ALBUM DAKWAH DALAM BAHASA ARAB DAN URDU

OLEH Muhammad Salihin

Album yang berjudul Bismillah nyanyian Imran Bin Mohamed akan berada di pasaran tidak lama lagi. Imran yang berumur 35 tahun adalah anggota Alumni Madrasah Aljunied dan telah berkecimpung dalam bidang nyanyian sejak kecil lagi. Ayah dan pakciknya juga pernah aktif dalam dunia muzik setempat.

Atas dorongan teman karibnya, Syed Mustaffa, teman sejak dari bangku sekolah, maka album ini dapat dicetuskan. Peluang untuk menyanyikan lagu dakwah tidak wujud sewaktu Imran bersekolah di Madrasah Aljunied hingga ke peringkat pra-universiti.

Dengan peluang yang terbuka ini, maka Imran rasakan ini adalah waktu yang terbaik untuk menyumbang lagu-lagu dakwah dalam bahasa yang dia selesa kepada masyarakat.

Album yang diterbitkan oleh Planet Spiritual ini, lagu-lagunya dalam bahasa Arab, Parsi dan Urdu dan yang ada sentuhan qasidah dan muzik dunia disatukan. Proses rakaman asas hanya berlangsung selama dua minggu tapi adunan lagu dan muzik oleh Snootz Studio memakan masa yang lebih lama sedikit. Susunan muzik pula dilakukan oleh Al-Hafiz, peniup seruling terkenal di Singapura.

Sebelum ini, Imran tidak pernah menyampaikan lagu dakwah selain dari album projek khas untuk ALMAS-Permata. Penjualan album tersebut juga amat menggalakkan. Ramai yang tidak ketahui, Imran juga sering muncul dalam rancangan-rancangan Vasantham.

Beliau sebenarnya lebih cenderung menyanyikan lagu-lagu Hindi. Melody dan beberapa lirik lagunya dalam album ini juga disokong oleh ayah, bonda dan keluarga.

Dengan terakamnya album ini, secara tak langsung Imran ingin menyumbangkan kembali jasanya kepada Madrasah Aljunied. Album Bismillah yang telah merakamkan sebanyak dua belas lagu, mengandungi 12 lagu kesemunya. 3 lagu dalam bahasa Urdu dan 9 lagu-lagu selawat dan qasidah.

Kepada para peminat lagu-lagu Hindi dan Bollywood, album dakwah ini boleh menjadi muzik alternatif yang dapat menyegarkan dan santapan rohani. Bukan itu saja, ia merupakan album lagu-lagu dakwah, dengan satu kelainan. Album ini boleh didapatkan di Madrasah Aljunied, 30 Victoria Street.

Lagu-lagu yang diisi dalam album ini ialah : Bismillah, Igfirlana, Solaatuna, Allahu Robbi, Baghdadi Baghdadi, Doa Taubat, Astaghfirullah, Ya Azim, Anta Maulana Ya Habibi, Hum Hain Khyale Yaar, Allahu Allah (bersama Syamil) dan lagu bonus, Burdah Syareef.

Dan album dakwah ini dijangka akan menjadi fenomena di kalangan mereka yang faham dalam bahasa Arab, Hindi dan Urdu. Insya’allah.

TERJEMAHAN PENGHUNI SENJA-THE SUNSET DWELLERS

Novel Penghuni Senja kini dalam proses terjemahan ke bahasa Inggeris. Ini ada sebahagian episod 1 - Senja Muram.

Chapter 1-Sombre Dusk

DUSK. You appear at the most extraordinary circumstance. Your presence eternally waited. Your beauty is praise-worthy. Your loyalty, attested. Be it sombre or cheery, I wait for your appearance, even if it is for eternity. This is precisely what Ahmad Dasuki says to himself, daily, as dusk descends. Among his friends, he is casually known as Pak Ahmad. In physique, he is neither obese nor skinny, just moderately built.

Without revealing the remotest sign of boredom, Pak Ahmad will wait in passive anticipation of the dusk, to revel in its beauty. Dusk, in effect, is a lurid interface of darkness and light. It folds day into night. Such transformation often induces more than a hearten smile in him. Dusk has for long been deemed as his closest ally. He valued it for its sheer loyalty. With many of his closest friends and families already forsaking him, the dusk is his sole panacea or even his playmate for that matter. In short, Pak Ahmad prefers the present way, the way it has always been.

Although preoccupied with gazing the falling dusk, Pak Ahmad is still sensitized to his immediate surroundings. He knows what goes on around him. Seeing the dusk falls is merely his dutiful, mandatory obsession. With eyes peering onto the immeasurably distant horizon, and delightful with a rapturous display of golden hue blending with velvety orange, his surreal devotion to the dusk has, nevertheless, never encumbered anyone in this house.

“Don’t have to do anything else,” Pak Ahmad whispers to himself during a peaceful dusk. Since his younger days, Pak Ahmad has been predisposed to nature, admiring and reflecting its beauty. Nature and Pak Ahmad are inseparably connected. Sad news about deforestation will trigger streams of tears down his cheeks. In his twilight days now, he resolves to savour the beauty of earth. Its absolute magnificence will not slip away from his mind. Many godly creations scarcely engender much attention from human like himself.

“This is one of earth’s magnificent creations. No one can create likewise. You are beautiful, dusk.” Pak Ahmad’s voice is vivid but a vestige of sadness is evident in his tone. Lately, his character has been inexplicably capricious, temperamental, much to the chagrin of his friends who understandably distant themselves from him. His feelings and thoughts shifting spontaneously; at one end quiet and at the other end testy. At times, he remains silent for days. When he is temperamental, unpleasant words rattle off. When he is silent, it is as though his tongue has been stitched. Such is his freakish disposition. As it is with people, some like him and some do not.

Once, Haji Deraman was engrossed in a harmless, cordial conversation with Pak Ahmad. Then, all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, Pak Ahmad hurled incoherent abuses at him. Harsh words spattered out with ease from Pak Ahmad’s mouth leaving Haji Deraman in total bewilderment. His face reddened with anger and confusion from the onslaught of abuses. He felt like a school kid lashed by a teacher for forgetting to bring his book. After a few months of getting to know him better, Haji Deraman gradually understand Pak Ahmad’s demeanour. Despite the revilement, Haji Deraman remained composed, holding himself well against Pak Ahmad. He is always relenting, and fully conscious that a small group of Malay dwellers like them simply cannot allow themselves to be reduced to squabbles and sour-faces. Otherwise, more problems and confusions will emerge. A small group among them alleged that Pak Ahmad is of unsound mind. Nevertheless, Haji Deraman still maintains his friendship as he believes they do not truly comprehend his real behaviour.

“This old man must be crazy! He talks to himself,” declared Meon, the youngest of the lot who is in his fifties.