Fasting: a Bridge from Information to Knowledge

Hikmah Berpuasa: Ce Rasa Tengok!

I wrote two versions, both have the same intention but ended up with slightly different expressed messages. Read both, maybe?

Malay Version

Hampa ada dak kawan ni, yang semua benda dia tau. mengalahkan pakcik-pakcik kat kedai kopi, semua benda dia tau. Sejarah Obama, fakta pasai das Auto, sebab-sebab cabai rasa pedas; tu antara contoh maklumat yang dia ada. Tapi, bila suruh tukar tayar kereta, garu kepala. Suruh masak sambal, pi order kat kedai jugak akhirnya. Pendek kata, cakap banyak, kerja takdak. Orang macam ni bukan orang jahat, cuma susah la nak diharap. Kalau mak aku nak buat menantu, aku bangkang awai-awai.

Tapi syok kadang-kadang dengar orang macam ni bercakap. Depa banyak fakta, banyak maklumat. Jimat masa sebab tak payah nak pi kalut baca. Cuma bila bagi pendapat, selalu memang ke laut. Contoh hiperbola, untuk elak kemalangan, perempuan dan orang tua tak boleh bawak kereta. Sapa nak setuju, kan?
Selalunya bila bersembang hal-hal berat, ayat yang orang akan kata ialah, "tapi awak/hang/ko/tuan/Datuk kena ingat, benda ni kena ambik kira aspek ini, itu, dan sebagainya." Paling kurang kalau tak cakap pon, mesti ayat tu muncul dalam pikiran orang yang dengar.
Dan bila selalunya aku kena ayat tu, aku pon berhenti. Baru sedar, aku dah over dan cakap tak guna otak. Hanya guna fakta.

Aku taktau betapa susahnya orang nak buat benda yang aku cadang tu, sebab tu aku boleh pi bagi idea ekspress yang cap ayam.

Macam tu jugak lah dengan berpuasa. Puasa mengajar manusia erti bersyukur (ayat PMR). But seriously, it does. Contoh kalau kita tak dikehendaki berpuasa, berapa orang yang tiba-tiba nak berpuasa? 

Contoh lain, berapa orang akan berhenti kereta untuk tolong motor yang pancit? Selalunya, orang yang berhenti tu, cuba kita tanya tengok, jawapannya mesti dia pernah bawak motor dulu. Jadi dia tau betapa susahnya kalau tayar pancit.

photo googled. credit

Dan bila kita puasa, kita tau macam mana hidup orang susah. Tapi kalau duduk saja-saja, ada ka orang tak pasai-pasai nak p jadi orang susah, koyak baju jadi buruk, tak makan sehari dan sebagainya.

Macam orang bawak moto tu, ada ka orang yang tak pasai-pasai dia nak bawak moto tengah panas kalau dia dah ada kereta yang sejuk. Siap ada supir lagi. Mau ka pi rasa naik moto, Dato'?

Puasa ni, mengubah kita dari hanya mengenal fakta, kepada manusia yang berpengelaman.
daripada hanya tau lapaq tu wujud, kepada rasa sendiri lapaq dan tak minum air selama 18 jam (sini summer woi!)

Puasa paksa  umat Islam belajar rasa susah. Sebab kalau nak belajar ini, semua benda awal-awal kena paksa. Human always need the initial push. Kalau tengok semua rukun Islam, lepas syahadah, yang lainnya semua kena paksa. Sebab kalau dak, sapa sanggup bayar 2.5% duit. Sapa sanggup bermusafir jauh sampai mekah untuk haji. Mungkin ada segelintir yang sanggup, golongan ni memang bagus, tapi Islam nak semua umat buat benda-benda ni. Sebab contoh zakat, kalau tak diwajibkan, rosak la ekonomi. Kalau tak puasa dan tak rasa susah orang miskin, macam mana kita nak simpati sekaligus runtuh lah masyarakat bila semua penting diri.

Jadi hadirin hadirat, saya duduk saja-saja dan terpikiq, puasa ni mengubah dari mengetahui kepada mengalami, maka saya pon tulis lah post ni sebab rasa ada faedah. Kinda like an epiphany.

Maka doa-doakan lah kita semua jadi lebih banyak mengalami, iaitu ambik tindakan, daripada hanya mengetahui. Amin.

Versi Inggeris

Have you not meet some people, who knows a lot? Ranging from history of Europe to the reason why chillies are spicy, these people can talk about a lot of things. Wikipedia is their middle name and google is their friend. Yet when they are brought to settle a problem, their solution are most of the time ridiculous and unrealistic or selfish. It is a wonder all those things they know, are not much of a help. They know what (theoretically) make chillies taste spicy, yet they can't cook up a simple dish. They know the Keynesian economics, but left unattended at a stall, they'll manage to lose all the customers and small change.

I talk to them, because nothing beats a walking internet; you spare a lot of time searching and reading since they have a lot of information, yet to talk and converse for a long time is something I would avoid.Conversation are taxing. One way to identify them is when they present an idea, an automatic response in our head is,"but, that is ridiculous! you have to consider etc." When someone says something like that to me, I realize that I have become a person with Information, but not with Knowledge.

Ramadhan is a month where Muslims are required to fast. Muslims are not encouraged, it is enforced on us to fast and it is one of the pillars of Islam.Imagine if we are not required to do so, would most of us fast? Would a king, who everyday have more than enough to eat, wakes up one day and decides, "I want to not eat anything for a day, and experience how the poor feels like." Heck, even a normal white collar wouldn't do that, let alone a king.

The key word here is Experience. 

The king knows the poor (nama pon poor) have less to eat.

But he hasn't experience the hunger. No, not without fasting.

Thanks to Islam, which forces us to fast, it cause us to take the first step, to feel how the poor felt. To take the Action.

What is then the connection to the first two paragraphs?

In some sense, the person who knows a lot, has Information. He is informed but the information is of not much use. Only after he takes any action will he has the Experience to accompany it, and in the end make a better decision. Fasting and Islam, causes you to bridge the gap between being a person with information, to a person with knowledge. From a person of memorizing, to a person of understanding.

Thank you for reading.

p.s. I wrote the English version and had to translate it to Malay. itulah bahana ketidakseimbangan artikel ilmiah dalam bahasa.