin. Kot. Heh..

Sooooo today is Rabu! So its my turn! But instead of typing kat iPhone yang very the tiring, i figure id write it in my blog, which is way easier, plus, more people can also share the ilmu with us. Kan kan? :)

Okay so today, nak talk about one of our garang but cool leaders, Saidina Umar bin Al-Khattab.

Dalam 4 orang Khalifah kita, (Abu Bakar, Umar, Uthman and Ali), i am more fond of Umar. Ada soft spot laidet eceh. Sebab dia cam ala2 gangster tapi gangster bertempat. Before dia masuk Islam, kerja dia memang suka buli orang. Tak puas hati je, PANGGGGG!!! sedas. Sume takut kat dia. Gila samseng kampung dusun kan.

Bukan manusia je takut. Even syaitan laknatullah. Syaitan takkan lalu tempat yang Umar lalu sebab takut. Apa? Umar lalu Jalan Kurma 6/A untuk ke tempat kerja? Okkayyyy DANGERRRRR!!! Zon Larangan terus. Hebat tak hebat Umar ni.

Dulu, Rasulullah pernah wish yang kalau boleh, dia nak 2 orang ni masuk Islam. Sebab if 2 orang ni masuk Islam, insyaAllah Islam akan lebih kuat and protected. Who are these 2?

1. Saidina Umar Al-Khattab
2. Abu Jahal

Why? Because these 2 adalah antara orang yang sangat berpengaruh and digeruni and somehow, respected.

Back to Umar.

Anyhow, segarang2 dia pun, akhirnya Islam yang lembutkan dia. That's how special Islam is.

Macam mana hati dia boleh lembut? Yep! As you know, Surah Thoha did it. Ayat 1 - 6. Masa tu dia bengang sebab dia dengar adik dia, Fatimah and her husband dah masuk Islam. Panas gila hati. Dah lah dia benci gila Muhammad. Sekali adik aku sendiri ikut musuh ketat 4eva. So dia pergi rumah Fatimah and gaduh2 sket, pastu Fatimah tunjuk kat Umar surah yang dia tengah baca. Which is the Surah Thoha.

Taa' Haa.

Kami tidak menurunkan Al-Quran kepadamu (wahai Muhammad) supaya engkau menanggung kesusahan.

Hanya untuk menjadi peringatan bagi orang-orang yang takut melanggar perintah Allah.

(Al-Quran) diturunkan dari (Tuhan) yang menciptakan bumi dan langit yang tinggi.

Iaitu (Allah) Ar-Rahman, yang bersemayam di atas Arasy.

Dia lah jua yang memiliki segala yang ada di langit dan yang ada di bumi serta yang ada di antara keduanya dan juga yang ada di bawah tanah basah di perut bumi.


These 6 ayat yang lembutkan hati Umar, thats why if kalau kita ada anak2 yang nakal tanak dengar cakap ke apa, ibu bapa direcommend baca ayat ni kat ubun-ubun anak tu masa dia tidur. My mom pernah buat kat my brother. Sampai satu tahap, my brother tengah tido. Bila dia sedar my mom datang, dia sendiri yang hulurkan kepala dia. Hahaha. Kelakar gila. Cam dah tau, haaa nah nah cepat baca. Haha.

So anyway, i wanna talk about Umar's leadership. You know how our definition of how a leader should be treated has been corrupted to the core. Zaman sekarang, kalau awak pegang jawatan terbesar dalam organisation/country, etc, you will be treated like a King. You dapat all of these benefits and such, kereta baru, allowance for holidays for you and family, when meeting dengan you, setengah jam before orang dah ready bla bla bla you get the drill.
But not during the Khalifah's time. And definitely not during Umar's time. And im gonna share with you one of the special stories.
Kisah ni adalah kisah tentang Umar, dan pembukaan Baitul Maqdis. But first. Do you know the difference between Baitul Maqdis, Al-Aqsa, Jerusalem, Al-Quds. OMG so many! Apa beza nya? Kejap orang sebut Al-Aqsa. Apa tu Hari Al-Quds Sedunia. Apakah??? Is it Jerusalem? Dome of Rock tu pula apa? Oh my oh my. Ok confuse.
Ok mari belajar sama - sama. Please note that whatever im going to write is based on my readings and tanya2 orang. So if ada tersalah silap, PLEASE TELL ME so we can all learn together.

Jerusalem

= City
= Now controlled by Israel, but some parts of it is still under Palestine
= Dalam dia ada Baitulmaqdis


Baitulmaqdis
= Also referred to as Al Quds
= Tempat Rasulullah di-mikrajkan
= Menempatkan Masjid Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock
= First kiblat for Umat Islam for 14 years before Kaa'bah

(Imagine Jerusalem cam KL and Baitulmaqdis adalah Bukit Bintang i.e. one of the areas in KL)



Masjid Al - Aqsa

= Masjid yang kedua dibina, 40 tahun lepas pembinaan Kaa'bah. Most scholars believe Nabi Adam a.s. yang first built it
=Nabi Ibrahim and Nabi Ismail rebuilt it sama macam they rebuilt Kaa'bah di Mekah
= Nabi Sulaiman was the one yang made its final completion before ia dimusnahkan oleh Raja Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar
= It was made as tempat pembuangan sampah for nearly 600 years before Saidina Umar rebuilt and renovated balik lepas berjaya takluk Baitulmaqdis
= A lot of attempts had been tried to musnahkan Masjid Al Aqsa and in 21 August 1969, seorang Yahudi from Australia berjaya bakar this masjid with the help from Zionist
= 1/4 of it ruined
= Every year on 21 August is Hari Al-Quds Sedunia, to mengingatkan kita peristiwa sedih ini



Dome of the Rock

= One of the masjids in Baitulmaqdis with gold kubah, called Masjid Al-Qubbatus-Sakhra.
= Not sure what's special about this masjid though. (Anyone who knows care to share?)

Ada certain websites yang bila you buka, dia tunjuk Dome of the Rock sebagai Masjid Al-Aqsa. Even if you google it. DON'T BE FOOLED. This is part of the Zionist's effort to buat umat Islam lupa gambar sebenar Al-Aqsa. Very subtle kan? And we as Muslims, shouldn't lupa about Masjid Al-Aqsa, which is the 3rd most sacred masjid in the world (after Masjid al-Haram in Makkah and Masjid Nabawi in Madinah).

Kan depa dah musnahkan the masjid. So when they show Dome of the Rock punya masjid, they nak kaburi our minds yang heyy Masjid Al - Aqsa still okay lahhhh. Seeeee!!t be fooled not sayang-sayangku!




So anyway, duluuuuuuuuu lama dulu, even masa zaman Rasulullah, Baitulmaqdis was conquered and controlled by Byzantine Empire, i.e. Christians. And masa tu keadaan penduduk memang sangat unstable and porak peranda cos Raja dia zalim. So masa zaman Umar jadi Khalifah, Islam was trying to get it. Cos kan tempat tu tempat Rasulullah di-mikraj-kan. And banyak lagi peristiwa2 indah dalam Islam berlaku di Baitulmaqdis. So its a special place for us Muslims.
Dipendekkan cerita, Islam menang the war, under pimpinan Khalid bin Al-Walid (he was also known as Pedang Allah). Masa tu Islam dah berjaya kepung the whole of Jerusalem. However, raja dia masa tu, cakap, Ok fine. Korang menang. But before aku serahkan Baitulmaqdis ke tangan korang, aku nak the terms for our surrender be negotiated directly with your leader, i.e. Saidina Umar Al-Khattab. Kalau korang betul nak Baitulmaqdis ni, suruh Umar datang i donch care!
So, Islam patuh with the request. Sebab tentera Islam pun tanak gaduh2 malas aih. And we also didnt wanna shed anymore blood. So they called Umar to come.
When Umar dengar yang Raja Byzantine (his name was Sophronius) tu nak jumpa dia, he agreed. Eventho memula Saidina Uthman and some sahabat tak agree untuk penuhi tuntutan Raja Sophronius tu, but at the end, they agreed that Umar should go. They also agreed that for his journey (masa tu naik unta), they will assign Umar with one khadam or nak nama molek sket, personal assistant (PA). So PA ni will serve Umar during his journey lah. Kot Umar nak apa2, this PA will buatkan.
So anyway, Umar bertolak dari Madinah. Mengikut google yang i baru check, Madinah to Jerusalem is about 909 km. Naik unta. Lalu padang pasir. OMG! Can you imagine berapa lama nak sampai? The hardship tengah2 panas and all? Dengan unta yang terkedek2? 9 0 9 KI LO ME TRES! Shah Alam to Ampang pun baru 30km kot lalu Federal!
So that is why, when Umar agreed, Raja Sophronius tu cam terkejut, cam WHAT? Sebab he felt that kalau Raja Parsi ke or memana lah memang takkan nak layanlah. Zaman dulu mana ada Air Asia!


So Umar pun started his journey. Dengan unta, you will need a guide yang tarik unta tu. Dia bukan cam kuda yang kita boleh guide dengan duduk atas kuda tu je and tarik the tali to manouver it. So because of this, only 1 unta yang akan dibawa for the journey.
Before they both bertolak, Umar buat agreement dengan the PA. Umar cakap, since kita punya perjalanan ni jauh, why don't kita gilir2. PA dia cam, huh?? Umar said, siapa antara kita yang naik unta ni, kena baca surah Yassin dari awal sampai habis. Once habis, kita akan gilir-gilir naik unta sampailah kita sampai ke Baitulmaqdis.
Mula2 PA dia cam segan lah. Cam, ko CEO kot. Takkan aku nak duduk atas unta tu kau tarik. So along the journey, berkali2 dia rayu kat Umar, cakap tolonglah kasi aku yang tarik unta ni. Saya segan ni. But Umar berkeras. Umar cakap, please jangan degil. I dont want to argue anymore about this okay. We have agreed!



So itulah sikap Umar. Tak mahu dilayan istimewa.

So setelah berminggu - minggu travel, finally they reached Jerusalem. Masa tu kan Jerusalem dah dikepung, at that time yang lead the pengepungan was Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah. (One of the 10 sahabats yang dijanjikan syurga). So when they saw Umar and his PA arrived, they were like so happpppyyy!!! But then Ubaidah tengok cam, alamak. Umar selekehnya. Kaki dia luka-luka, penuh lumpur, badan berhabuk and all.

So Ubaidah went to Umar and said this,
"Wahai Amirul Mukminin, jika kau memerintahkan agar kami memapah dan memandu perjalananmu, nescaya kami akan lakukan. Mereka (penduduk Al-Quds) tentu melihat kemegahan kamu sebagai Khalifah."
Upon hearing that, Umar marahhhh sangat!!! Dia cam, kalau bukan Ubaidah lah yang cakap, memang dah kena dah. Tapi sebab Ubaidah kan. One of the respected people. So he cooled down. And he said this;
"Demi Allah. Jika bukan engkau yang mengucapkannya wahai Abu Ubaidah nescaya aku menghukummu sebagai pengajaran bagi umat ini. Sesungguhnya kita semua ini adalah hina lalu kita dimuliakan oleh Allah dengan Islam. Maka sekiranya kita mencari kemuliaan selain Islam, sudah tentu kita akan dihina oleh Allah."

So Umar malas nak panjang lebar, he walked away berjalan ke Baitulmaqdis (or Al-Quds) with his PA. So when its nearer to Al-Quds, PA dia cam, pleaseee Amirul Mukminin (gelaran for Khalifah, Umar was the first to use it), pleaseee let me yang tarik unta ni. If the people of Al-Quds tengok ketua yang tarik unta, nanti diorang kata apa. But Umar tetap berkeras takmo langgar agreement. So the PA was praying that tolongggglah bila sampai kat pintu gerbang Al - Quds nanti, please lah aku yang tengah tarik unta ni pleaselah.
But kuasa Allah, doanya tak dimakbulkan and masa sampai pintu gerbang where Raja Sophronius and the people of Al-Quds tengah tunggu, Umar was the one yang tengah tarik the unta, PA dia tengah tunggang atas unta tu, dengan perasaan sangat malu and segan seyhhh. Bila orang2 Islam yang tengah tunggu nampak depa and kenal Umar, diorang terus meluru ke Umar untuk sambut. Masa tu Umar memang sangat serabai keadaan dia. Raja and the people cam confuse.
They didn't expect that. Of course at the very least they expected Umar to be one yang tengah kat atas unta. But all in all, they expect Umar adalah seorang yang cam glamer, smart, and akan datang dengan bala tentera, dengan gajah ke payung emas bagai. So when they saw that and when they found out more about Umar punya qualities and akhlak, barulah they percaya and yakin yang Al-Quds akan selamat and prosper under the leadership of the man with the name of Umar bin Al-Khattab.

Bila Umar sampai sana, he rebuilt and renovated Masjid Al-Aqsa and tambah sana sini sket. And Baitulmaqdis was under pemerintahan Islam for 400 years before it was taken over by the Crusaders (tentera Salib). And then they ruled for 88 years before Salahudin Al-Ayubi dapatkan balik Baitulmaqdis and Islam ruled for another 800 years before kerajaan Islam dijatuhkan semula in 1918.

This story really touched me. Banyak orang sekarang nak pangkat sebab they want something out of it. Bila ada kuasa, you can control everything.
It makes me ponder. If we were in control, adakah kita akan jadi seperti Umar? If you say YES, I WILL BE LIKE UMAR; how can you be sure that you takkan guna kuasa you untuk at least kaut keuntungan/keselesaan for diri sendiri and family, walau sedikit?

Sesungguhnya kita sememangnya belum diuji.

Ada satu quote by the PA dia yang i pernah baca, that i keep in my heart.
"I was hired to serve Umar, but it turned out, he was the one serving me".