Fate can come in different guises. Be it the presence of a person, an untimely event or a stroke of luck; what is life without the touches of destiny?

In what I consider a short span of a few months, I have seen the many faces it presents itself in. And today, just a few hours ago, in what would be an anonymous position within the audience at the corridors, I watched a tragedy befall on distant relatives.

What would it feel like, I wonder, sitting in a car that might have been speeding - eyes shut, tired from the day’s charitable events - and to awake at the sound of screeching tires and stabs of fear as the car rolls over for a distance? The pain might have been quick; two people might have been spared the slow waste of death - one was brother to the Mufti of Singapore, my brother’s religious mentor and partial matchmaker. He was a good man, my father said.

Whilst the other two remain in critical condition in the ICU, my tearful sister told me that their state was beyond apprehension. Where drips encircle and penetrate every orifice imaginable, where stitches leave a mark on every memory, when a prayer seems to be the only form of a cure. Since they were spared death, perhaps it seemed logical to spare them the truth of their deceased partners, who slipped through the fingers where life ends.

And the driver, I must have seen him as he limped up the stairs, guided by my brother-in-law. Minimal physical impact and yet he bore the greatest weight of psychological trauma. You should have seen him cry, you must imagine his pain and you should have been there with me as he wailed in anguish over his lack of judgement. He had dragged all four from the wreck. Despite the limb fracture, he struggled to flag for attention from passing cars. He must have wondered why it took a lifetime for one to finally come to his aid. By then it was too late; Death had already taken two.

God decides when we die. We decide how we live. I hope the two who have passed away would be seen in favourable light through His eyes. Surely the good will get their just deserves. I pray the other two in ICU would undergo a speedy recovery. Seek aid from God endlessly and have strength to overcome this. And for the last man, I hope you will one day see beyond the blinding curtains of guilt. It must have not been your fault; fate comes to us all.

Inalillahi wa inalillahi raji’un.

I wrote this many weeks ago, not knowing that it’s been sitting in my Drafts folder. It hasn’t been edited and will therefore seem abrupt. Being hastily researched, it lacks a thorough flow of ideas and might not present a compelling argumentative stance. But I had a point to make, so I might as well publish it now.

It should be noted that this entry was triggered by self-doubts that have bothered me. I have always entertained questions, knowing that there exists a limiting point that prevents endless debacles. Certain issues do not have answers or at the very least, we humans are incapable of accruing enough knowledge to address it. The world we live in is a mystery - one where only a greater being can create; God Himself.

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Religion has somehow been the new buzzword in mainstream conversations lately. Since the inception of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, many have gone out of their way to not only procure the fictional novel itself, but to go a step further by believing what is written within its pages. So vivid and lifelike were the descriptions, the novel bereft with magnanimous claims, that the public has questioned whether it ought to be listed as fiction. Brown has explained many times that he has done ample research to support the facts, though he did curtly admit that the story was a product of imagination alone. Not only has he started pandemic susurrations of heretic name-calling, but he has made the common man think of whether the definitions and practices of religion are really one and the same at all. The taboos, the stigmas of blasphemy, are now being pushed aside to make way for answers.

As a Muslim, I believe that Jesus is the prophet of God and not His son. We were told, via inscriptions within the Quran - the Holy Book, that he never made it to the crucification ceremony, intervened instead by the powers of God. Transferred to a safer location where he is to stay till the coming of Dajjal (the Anti-Christ), he will lay in peace, waiting for the day when we need him to be our saviour. There was no mention of Mary Magdalene in the Qur’an, let alone the descriptions of a child that was born.

Amidst our cranial nerves dissection practical, my group mates Jason and Cynthia raised the topic of religion. Whilst sawing the mandible into half with a bone-cutter, slicing the mundane-ness of anatomical ennui, a lukewarm debate started with the mentioning of historical maladies. “Man makes mistakes,” Jason said. “Even lately, people have been finding new Holy Scriptures and Gospel additions that are unearthing new ideas within Christianity.” In reference to the Da Vinci Code movie, it was seen that the Roman Catholic Church is aware of the secret that is heavily guarded by the Priory Sect, taking countless steps throughout the years to destroy what would shake the very foundations of Christianity itself. It appears that not only can Man make history by destroying things, but the changing of ideas and the secretness in which these actions are handled with are effective methods for Man to cover up his err.

“The Quran surely must have mistakes unless it’s dropped from the Heavens by God Himself,” Cynthia muttered. Seemingly insensitive as the comment may be, she did have a point. The Prophet Muhammad SAW was neither able to read nor write. Being the last messenger of God, he did what he was supposed to do - to carry on and spread the word of Islam. With Muhammad, via divine interventions through the angel Gabriel, God delivered the text of the Quran. Although God literally didn’t drop a book from up above, words and ideas did come from him.

“Through Muhammad..who then said it out loud to his friends, who wrote on animal skin the various verses. Then after his death, the writing continued…surely there must be human error somewhere?” Jason asked. When Muhammad received the teachings, he encouraged his fellow Muslims to recite and memorise the words of God. Secular scholars admit that the compilation of the Quran is a human process, brought on by a war where a significant number of Muslims died. It emphasized the need to preserve the original contents to be passed down from one Muslim to another. During the compilation years, the close friends and family of the Prophet would gather numerous amounts of information - be it on loose materials such as leaves and animal skins, or through aural recitations. To minimise error, a claim must be equally matched by that of another.

Nonetheless, as all humans are faulted, there were many versions of the Quran offered by various companions of the Prophet - each with the same underlying message, save for a shortage or abundance of a chapter or two. This instigated accusations of lying and deceit, a problem that finally came to an end when a proper committee (made up of the Prophet’s closest aides) compared all the different texts, re-using the same technique as before, to finally compile the standard Quran we know today. This was done with ultimate care, seeking aid from the Prophet’s appointed teachers of the Quran as well as the other people he has closely worked with. The other versions were then burnt, to prevent further complications in the future. The copy of the Quran that I have in my room, is exactly the same as that which had presided in a Muslim’s back in those ancient years. I have seen the oldest Quran known to us, in the dimly lit corners of an Islamic Museum, and the words are still identical (only missing symbols that guide pronounciation).

Muslims are encouraged to memorise the Quran and not rely on printed text alone. This ensures the continuity of the Quran, so that if copies of the text are completely obliterated someday, the teachings of God will still exist within memory. Islamic students are taking up these specialized courses, where examinations of these subjects are rigorous and demanding.

So yes, there will be a chance of error and the best way to deal with it is to minimise it. Since the creation of the standard text, no changes have been made throughout the years. Reproduction of new copies of the Quranic texts are still thoroughly checked by Islamic bodies, particularly by those who have memorised the Holy Book.

At times like these, when fiction is passed off as the truth and questions demand explanations for every single scenario, it is quite the irony that the best way to deal with the lack of faith is to listen to your heart and believe in God’s many miracles.