Dzulhijjah In Memory And The Drawn 1431 Curtain

Dzulhijjah, the twelfth and final month in the Islamic Lunar Calendar, marking the end of the year.

The CREATOR wants us all to end each of our living years with brotherhood forged and relationships rekindled, that is part of the reason why Haj to Mecca,

being at the centre of the earth, was set during the holy Dzulhijjah month.

Yes, it's one of the four holy months beside the holy Muharram, the first month of each year.
Both are holy months, and GOD strictly forbids fighting but building understanding and relationship for the betterment of all living creatures.

But, when one human's ego is bigger than his head, it is enough to stir anger in some of wicker and wicked hearts beings.
Then dissatisfaction and resentment went spiral, is going, and continues to...

Sacred or not the month of Dzulhijjah is, each heart's desire wins, despite GOD's blessing and warning that human's good (or evil?) deeds, are multiplied many times over.

Dzulhijjah is one of the month when one's heart will most likely be touched by HIS blessing or ...

"4- HE created mankind.

5- HE taught him the speech.

6- The sun and the moon are with calculations.

7- And the stars and the trees they both prostrate.

8- And the sky, HE Raised it and HE set up the Balance.

9- That do not exceed in the Balance.

10- And Establish the Weight with the Justice and do not reduce the Balance.

11- And the earth HE laid it down for the creatures.

12- In it and are date palms having fruit sheaths.

13- And the grains of fragrant having herbs flowers husk.

14-Then with which favours of RABB of you two, you two will?" - (Al-Qur'an 55: 4-14).

******

As Dzulhijjah 1431 drew its curtain on Sunday, clouds enveloped the sky the whole day.

"It is He Who created everything on the earth for you and then directed His attention up to heaven and arranged it into seven regular heavens. He has knowledge of all things." - (Qur'an, 2:29).

I had experienced of clouds like Sunday, with my phone roaming went dead the whole day.
Agitating to some, but ...
Those were days when our hearts and our whispers were heard...
To some who wants to believe ...

"The thunder glorifies HIS praise, as do the angels, out of fear of HIM.

HE discharges the thunderbolts, striking with them anyone HE wills. Yet still they argue about ALLAH when HE is inexorable in HIS Power!" - (Qur’an, 13:13) 

To some who wants to believe ...

****** 

It was the last days of Dzulhijjah 23 AH, or November 1st, 644 AD, that Saidina Umar r.a. while heading the morning prayer in Masjidin Nabawi, he was daggered with six blows over levy that he imposed on a foreign worker.
Thirteen others in the congregation were wounded, before the killer committed suicide by stabbing himself.

When he regained his conciousness, he reminded those surrounding him to stop praising his virtues and qualities.

He asked his son, Abdullah, to ask Aisyah r.a. for permission to be buried beside her Husband, The Prophet s.a.w., and her father, Saidina Abu Bakar r.a.
Umar was permitted to be buried, upon his death, close to to the two people that she was closed to, but with her weeping, she said,

"I had reserved the place for my own burial but I give Umar precedence over myself. Let him be buried there." 

Umar was indeed happy that having his greatest wish fulfilled, saying,

"GOD bless Aisyah. She has fulfilled my greatest wish. Now I can die in peace."

Nothing makes Umar happier than to be close with The Prophet s.a.w. and Saidina Abu Bakar r.a.

"... But I think Aisyah has given me permission out of respect for me. When I die, take me to her house and ask again for her permission..." 
"If she refused, bury me at Baqi'"

His son, Abdullah did as was instructed by his father when he passed away, and again, 'Aisyah gave her permission.

******

Before his death, Umar asked his son to estimate his unpaid debt - eighty six thousand dirhams*** inclusive of caliph salary that had been drawn from Baitul Mal.
His debt was to be paid from the money which his property will be put on sale.

About his funeral. he reminded his son to be moderate as should GOD Sees anything good in him, and should he is in GOD's favour, then GOD will change him a better shroud.
If otherwise, then he will be strip of all he has.

"... And be moderate in the grave that you dig for me, for verily if there be anything of good with GOD in my favour, HE will widen it for me, and if I have otherwise, HE will make it narrow for me to squeeze my body. "All Praise is to ALLAH. If all the treasures of this world were to be at my disposal, I would offer them as a ransom to be saved from the trial at the Day of Judgement." Umar continued.

These are words who succeeded Saidina Abu Bakar r.a., who, The Prophet s.a.w. had once remarked, "Abu Bakar's name shall be called out from all the gates of Paradise.

But the humble Saidina Abu Bakar r.a. used to say,
"I wish I were a tree that would be cut and done away with." 

"I wish I were a blade of grass, whose life ended with the razing by some beast." 

"I wish I were a hair on the body of a believer."

There was once when he was in a garden, seeing a singing bird, sighing deeply, he said,
"Oh bird, how lucky you are! You eat, you drink and fly under the shade of the trees, and you fear no reckoning of the Day of Judgement. I wish I were just like you."

Saidina Abu Bakar r.a. missed The Prophet s.a.w. so much that when he was ill, he was counting the days to eagerly waiting to 'see' The Prophet s.a.w.

He was always asking his companion,
"What day is it?" They said Saturday.

The next day he asked again
"What day is it?" They said Sunday.

Then he said, "I might die either today or tomorrow.
I wish to die on the same day as The Prophet."
But he did not.

He passed away (of food poisoning) on Tuesday Jumadil Akhir 21, 13 AH (August 23, 634 AD), befitting his ranking as the first caliph after the demise of The Prophet s.a.w., which was on Monday.

****** 

"The Messenger Believes in what has been Revealed to him from His LORD, as do the people of Faith. 
Each one believes in GOD, HIS angels, HIS books, and HIS apostles. 
"We make no distinction they say between one and another of HIS Messengers" 
And they say, 
"We hear, and we obey. 
We seek THY forgiveness, our LORD, and to YOU is all journey's end."

On no soul does GOD place a burden greater than it is able to bear. 
It receives every good that it has earned, and it will suffer every ill that it has earned. 
Pray: 
"Our LORD! Do not condemn us if we forget or fall into error! 
Do not lay on us a burden greater than we have the strength to bear. 
Blot out our sins, and grant us YOUR Forgiveness. 
Have Mercy on us. YOU are our Protector. 
Help us against those who stand against Faith." - (Qur'an, 2:285, 86).

*** In Pre-Islamic Persia, a dirham retained a stable gold value of about 4 gram. 

In the Islamic period, Saidina Umar r.a. himself introduced silver coins which was small unit weight of about 3 gram.

Reality Bites

My Heart Beats Very Fast Upon Reading This In The Stars. 

Published: Saturday June 19, 2010 MYT 2:59:00 PM
Updated: Saturday June 19, 2010 MYT 3:04:08 PM 

Idris Jala sticks to his guns By MUGUNTAN VANAR

KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Seri Idris Jala insists that Malaysia needs to start reducing subsidies or face the risk of bankruptcy.
The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department said that since 1998, Malaysia has been operating on a deficit budget, which has seen its debts increase.
He said the country's debt was growing around 12% annually and it would not be able sustain this based on the last decade's annual gross development growth of 4%.
"We have been borrowing to spend, it is increasing our deficit and debt, we cannot go on like this," Idris said at a talk with Parti Bersatu Sabah members on the 10th Malaysia Plan and other the government transformation programmes, here, Saturday.
"If you earn RM1,000 and spend RM1,200 a month, then you have borrow and if you go on (without an increase in salary), you are heading for bankruptcy as you won't be able to pay the debts," he explained.
Idris, however, said Malaysia's debt was still manageable but what was necessary was to reduce expenditure.
He said mechanisms had been worked out to assist the poorer groups if the subsidies were taken away.
Idris also said that Malaysia's 10% gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first half this year was a good sign for its planned economic transformation to a high-income country.

 ******

Too Good If Indeed It Is True. 

Tuesday June 1, 2010 

Too dramatic to say we’ll go broke, says economist

KUALA LUMPUR: To say that Malaysia will go bankrupt by 2019 if subsidies are not withdrawn is a “terribly dramatic and inappropriate way” to justify the end of subsidies, said an economist and Umno supreme council member.
Although phasing out subsidies is a pragmatic move, Datuk Dr Norraesah Mohamad said the country was on a solid footing owing to a good economic outlook, prudent financial management and tight monetary policies.
Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Idris Jala had recently said Malaysia would go bankrupt in 2019 if subsidies were not reduced across the board over five years.
Idris, also the chief executive officer of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), said the cuts were aimed at saving up to RM103bil to partially repay the nation’s huge debt and address fiscal deficit.
In assessing Malaysia’s economic position, Dr Norraesah said it was “ridiculous to subscribe to a formula” that Malaysia would be condemned to bankruptcy because:
> Malaysia’s economic outlook is positive, as two-digit growth was registered for the first quarter of this year;
> Malaysia’s budget situation will substantially improve over the next few years because the economy is growing;
> Malaysia’s very prudent financial management and tight monetary policies do not allow for dubious cross country swaps like what happened in Greece, further aggravating its debt situation;
> Malaysia is not caught in the euro capsule like Greece. “We have our own money and therefore can deal and manage our costs and prices”;
> Malaysia enjoys a high saving rate. The Employees’ Provident Fund has accumulated savings of RM360bil as at Dec 31, 2009;
> Malaysia’s abundant resources and diversified economy are reinforcing factors that guarantees the country will not plunge into bankruptcy.
Dr Norraesah agreed that phasing out subsidies was a “pragmatic move and a sound economic decision” that must be made because it ate into the national fiscal position, mis-allocate resources and distort more effective use of available development funds.
“Besides, the one-size-fits-all subsidy policy is not sustainable and socially unacceptable,” said the PhD (Economic Science) holder from University of Paris I, Phantheon-Sorbonne, France.
Greece, Dr Norraesah pointed out, had all sorts of problems that were not affecting Malaysia.
For example, while Greece’s budget deficit was an unacceptable 13.6% in 2009, the budget deficit for Malaysia had been brought down from 7% to 5.6 % in last year’s budget.

******

A Bomb-Shell Dropped.

Friday May 28, 2010 

Idris: RM103b can be saved, Government debt growing by 12% yearly 

TEH ENG HOCK and SHAUN HO enghock@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will save RM103bil over the next five years if it slashes its subsidy bill now.
On the other hand, the country would become bankrupt by 2019 if the Government debt continued to grow by 12% per year, warned Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala.
“If we do not do anything, by 2019, our debt will equal our GDP. We do not want to end up as another Greece,” he said at the Subsidy Rationalisation Open Day.

To the point:i Idris explaining the hard facts concerning subsidy cuts during the Subsidy Rationalistion Lab open day in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Idris labelled the move to cut subsidies as “the most unpopular decision the Government has made since Independence”.
“You may be angry today. You and I do not like this. Nobody will be dancing on the streets to celebrate this, but we must do it for our future generation.
“If we vote not to do this (cut subsidies), our children in later years will condemn us for not taking the right decision,” he said.
Idris, who is also Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) chief executive officer, said he was encouraged that 61% out of 191,592 respondents who took part in an SMS poll supported the subsidy reduction.
To another poll question, 66% said the reduction should be done over between three and five years, he said.
Recommendations from Pemandu’s subsidy rationalisation lab, where key players from the public sector, private sector and non-governmental organisations brainstormed over six weeks, were displayed at the open day.
Later, Idris told reporters that Pemandu would process the public feedback on the proposals before presenting its report to the Cabinet.

Creating Lifestyles From Sacrificing Others

A China Daily reporter who has gone undercover at Foxconn found that the employees appeared numb.

At a recruitment drive, the reporter was ordered to stand straight under the blazing sun for hours with endless rows of people who lined up for an interview.

Aside from a way of production that reduces its staff to an absolute decimal point, the company had fostered a culture where its staff are trained to shiver in conformity, he observed, while working as a manufacturing worker.

Foxconn staff working on a circuit board at its plant in Longhua, Guangdong province (Photo: China Daily)

"I have been led to believe this corporate culture was a direct cause of the recent tragedies. "The corporate culture has numbed them to an extent where any organisation and collective struggle are deemed not only undesirable but also backward,'' he wrote.
"For workers on the production line at Foxconn and beyond, killing themselves means no more than to prove to the world their belittled existence and reaffirm to fellow comrades that there is no escape."

Another Undercover Team Reveals The Working Conditions 

Between 300,000 and 400,000 employees eat, work and sleep at Foxconn's plant, in Longhua Town, which some have labelled the IT Forbidden City due to its water-tight security. Photo: Reuters

THEY work, some on their feet throughout, up to 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, assembling products that most cannot afford to buy themselves: Apple iPhones, iPads, Dell computers and Nokia mobile phones. 

They are not allowed to talk while working and could be fined for doing so. These are some of the conditions workers at Foxconn have to endure, according to an undercover team of 7 Chinese who infiltrated the Longhua plant in southern China's Shenzhen boomtown 2 weeks ago. 

The Telegraph reported. 'Hundreds of people work in the workshops, but they are not allowed to talk to one another. If you talk, you get a black mark in your record and you get shouted at by your manager. You can also be fined,' investigator Zhu Guangbing, who organised the undercover operation, told London's The Telegraph. His team included netizen volunteers and 4 Foxconn workers. 

Between 300,000 and 400,000 employees eat, work and sleep at Foxconn's plant, in Longhua Town, which some have labelled the IT Forbidden City due to its water-tight security. 'In the past 3 months, the factory has been losing 50,000 staff a month because workers are burning out,' Mr Zhu, a migrant worker and a workplace rights advocate, said. 'The workers are reduced to repeating exactly the same hand movement for months on end.' 

***In June 2006, Foxconn petitioned Shenzhen's intermediate court to freeze the assets of a reporter and editor at First Financial Daily in Shanghai after suing the pair for 30 million yuan (S$6m) for defamation. It withdrew the lawsuit 3 months later. 

******

For explanation of the above, a 21-year-old assembly-line worker says conditions at Foxconn makes his life seem meaningless. Conversation on the production line is forbidden, bathroom breaks are kept to 10 minutes every 2 hours, and workers get yelled at frequently.

"I know why all those people jumped (from the building)," said Lin Fengxiang, a 23-year-old villager from Maoming, Guangdong, as he walked into his allocated dorm. "In here, nobody gives a damn about you. Too bad I've already got one foot on this boat. It's hard to get off now." Like many his age, Lin is trying to pay off his family's debt by working here. He paid more than 400 yuan (S$80) to get in and has been assigned to Foxconn's Wireless Business Group (WLBG) to assemble cell phones. 

During training sessions, recruits are reminded they must politely refuse all interview requests from journalists and then report to their superiors. "Whatever (you think) you should say or shouldn't say, just don't say it." He was reminded. His instructor, a former armed police officer Li Mengqiang, who said has trained more than 30,000 workers, constantly reminded not to challenge his authority unless they dared to "go against all security officers in the company's compound. He had been told by a manager to punish any recruit he saw sleeping or chatting during the training.

"This is their territory. We can only try to survive," said trainee Li Cheng as he tried to comfort a fellow new arrival during lecture, which ended with the audience being made to recite Foxconn's corporate values. The company's mantra, "love" and "integration" are among the most important of their values.

"Labouring for others isn't what I want to do," said Lin Fengxiang, one of Foxconn's new recruits. "I don't want to be rich; I just want to live the life I want. But it must be fated." 

Xiao Qi, a college graduate who works at Foxconn in product development earns more than twice as much as a line worker, at 2,000 yuan (S$400) a month but he is contemplating suicide as he has no future - He does the same thing every day, day in and day out.

******

No one disputes that Taipei-based Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai, has cultivated a tough culture. But Terry Gou, the billionaire chairman of Foxconn’s parent company Hon Hai, when answering to questions of suicides, he has no idea why so many of his employees are killing 

Quoted: "From a logical, scientific standpoint, I don't have a grasp on that," The billionaire told reporters on May 27 at a press conference at the company's vast production facility in Shenzhen, China. "No matter how you force me, I don't know."

The company is confident that it will be able to stabilize the situation soon as workers will be getting a 30% raise although the additional money may not be enough to prevent further tragedies.

Starting June, the basic salary for assembly line workers has been raised from 900 yuan (S$180) to 1,200 yuan (S$240) per month and other staff and foremen earning higher than 900 yuan (S$180) will also be boosted by at least 30%. The pay rise was attributed to rising living costs and corporate performance.

It is with hope that the new pay would help employees increase incomes while reducing overtime and have enough time for leisure activities.The pay rise came after 10 workers killed themselves and 3 attempted suicide at the company's Shenzhen plant this year. 
Raising salaries will impact on Hon Hai's costs, pressuring their ability to make a profit. However, that it was also a way to impress foreign investors. The higher wage increase is to reflect rising prices in the mainland, and also hoped to earn the respect of workers and raise efficiency.

The company has faced mounting public anger and questions from its major clients. It will be a test of the long-term relationships with big brands like Apple and Dell.
Shares fell 2% as it moved to quell a storm of bad publicity over the deaths.

The Taiwanese-owned manufacturer defended its labour practices.
Earlier on, Wang Tongxin, vice-chairman of the Shenzhen Federation of Trade Unions, in April urged Foxconn to adopt a more humane style of management. 9 sociologists in Beijing also wrote an open letter to the media that called for Foxconn and other companies to halt what they call "a model where fundamental human dignity is sacrificed for development".
After a spate of apparent suicides among its workers, it was disclosed the latest 2 deaths of Foxconn workers had plunged the company into crisis.
11 days ago there were 2 more fatalities and Foxconn says it has prevented around 20 others from killing themselves since the suicides began.
The family of those who committed suicide will each receive 110,000 yuan (S$22,000) in compensation, the Shenzhen authorities said.

After a suicide earlier this month, Foxconn said its workers enjoyed world-class treatment.
Company spokesman stated that Foxconn carried out social responsibility programs to ensure the welfare of its employees.
Following the recent tragedies, the company's managers have repeatedly cited the fact that they offer free meals and dormitories and free washing services for dorm tenants.
They have installed swimming pools and reading rooms, as evidence of Foxconn's positive treatment towards staff.
It has set up 2 mental aid lines in recent months and plans to recruit psychological counsellors.
It is hoped that with the bringing in of 2,000 choreographers, singers and gym coaches, it will help relieve workers' pressure. 

The high reported toll may be due to much public interest in Foxconn, and a larger flow of information from workers with mobile phones and Internet access, as to a rise in suicide rates at the firm, said a Shenzhen-based expert in labour issues.

The Shenzhen factory is a popular place to work, with hordes of applicants lining up for jobs during the hiring season.

Workers at the huge Foxconn plant in Shenzhen eat, live and sleep on the site. Top: New recruits wait to pass the preliminary health check; center: The compound has 20 canteens and churns out 10 tons of rice daily; bottom: A view of one of the company's dormitory buildings. Provided for China Daily - Xinhua

Foxconn insisted that workers are treated well and are protected by social responsibility programs that ensure their welfare.
Other factories also have similar problems but the problem is that Foxconn is the most well-known. In some isolated companies, it will never be made public of what has happened.

But analysts warned that reports of deaths at the firm, already a target of criticism by labour groups over its working conditions, could make its overseas clients uncomfortable. Nobody wants to buy a product that is associated with a facility at which people kill themselves.
Being a public relations problem, the company has to handle it appropriately although the deaths have also been seen as more of a social issue.

The company will do all to save lives although some of the suicides may have been linked to personal problems. It is taking other steps to get the situation under control. 
It has installed netting around outdoor stairwells of dormitory buildings to prevent people from jumping.
Foxconn has set up a hotline that employees can call to receive care and has also hired employee counsellors. Recent counselling sessions for employees also found most employees do not even know their roommates' names, said deputy chairman of the Foxconn workers' union.
They have gone so far as to invite monks to the plant to rid the company of an evil spell.

However, the company has refused to respond to comments by observers about its organisation and management practices, of media reports of employees work long hours of overtime and under a great deal of stress, that the work is monotonous and repetitive and that superiors are nasty toward them.
This psychological pressure on employees, which has come under increased scrutiny, is an occupational health hazard that results from a style of business management and an operations system that were created in the face of globalised competition

Meanwhile, work goes on in Shenzhen. Foxconn's facility which is 3 square kilometers (1.16 square miles) and is crisscrossed by tree-lined streets with a fountain at the center. There's a hospital and a collection of restaurants.
Workers live in dormitories, 8 to 10 people to a room. The company provides worker counselling as many of the young people who work there are first-timers who've been away from home. Without their families, they will left with no direction. The company try to provide them with direction and help.

Chinese psychologists have said that suicide rates among Foxconn employees are not especially high when compared with suicide rates in China as a whole.
This, however, ignores the fact that people who can work are healthier than the general population.
It is incorrect to calculate suicide rates while making the assumption that those who do not commit suicide are all healthy. Suicide is only one possible outcome of prolonged mental health problems. The bigger picture of occupational health involves other psychological threats, such as thinking about committing suicide, depression and anxiety.

The only way to judge whether suicides at Foxconn are high, therefore, is to compare suicide rates there with suicide rates in other industries.

*** Low-Cost Manufacturing Worldwide Companies Demand Are Partly Being Paid By These Human Lives Of Foxconn's Workers Suicides.