A NAS A WEEK - 19 JUMADAL AWWAL 1434

And from [part of] the night, pray with it as additional [worship] for you; it is expected that your Lord will resurrect you to a praised station [al-Isra' 17:79].

A NAS A WEEK - 12 JUMADAL AWWAL 1434

Narrated Mu'adh ibn Anas: The Prophet (salallahu alaihi wassalam) said: If anyone guards a believer from a hypocrite, Allah will send an angel who will guard his flesh on the Day of Resurrection from the fire of Jahannam; but if anyone attacks a Muslim saying something by which he wishes to disgrace him, he will be restrained by Allah on the bridge over Jahannam till he is acquitted of what he said [Hadith from the Translation of Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 36: General Behaviour, Number 4865].

TUESDAYS WEEKLY TEACHINGS

The turnout at C05 for this Tuesdays Weekly Teachings

17 March - Envying one's success, wealth and pleasures of others to the detriment of one's self and others is prohibited in Islam. This was the simple conclusion that one can draw from the Tazkirah delivered by Wan Norhaniza Wan Hasan at the ISDEV Tuesdays Weekly Teachings held on 12 March 2013. According to her, there are two categories of 'jealousy', namely 'positive jealousy' and 'negative jealousy'.

Prof. Muhammad Syukri Salleh (holding the microphone) posing a question

'Positive jealousy' helps motivate one to be better or at least equivalent to the envied person without affecting anyone negatively. For example, when one is jealous of a friend who obtained excellent results in the examinations, the proper channel to let our green-eyed feeling flow is for us to learn effectively and get useful tips from that friend of ours on how the excellent results could be attained.

'Negative jealousy' as the name implies is prohibited in Islam. As an example when one tries to betray one's friends or persuade that friend to embark in useless and fruitless endeavors in the hope of distracting that 'excellent-result exam oriented' friend of ours because one is jealous of the success. There is intent to cause detriment to our friend's success.

(Left to Right) Ustaz Shahir, Ustaz Dr Shukri and Prof. Muhammad Syukri

The Tuesdays Teachings then continued with the lesson on Surah Al-Fatihah and the position of Basmallah in Surah Al-Fatihah according to the four imminent Sunni scholars. Since this region mostly subscribes to the Shafi'i school of thought, the recitation of Basmallah in Surah Al-Fatihah is thus obligatory. However one should not be in shock or in disapproval should the imam to one's congregational prayer do not recite the Basmallah upon reciting Al-Fatihah as the imam could be an adherent to the Maliki or Hanafi schools of thought who are of the opinion that Basmallah is not a verse of Surah Al-Fatihah.
 

ISDEV newest member, Masaud from Iran

 ISDEV also welcomed and introduced its new RISDEV (PhD) student from Iran, Brother Masaud to the others. This week's lesson was well attended by the lecturers as well as students and staff of ISDEV. Among those present were ISDEV Director, Prof. Muhammad Syukri Salleh and ISDEV Deputy Director, Dr.Zakaria Bahari. Dr. Mohd Shukri Hanapi served as the Chairperson during the session.

A NAS A WEEK - 5 JUMADAL AWWAL 1434

O you who have believed, let not a people ridicule (another) people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule (other) women; perhaps they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by (offensive) nicknames. Wretched is the name of disobedience after (one's) faith. And whoever does not repent - then it is those who are the wrongdoers [al-Hujurat, 49:11].

A NAS A WEEK - 29 RABBI'UL TSANNI 1434

Allah's Messenger (salallahu 'alaihi wassalam) said, "The ajwah dates come from Paradise and contain a cure for poison; truffles are a kind of manna and their juice is a medicine for the eye." [Al-Tirmidhi , Hadith Number 4235, Narrated by Abu Hurayrah].

HERI KUSMANTO PASSED WITH FLYING COLOURS

Heri Kusmanto's calm disposition during his viva

7 March - Alhamdulillah, by the grace of Allah SWT, another ISDEV PhD student passed his viva on 21 February 2013 with flying colours. This time is the turn of Heri Kusmanto, who writes on Islamic-Based Civil Society in Indonesia: Political Accommodation and Democratization of Muhammadiyah and Al-Wasliyah in North Sumatera. He is supervised by Dr Mohammad Zaini Abu Bakar and ISDEV Director, Professor Muhammad Syukri Salleh.

Posing with the Board of Examiners

The Board of Examiners unanimously recommended his thesis to be nominated for the Outstanding Thesis Award. He is the 10th ISDEV PhD student to have achieved such high recommendations.

The chairperson for Heri Kusmanto's viva which was held at the Mc Clintosh Room, IPS, was Professor Abdul Khalil H.P Shawkataly from the School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Assoc. Prof. Intan Hamshimah Mohd Hashim, Deputy Dean (Research), School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia represented the Dean. The external examiner was Professor Dr. Badlihisham Mohd Nasir, from the Institute of West Asian Studies (IKRAB), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia while the two internal examiners were Dr Zahri Hamat and Dr Fadzila Azni Ahmad.

The examination in session

As the normal tradition of ISDEV, prior to  the viva, Heri Kusmanto went through a thorough mock viva at ISDEV the day before. Then just moments before the viva in the morning, ISDEV lecturers and students gathered at the USM Mosque to perform solatul-hajat for Heri Kusmanto, to seek the help of Allah SWT in positioning him in the benefit of himself and Islam. Alhamdulillah, Allah SWT has answered ISDEV's appeal by passing him.

Congratulations Heri Kusmanto!

(left - right) ISDEV Director, Professor Muhammad Syukri Salleh,
ISDEV Deputy Director, Dr. Zakaria Bahari and
Heri Kusmanto during the mock viva

A NAS A WEEK - 21 RABBI'UL TSANNI 1434

O you who have believed, persevere and endure and remain stationed and fear Allah that you may be successful [Ali 'Imran, 3:200].

ISDEV MONTHLY GRADUATE SUPERVISION - FEBRUARY 2013

The University Conference Hall (DPU), venue for this month's
ISDEV Monthly Graduate Supervision

27 Feb – This month’s ISDEV Monthly Supervision was held at the University Conference Hall (DPU) of Universiti Sains Malaysia again. More than 50 ISDEV members consisting of ISDEV lecturers and students as well as prospective student attended this monthly programme on 8 February, 2013. Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad served as the Chairperson throughout the session.

Professor Muhammad Syukri Salleh (standing) delivering his
Tarbiyah Pengarah

The program started at 9.30am with the “Tarbiyah Pengarah” series delivered by ISDEV Director, Professor Muhammad Syukri Salleh. This is the second part to his three-part Tazkirah on “Teras Kekuatan ISDEV”. This time the emphasis was on the importance of ‘Ukhwah’ (Islamic brotherhood) among ISDEV members. It is a follow-up to the first part on ‘Iman’ which he had stressed during the previous month’s graduate supervision.

(Left to Right) Dr Zakaria Bahari and Prof. Muhammad Syukri Salleh

Dr. Zakaria Bahari, ISDEV Deputy Director, then led the second session with his further explanation on “Problem Statement’. This is a continuation of the lecture from previous month.  Some MISDEV’12 students as well as RISDEV students were asked to highlight the Problem Statement of their research by stating the issues that revolve around their study.

A prospective ISDEV student (left) posing a question

A NAS A WEEK - 14 RABBI'UL THANNI

'Abdullah b. 'Umar reported that Allah's Messenger (salallahu 'alaihi wassalam) said: Three persons set out on a journey. They were overtaken by rain and they had to find protection in a mountain cave where at its mouth there fell a rock of that mountain and thus blocked them altogether. One of them said to the others: Look to your good deeds that you performed for the sake of Allah and then supplicate Allah, the Exalted, that He might rescue you (from this trouble). One of them said: 0 Allah, I had my parents who were old and my wife and my small children also. I tended the flock and when I came back to them in the evening, I milked them (the sheep, goats, cows, etc.) and first served that milk to my parents. One day I was obliged to go out to a distant place in search of fodder and I could not come back before evening and found them (the parents) asleep. I milked the animals as I used to milk and brought milk to them and stood by their heads avoiding to disturb them from sleep and I did not deem it advisable to serve milk to my children before serving them. My children wept near my feet. I remained there in that very state and my parents too until it was morning. And (0 Allah) if Thou art aware that I did this in order to seek Thine pleasure, grant us riddance from this trouble. (The rock slipped a bit) that they could see the sky. The second one said: 0 Allah, I had a female cousin whom I loved more than the men love the women. I wanted to have sexual intercourse with her; she refused but on the condition of getting one hundred dinirs. It was with very great difficulty that I could collect one hundred dinirs and then paid them to her and when I was going to have a sexual intercourse with her, that she said: Servant of Allah, fear Allah and do not break the seal (of chastity) but by lawful means. I got up. 0 Allah, if Thou art aware that I did this in order to seek Thine pleasure, rid us from this trouble. The situation was somewhat eased for them. The third one said: Allah, I employed a workman for a measure of rice. After he had finished his work I gave him his dues (in the form of) a measure of rice, but he did not accept them. I used these rice as seeds, and that gave a bumper crop and I became rich enough to have cows and flocks (in my possession). He came to me and said: Fear Allah, and commit no crueltv upon me in regard to my dues. I said to him: Takeaway this flock of cows and sheep. He said: Fear Allah and do not make a fun of me. I said: I am not making a fun of you. You take the cows and the flocks. So he took them. 0 Allah, if Thou art aware that I did it for Thine pleasure, case the situation for us. And Allah relieved them from the rest of the trouble [Translation of Sahih Muslim, Book 36: The Book of Heart-Melting Traditions (Kitab Al-Riqaq) Chapter 2, Number 6607].

PhD PROPOSAL PRESENTATION - ANOTHER 4 GET THE THUMBS UP

Prof. Muhammad Syukri Salleh, ISDEV Director, addressing the students

22 Feb - Another four ISDEV PhD candidates (or "RISDEV") get the approval to proceed with their thesis proper. They are Ridwan Nurdin, Salimah Yahaya, Wan Norhaniza Wan Hasan and Agustyarsyah Mohamad. This month the PhD proposal presentations were divided into two sessions at two different venues. It was held on Thursday 7 February, 2013. The morning session was held at C23 while the afternoon session was at C06. Both sessions were well attended as no chair was spared.

Ridwan Nurdin (holding the microphone) breaking a tense moment with
Dr. Mohd Shukri Hanapi (on the right) 

Ridwan's co-supervisor, Dr Nor Zarina binti Mohd Zaharim 

Ridwan Nurdin and Salimah Yahaya were slotted for the morning session. Ridwan presented his proposal on "Kriteria dan Tahap Kesedaran Pekerja Perbankan Islam di Banda Acheh, Indonesia" (Criteria and Level of Awareness of Islamic Banking Employees in Banda Acheh) while Salimah presented her proposal on "Analisis Penerimaan Skim Ar-Rahnu Dalam Kalangan Usahawan Kecil Muslim Bumiputera di Kelantan' (Analysis on the Acceptance of the Ar-Rahnu Scheme Among Small Bumiputera Muslim Entepreneurs in Kelantan). Their proposals were evaluated by Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad. Dr. Mohd. Shukri Hanapi chaired the session.

Salimah Yahaya presenting her PhD proposal while Dr. Mohd. Shukri looks on

Both Ridwan and Salimah are pursuing their PhD under the supervision of Dr.Zakaria Bahari. However, Dr. Nor Zarina Mohd Zaharim is the co-supervisor for Ridwan while Dr. Zahari Hamat is Salimah 's co- supervisor.

Wan Nor Haniza Wan Hasan (centre)

Agustyarsyah's (centre) turn to present his PhD proposal

The afternoon session saw Wan Norhaniza Wan Hasan and Agustyarsyah Mohamad took their turn to present their proposals with Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad chairing the session. Wan Norhaniza presented her PhD proposal on 'Indeks Pembangunan Berteraskan Islam: Satu Analisis Konseptual' (Islamic-Based Development Index: A Conceptual Analysis) while Agustyarsyah presented on "Kaedah Pengurusan Tanah Pasca Tsunami di Aceh: Kajian di Baitulmal dan Pejabat Pertanahan' (Land Management Methods Post Tsunami in Aceh: Study at Baitulmal and Land Office). Dr.Zakaria Bahari, evaluated Wan Norhaniza's proposal while Dr. Zahari Hamat was entrusted to evaluate Agustyarsyah's proposal.

Dr Zakaria Bahari, ISDEV Deputy Director, commenting on a candidate's proposal

Professor Muhammad Syukri Salled, ISDEV Director, is supervising Wan Norhaniza with her PhD thesis while Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad acts as her co-supervisor. For Agustyarsyah, Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad is his main supervisor while his co-supervisor is Professor Muhammad Syukri Salleh.

A RISDEV student poses a question during the afternoon session.

After a detailed evaluation, all candidates finally received the good tidings that their PhD research proposals were accepted. They had all been given the endorsement to proceed with their thesis proper under the supervision of their respective supervisors.