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Since early seventies, whenever I read the
translation of Moslem holy book and reached the part about the story of
'Aad and Tsamud, it often made me have the analogy of 20th century situation
of the world.
'Aad, because it begins with "A", is like
America. While for Tsamud, because it reminds me with Russian king Tsar, is like
the Soviet Union.
'Aad and Tsamud were ancient kingdoms used for
examples in the holy book as the strong countries ever appeared in this
world, with advanced civilization, culture and technology, and the people
inhibiting it were strong. But when they failed the tests from God, they were
destroyed, their strength were useless.
To the people of 'Aad, God sent prophet Hud.
To the people of Tsamud, God sent prophet Saleh.
The test for the people of Tsamud was in the
form of female camel, prophet Saleh told them not to disturb and kill
the camel, but they disobeyed it and killed the female camel. It made
God punished them by strong voice of thunder and lightning that
destroyed the country.
While the people of 'Aad, they were told to worship
only God, but they disobeyed, and they were destroyed by devastating
strong wind.
Of course when I was making analogy of 'Aad
and Tsamud with 20th century world situation, I was not meant to hope
that the destroying part would also happen. I was only making the
similitude's to ease my mind in imagining the explanation in the holy
book.
But along the movement of time, it seem like
it did happen that way.
The 20th century Tsamud, or Soviet Union, was
destroyed by the strong voice of freedom and democracy, through
the media, music, films, cassettes, VCDs.
And the America was suffering from strong
devastating strong wind of hurricane Katrina that drowned the city
of New Orleans, followed by another strong hurricane Rita.
Now, where is my position. Since the age of
prophets has over, of course I am not a prophet.
But something interesting is my involving in
this. I am the younger brother of my sister and brother in my family. In
Indonesian, the word for younger brother is "adik", or in day-to-day
word it is "ade", that is a little bit similar with the 'Aad. Especially
after my work at American Express in 1989, which followed by the
tumbling of Berlin wall and the Soviet Union, I have become more
"American", or 'Aad in this case.
The name of prophet Hud reminds me with
Rahma's family, the mother of mr. Reza whom I visited in Army hospital
RSPAD in 2003.
While my idea about the the "test", is like making
me entering the position of the Tsamud. Moreover, the test for the
people of Tsamud in the
form of female camel through messages by prophet Saleh, reminds me with
Rahma whose origin is from the camel country. While prophet Saleh
reminds me with my brother Faisal.
So now what will be the impact for human being
in this world. We all know that today's world has become more
"American", democracy like the Americans, pop songs, fast food, and
other kind of cultures and life style have become more American.
Does that mean that this world has entering
the position of the 'Aad, and approaching the final moments?
The important thing is to do whatever can be
done to save human existence in this world according to our capacity. If
my "entering the 'Aad and Tsamud position" is a chance given by God to
search for best solution while we can, I hope I will do the best for the
sake of our existence in this world.
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