RUTGERS!

We, UMNO Club NY NJ,

would like to welcome

UMNO Rutgers

as part of our club's new branch.

With the opening of this new branch, we hope to encourage more students to becoming a better person.

Prepared by,

Nor Rabi'ah Mohd Nawawi

Laporan Alif Ba Ta 2011

MIND OF MUSLIM

The Muslim Mindset

By: Dr. Walid Abdelwahed- Egyptian surgeon and medical advisor in States (International Speaker)

The agreement of mindset from own perspective:

Definition of mindset :

1. The way of thinking

2. The perspective/thinking with values

3. Something to achieve/goals

4. The philosophy of life

From dictionary – attitude, mood, and intention – fix mental attitude, mental inclination

From the Amir al-Muminin Abu Hafs 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, radiya'llahu 'anhu, that he said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saying, 'Actions are only by intentions, and every man has only that which he intended. Whoever's emigration is for Allah and His Messenger then his emigration is for Allah and His Messenger. Whoever's emigration is for some worldly gain which he can acquire or a woman he will marry then his emigration is for that for which he emigrated'." The two Imams of the hadith scholars narrated it - Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Isma'il ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Mughirah ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhari and Abu'l-Husein Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj ibn Muslim al-Qushayri an-Naysaburi

This hadith explains mindset clearly from Muslim perspective.

Every action of a Muslim must be for the sake of Allah and His Messenger

Most people might study to help people back in Malaysia, the most important is to study here with intention, studying to be a good Muslim, that then I can be a good Malaysian Muslim – seeking Allah pleasure. We are preparing to meet Allah; all this is the preparation to meet Allah.

Look at this hadith and start to change your intention when look deeply on the hadith.

Mindset - Allah and His Messenger

- Use Muslim mindset to change behavior of Muslim. This mindset changes their behavior, they prioritize Allah and His Messenger, never even try to compromise with the rules, and they change themselves according to Islam – never compromise Islam for their life/current life.

- The highest level of faith is Laillahaillahallah. The lowest level is picking up something trash/bad in street etc.

Practice: List 3 things you have done for Allah besides ritual

- Does at least one deed everyday for the sake of Allah.

Creative Genius Mindset – actions, qualities, self-talk, belief

• Creative à Required à qualities
• strategic à self talk
• Indispensable à belief

Students often missing a lot when locked only on games, internet or even only the studies.

If every Muslim is doing the same thing, what will make us different from others in the eyes of Allah.

Practice: Choose one surah/verse from Al-Quran that you love most or the one that make you feel different.

1. Al-Asr – time is really important

2. Al-Insyirah – when sad, the meaning of surah make it feel better

3. Al-Sajadah – know why we have to worship Allah

4. Yassin - Verily, His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, "Be!'' -- and it is!

Being creative – talk with your friends, sharing about Quran, reminds them about solat- sharing this to show your love based on Allah.

Mindset for study is for the sake of Allah. Set your time for Allah, invest time for Allah.

Time in Islam:

Zakat has time, Fasting in Ramadhan has time, 5 daily prayers have time.

What have you done to be thankful for Allah for the chance we all have right now?

What will I be doing to be a good Malaysian Muslim?

By: Dr Abdul Rahman Abdullah - Education Attaché of MSD DC

Bersyukur kerana lahir dalam keadaan Islam, dalam kalangan berjuta umat Islam.

Apa yang ada di minda apabila memikirkan Islam – benda berkaitan dengan Islam?

Apa persepsi terhadap Islam kini? Kita perlu tukar persepsi buruk ini kerana martabat Islam sangatlah tinggi.

Sesungguhnya benda/perkara/agama di sisi Allah adalah Islam. Allah tidak menerima cara hidup yang selain daripada Islam.

“Kamu ialah sebaik-baik umat. Ciri-ciri umat terbaik ada 3 – mengajak ke arah benda baik, mencegah benda munkar – amar makruf nahi munkar”

Kita perlu beriman kepada Allah, patuh suruhan Allah.

Asas Minda Muslim:

1. Sikap Rabbaniyah – sudut matlamat dan tumpuan fokus dalam hidup

2. Syumuliyah – lengkap dan menyeluruh dalam pandangan hidup

3. Umum – universal, sesuai untuk semua dan setiap zaman

4. Seimbang dan sederhana – al-tawazun dan al-washothiyah dalam tindakan dan cara membuat keputusan

5. Tetap dan Anjal – al thubutiyah wal mutaghayirat

6. Mengutamakan akal dan ilmu, teknologi semasa

7. Ideal dan realistik

1. Rabbaniyah

Kita semua dari keturunan Nabi Adam – Nabi Adam asalnya dari tanah,

Tiada beza orang Arab dan bukan Arab melainkan berdasarkan iman dan takwa.

“Tidak aku ciptakan manusia dan jin melainkan untuk beribadat kepada Allah”

Allah tidak ciptakan kita untuk sia-sia – sesungguhnya solatku, ibadahku, hidupku dan matiku hanya kepada Allah Taala.

Menuntut ilmu ialah satu tanggungjawab.

Siapa di antara kamu ialah yang terbaik dari kalangan kamu?

Mesti sedar ke mana kita akan dikembalikan.

2. Syumuliah

Setiap perbuatan dan kelakuan tercangkup dalam ajaran Islam.

Doa sebelum tido, selepas bangun dari tido.

Harus terima Islam sebagai syumul – “Masukkan ke dalam Islam secara keseluruhan, bukan separuh sahaja” – laksanakan Islam secara nyata

3. Universal

Rasul diutuskan sebagai rahmat kepada SELURUH ALAM.

Islam tidak terletak pada sesuatu bangsa sahaja, bukan untuk Arab sahaja.

“Aku jadikan kamu kamu lelaki dan perempuan, serta pelbagai bangsa supaya kamu saling kenal mengenal, dan yang paling di antara kamu ialah orang yang bertakwa”

4. Seimbang

Islam adalah agama yang seimbang – mempunyai dunia dan akhirat.

Carilah apa yang Allah berikan untuk kehidupan kamu di akhirat, jangan lupa kehidupan dunia.

Ubah mindset dan muhasabah diri.

Ingatlah bahwa setiap kita akan mati, cukupkah amalan kita sehingga mati.

Jika kita dapat melihat dosa dan kesalahan yang kita lakukan setiap hari, kita tidak akan dapat tidur malam kerana ketakutan

5. Tetap dan Anjal

Yang haram tetap haram dan yang halal itu halal.

Jaga makanan di sini.

6. Mengutamakan ilmu

Bacalah – iqra’ – read more

Ulama terdahulu sangatlah hebat kerana ilmu yang mereka ada

Tugas dan tanggungjawab kita – mengembalikan kegemilangan Islam

7. Ideal dan Realistik

Seorang sahabat ingin menjadi insan terbaik, ingin beribadah sepanjang masa – rasul mencegah berbuat sedemikian

Perbaiki diri, tanamkan ciri-ciri Islam dalam diri kita.

Masalah kini ialah fikiran yang telah dijajah – akidah yang rapuh, berpaling dari syariat Allah, kelemahan dalam penguasaan ilmu pengetahuan, mementingkan kehidupan duniawi

Akidah boleh rosak dengan 3 cara:

• Niat
• Percakapan/ucapan
• Perbuatan/kelakuan

Islam bukan hanya ritual, bukan sekadar solat 5 waktu

Surah Toha: 124

"Dan sesiapa yang berpaling ingkar dari ingatan dan petunjukKu, maka sesungguhnya adalah baginya kehidupan yang sempit, dan Kami akan himpunkan dia pada hari kiamat dalam keadaan buta".

MIND OF MALAY

By: Dr. M. Bakri Musa - Medical Surgeon, Politician, and Book Writer

There is no limit in helping people

Brain VS Mind VS Mindset - All these are interrelated

• Mind is aspect of intellect and consciousness
• Mindset – idea

In term of Malay, can you have Malay brain, Malay mind or Malay mindset? There is no such thing.

Longing for Free Mind:

• The Wisdom of Mullah Nasaruddin – do you believe the braying of the donkey over the words of the Mullah? Which one do you believe?

• nation aspiring to greatness needs leaders that are not ‘pak turut'

• Hamka – a poem from Nikmat Hidup – this is an example of free mind – menahan fikiran aku tak mungkin, merdeka berfikir, berani menyebut yang aku yakin

Free mind = open mind, flexible mind, critical mind, liberated mind

A free mind – Surah Al-Rud: 40 and Al Raid: 19 – send the message but not force them to believe it

Free mind is necessary condition to be a believer – a faith enforced is no faith

Obligation to ourselves and to Allah – not to be enslaved, help those enslaved

There is also obstacle to Free Mind – when we deny our better sense

The closing of Malay Mind:

1. Cultural – feudal society
2. Lack of institutional checks and balances
3. Indoctrination masquerading as education
4. Intrusive and repressive laws

In Malaysia, the minister’s power is absolute – but can be challenged, only Allah’s power is cannot be challenged

How to flip over the coconut shell?

1. Recognize that you are trapped and have desire to escape – this is the most difficult step

2. Easy step – flip over the shell!

3. Adjust to the new open world

4. Do not get entrapped again

First step is difficult – mistaking your world to be the entire universe

Satisfied with the status quo – Al qadar

The story of Pramoedya Ananta Toer – the Houseby and maid

- The characters destined themselves to be perpetual slaves

- They in turn transmit these values to their children and grandchildren

- They do not realize they are in the coconut shell

- Although the coconut is flipped over many time, they stay to be slaves for their entire live

- They look for Dutch and Japanese to be their master

External Upheavals in Malay World

· Entry of colonialists – sea change in Malay culture

· World War II and Japanese Occupation – changed Malay psyche – shattered myth of white superiority

Flipping Coconut Shell – How?

Ø Information Technology (IT) and Digital World – leveling effect, diversity of views (bias – learn to disagree agreeably), need for English fluency for internet uses

Learning to disagree agreeably –

“Every difference in opinion is not a difference in principle” – Thomas Jefferson

“Arang tosonggeh, baro paneh!” (Crossing the wood makes the fire glow – Adat Perpateh

Be kind to diversity -

Barriers to free mind in open world

· Optic illusion – perception of simple images – response to images that are moving – framing technique to manipulate

· Confirmation bias – perception of complex images – favoring information that supports our preconception regardless veracity

· Preference falsification – saying something in public what we do not believe privately

Don’t be entrapped again:

1. Plasticity – almost infinite capability of the mind to adapt and learn

2. Use it or lose it – permanent loss of a mental faculty through disuse

Use it or lose it might be applied to “keistimewaan Melayu” where the Malays might lost the urgency to fight to get something.

By: Dr Azly Rahman - professional member of New Jersey Educational Association and (American) National Education Association

Try to make people to understand what they think “The Mind of the Malay” is –

Questions:

1. What is a Malay?

- Talks Malay language

- ‘satu orang tido, dua orang mengumpat, 100 orang buat kenduri’

- ‘Melayu mudah lupa’

- Prefer to be in a comfort zone

- From Nusantara

2. How Malay are you? (Melayu tulen?)

- Culturally Malay

- Practically Malay

- Life style, culture, language, food, names

- Parents are Malay, eat sambal belacan

- Modern Malay

The purpose of these questions is to know about the Malay minds.

Bahasa Melayu Asli comes from Riau Malay, Johor.

Cultural Perspective:

· How many kind of Malay are there?

· Eg: Corporate Malay, Urban Malay lives in urban area, Kampung Malay is people who lives in Kampung, Modern Malay, ‘Melayu celup’

· In this post modern world, the generation is called generation of here-and-now. Different from certain people, whether the clothes, life style and even the mind are fragmented based on the region.

· Technology and culture has evolved our mind on the way we think, the way we act and so on.

· As a students here, affected by the way people here, and this become a part of you are depending on how long – the definition is changing over time.

· There are so many kinds of Malays that are affected by this fragmentation.

· Introduction of words become the introduction of ideas and affected the production area.

· In anything we do, we need to be sensitive to changes and environment.

· Then it become a racial issue – become the competition of races and confrontations.

Therefore, we need to continue to think about this matter.

MIND OF MAHASISWA

By: Shamsul Qamar - Special Aide to Deputy Minister of Higher Education

Sudah tiada lagi masa di mana kerajaan tahu segala-galanya – we need a smaller government

Idea supaya dihidupkan semula ‘speaker’s corner’

Platform yang diberi bukanlah sebebas-bebasnya – subject to approval, got rejected, CCTV – no such as freedom in speech in Malaysia.

Masalahnya ialah ketiadaaan persekitaran yang kondusif untuk memberikan pendapat.

Beza mahasiswa dan pelajar:

· Pelajar – KMM, GPMS

· Mahasiswa – gerakan mahasiswa, persatuan mahasiswa

· Membawa makna yang sama pada asalnya, diberi perbezaan pada status – belajar di menara gading

Mengenali siapa mahasiswa

- Peranan dalam komuniti kampus

- Peranan dalam universiti

- Peranan dalam masyarakat

3M – menyelami minda muda – cuba adakan dialog dengan pelajar tanpa pengurusan tinggi universiti – berdiskusi, bertanyakan masalah dll

Namun malangnya, kebanyakan mahasiswa ingin mengalihkan pandangan daripada politik, tidak mengambil tahu – mengapa perlu ambil tahu politik? Kerana politik menggambarkan pentadbiran Negara.

Sejarah menunjukkan sepanjang zaman, keaktifan mahasiswa dalam peratus rendah, tetapi yang membezakannya ialah reaksi dan sokongan mahasiswa-mahasiswa lain terhadap gerakan tersebut.

4 Misconceptions about Mahasiswa

1. You are the leaders of tomorrow

2. You are merely beneficiaries/receiver in the development circle

3. Your job is only to study and get a degree

4. You lose your right to criticize government since they give you scholarship

Jangan hanya obsess terhadap CGPA – jangan pisahkan diri dari dunia luar hanya kerana study

Kritik tidak semestinya menentang

Universiti sebagai budaya ilmu

MINDS –

· Mastery of knowledge including non-academic knowledge

· Inspired by your role model

· Network with other people

· Desire to bring about change

· Sense of responsibilities

Dr Bakri Musa

Molding a Merdeka Mind – mengasuh minda merdeka

The Closing of Mahasiswa minds

· From school

· Narrow academic focus and early streaming

· Repressive & intrusive rules

· Feudal cultural trait - excessive deference to authority figures

· Racial segregation

Realization of being under coconut shell – education & information

Benefits to individual

- Only the educated are free

- Education is liberation teachers as liberators!

- Between those who are taught and those who parrot is a vast difference

Benefits to society

- Education correlates with economic development – accepted wisdom in economics

- Education cannot make us all leaders, but it can teach us which leader to follow

Major caveat

- These benefits are true only if education is not used for indoctrination

Education – to sharpen minds

Don’t make students as dustbin to be filled with dogmas – more useful to stimulate study further on their own

Two philosophies of education

1. Dustbins – can only be filled until full, nothing more than what has been put in

2. Knives – no limit and size does not matter

American Liberal Education

- Broad knowledge

- Transferable skills

- Moral and cultural relativism

a) Critical thinking

b) Complex reasoning

c) Writing skills

Growth Mindset versus Fixed Mindset

• Fixed mindset – view talent as fixed, pre-determinism

• Growth mindset – failure is part and parcel of learning and adapting

Why we here are lucky?

1. Benefit from great American liberal education

2. Learning second language

3. Living in foreign culture

Our diversity is an asset, NOT a liability

Free Minds – Examples from Legends

1. Hang Nadim – Singapura dilanggar todak

2. Hang Jebat & Hang Tuah

3. Datuk Onn – Malayan Union

4. Munshi Abdullah – teacher and writer

Ungku Aziz – rural (Malay) poverty, Tabung Haji

MIND OF FUTURE LEADERS

Yesterday’s Tomorrow is Now

By: Dr. Azly Rahman

The world is very complex, chaos, competition, change

Revisit the past but not dwell in it, use past as data, be driven in present, use future as horizon

Skills of Today

· Stewardship – generate entire value and knowledge

· Innovation – not only about inventing something

· Life-long learning – learning happens all the time

· Cross cultural competency

· Technological mastery

· Ethics – being ethical to things, don’t lose soul for materialistic, lost all values

· Politics – what is the foundation of politics?

· Frontier thinking

· Self-presentation – how do you present yourself in any environment, have multiple skills

For young people, it is time to be idealistic.

Break barriers –

By: Dr Bakri Musa

“Give me youths, I can change the world”

You cannot be a leader without the followers

The leader is defined by the followers

3 models:

1. Military model leadership – pyramid

2. Coach and talented players – one center

3. Wheels model – have conductor like in orchestra – bring out the best, and arrange to make use of talents – musician also listen to each others, not only listen to conductor

In Malaysia, at the beginning, when undeveloped, military is good – eg: Mahathir

But when people are more educated, not cannot order around, but need to have a coach to lead us, brings the best of us.

Need to get the leader checked, tell them if they are wrong, if we let down, all of us will continue going downhill

We owe ourselves the duty to help our leaders

Disediakan oleh,

Mimi Naterah.