Let History be History?

I was very much captivated with the quote by Ali Abi Talib on how we can learn from history. He described it in a beautiful way that history helps us to plan our future by learning what make the people before us happy and what make them sad. It is indeed a new world in the history of the people before us. Their struggle, their triumphs, their downfall and their making of civilised world serve as a great reference for us and the future generation. We might boast with the 'physical' technology that we have, the over-civilised nation that we developed until we have to sacrifice some of the norms and values and the complex society that we live in in our community today. Past people can boast for their struggle and the foundation that they lay on the civilised world's today. Have we tarnished or even demolished all their efforts in the name of justice and societal development?

Perhaps the closest and the most appropriate example here is the condition in Iraq today and also the Muslim community. Iraq is the cradle of civilisation and is the turning point of a new era in human history ever since the glory of Tigris and Euphrates. It has hatched a lot of scholars and literature that has been used up until today to shape our society. What happen now? In the name of 'justice', the thousands of years of struggle has been snapped off in a blink of an eye. In the name of 'justice' we lost our root of civilisation. We have erased the remaining traces of history.



The story of the companions of the prophets demonstrated how they strive to propagate Islam and build a solid Muslim community. Their efforts know no boundary and was endless because of their love of Islam. Once, Islam has conquered three quarter of the world through their struggle. However now the light that has once shone the world begins to dim and portray a darker image of the religion. Muslims fighting among themselves while they have a bigger enemy to fight with. We have somehow not only neglected their effort but also has render it futile. We erased the results of their long arduous journey in a second. How cruel we are to think that we have the right to do what we are doing now without thinking about the sacrifices made by the people before us. How arrogant we are to even think that we the modern society initiate the development of our community today. May the history that we study lead us and guide us to step foward in the right path base on what has happened in the past.

'Meski rentang hidupku tak sepanjang masa hidup generasi sebelumku, tapi aku
berusaha keras untuk selalu mengakji kehidupan mereka. Aku mengikuti perjalanan
mereka, merenungkan segala usaha dan perjuangan meraka, mengkaji peninggalan
dah reruntuhan hasil karya mereka. Kurenungkan kehidupan mereka, seolah-olah
aku hidup dan bekerja dengan mereka sejak zaman dini sejarah higga zamanku
sekarang. Akhirnya, aku tahu apa yang membuatkan mereka bahagia dan apa yang
membuatkan mereka sengsara.'

-Ali bin Abi Talib