Lockdown

Done with Shariati. What a treat .
Explained about this to A, but she in her usual hard headed ness and narrowness (in receiving contradicting views), shoots me down, no, dismisses me, thoroughly. Reading Fatima is Fatima does enlighten me a bit on the split of Sunni and Syiah. Because firstly, I am an ignorant ass who doesn’t read The Secret Nectar but would rather read Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling. Because I, in my pursuit for the Grand Idea, would search things outside my perimeter than things I grow up with. Tapi macam itik(?) pulang ke gagang, we eventually return to our primal sources. The quran. Tapi what does really bother me is how syiah becomes what what it is now. Must ask the first brother, because he lives in Egypt, where the two is apparent. Apparently this divide is more than just a matter of belief. Pride? Anyway, A have just read The Kite’s Runner so she would be a bit confused with all this divide. Wars. Syria. Afghanistan. Met an Afgan man explaining the current situation there to me a while back. Then there’s that Hari Asyura where they deliberately hurt themselves out of remembrance for all the suffering Ali and family had.

This brings the questions, are they blowing things out of proportion here? Did his family really felt, wronged? Is is true that Ali should succeed Rasulallah, or people are just reading things they want to hear. Did Fatima really die, bitter and contempt with Abu Bakar and Umar? Was Ali so sad he went quiet for 25 years? Why does Malaysia haramkan syiah ni? And Faisal Tehrani? Why fear him? Can’t both co exist (peacefully) at the same time? Which one is true?

But questioning which is essentially meaningless here. All lead towards the One. It is written somewhere in the book that Shiism is the most traditional sect of all, and if there is a divide of Syariah and Sufism in Sunni, then Shiism is the meeting of those two.

But Fatima, the way she was depicted here in this book, is wonderful. She is the ideal woman, better than any Natasya.

Dostoevsky painted the characters of The Idiot according to biblical fashion, and Natasya is supposed to be the virgin Mary (eh ye ke? Tak pasti.)

This all means I need to read more. Tanya ayah during the weekend la.