PENGGEMBIRA

 

Penggembira

          Sebagai kader dan pengurus ‘Asyiyah, saya sangat antusias menyambut muktamar ke 48 Muhammadiyah dan ‘Aisyiyah di Solo. Dengan penuh antusias saya dan teman-teman Pengurus Ranting MSI dan jamaah masjid At-Taqwa Sengkaling, Malang berangkat ke Solo dengan mengendarai bus pariwisata. Kami bukanlah muktamirin, tetapi kami hadir sebagai penggembira.

                                            Rombongan Penggembira

Setelah transit untuk bersih diri dan shalat subuh di Sukoharjo, kami sampai di Solo sekitar pukul 07.00. Bus berhenti di parkiran Kraton Mangkunegaran. Untuk bisa sampai di stadion Manahan (lokasi pembukaan Muktamar), kami harus berjalan sejauh 3-4km. Capek kah? Jelas capek. Mengeluh kah kami? Enggak. Kami tidak mengeluh karena hati sangat gembira. Pertemuan dengan penggembira lain di sepanjang jalan adalah hiburan tersendiri bagi kami yang bisa menipiskan rasa capek.

               We stay happy

Sesampai di lokasi stadion Manahan, kami betemu dengan penggembira dari kota lain yang jumlahnya ribuan. Di sini, kader dari berbagai kota di Indonesia berkumpul jadi saty. Laki-laki, perempuan, remaja, dewasa pratama, dewasa madya, hingga dewasa tua semuanya tumpleg bleg di sekitar Manahan. Lantas, apa yang dikerjakan di luar stadion? Mungkin bisa dikatakan we did nothing. Mengapa? Sebagai penggembira yang tidak terdaftar secara online, kami tidak bisa masuk ke stadion karena kapasitas stadion hanya 25 ribu (25.000) orang dan sudah dipenuhi oleh muktamirin, tamu undangan, dan penggembira terdaftar. Kami juga tidak memiliki hak untuk ikut agenda sidang muktamar, dan tidak pula memiliki hak suara hingga tidak bisa memilih ketua dan sekretaris umum. Pendek kata, hanya satu hak yang kami miliki, yaitu hak untuk BERGEMBIRA (meminjam istilah Pak Dahlan Iskan). Ya, hanya bergembira lah yang bisa kami lakukan di luar stadion.  

Banyak diantara kami yang menyalurkan kegembiraan atas terselenggaranya muktamar dengan duduk bergerombol sambil bercanda, ada pula yang berkumpul sambil menyeru yel-yel yang membakar semangat ber-Muhammadiyah, ada pula yang memantau acara di dalam stadion lewat videotron, ada pula yang sibuk bikin content video YouTube, dan ada pula yang memantau acara pembukaan yang tayang livestreaming lewat ponsel mereka.

                                 Kegembiraan di luar arena pembukaan

Apakah kami merasa merugi dengan status sebagai penggembira yang tidak memiliki hak apapun selain bergembira? Sama sekali tidak. Tujuan kami datang ke lokasi muktamar bukan untuk menuntut hak untuk bisa duduk di stadion dan menyaksikan RI 1 secara resmi membuka muktamar. Kami juga tidak menuntut untuk diberi hak suara, tidak pula ngotot minta kursi di tempat sidang. Tujuan kami datang adalah untuk memberi dukungan kepada para pimpinan persyarikatan, muktamirin, dan panitia penyelenggara dengan iringan doa semoga muktamar bisa berjalan lancar, aman, membawa kemaslahatan bagi umat, dan mendatangkan ridha Allah SWT. Cukuplah bagi kami mengetahui bahwa pimpinan persyarikatan serius memikirkan keberlangsungan dan keamjuan persyarikatan. Cukuplah bagi kami menyaksikan muktamar ini berjalan dengan sangat lancar, tanpa ada kendala yang berarti. Cukuplah bagi kami menyaksikan muktamar yang hampir zero plastic. Cukuplah bagi kami menyaksikan sidang-sidang yang tanpa huru hara dan pemilihan ketua umum dan sekretaris umum yang sangat adem, tanpa kemrungsung, tanpa suasana panas.  Dengan tujuan itu, lelah karena jauhnya perjalanan menjadi sirna. Haus lapar tidak terasa. Gerimis hujan tidak menyiksa dan biaya tidak lagi menjadi kendala.

                                                       kegembiraan dalam wujud lain

Semangat dan kegembiraan kami atas terselenggaranya muktamar agak sulit dinalar. Kami bergerak dengan hati, makanya apa yang kami lakukan hanya bisa dipahami dengan bahasa hati pula. Dengan sepenuh hati pula kami berdoa semoga kepemimpinan yang dilahirkan dalam muktamar yang kami hadiri bisa membawa kemaslahatan bagi warga persyarikatan, rakyat Indonesia keseluruhan, dan umat semesta. Sampai jumpa di muktamar berikunya.

 

Malang, 22 November 2022/27 Jumadil Akhir 1444H

 

 

Why do I assign you to weekly write?

 

Dear Students of TBI 5A and TBI 5C

Assalamualaikum Wr. Wb….

Hope that this short letter finds you well. Hope you always have good days. Hope that you all stay healthy, stay active, and stay optimistic.

Guys, as I have explained in my course outline, the activity in Creative Writing class is blogging through which you are required to weekly write a composition and post it in your personal blog. To some of you, it is an enjoyment, but to some others, it is a burden. Whatever your view on this activity, I would like to share my reasons of assigning you to weekly write. I assign you to routinely write and share in your blog because, to my view, routine and consistent writing has a number of benefits.

First, weekly writing in English enables us to use English in real communication. This is our opportunity to practice the grammar knowledge we have been trying to master, and this is our chance to apply the theories in writing we have been learning, and this is the room where we can utilize the vocabulary items we have been storing in our mind. Through routine writing, the foreign language we are learning is not merely linguistic rules, but rather a real means of communication. English is not merely knowledge, but it could turn to be our habit, our way of communication, and our way of thinking.

Second, routinely writing trains us to think systematically. Writing is different from talking that allows us to express ideas unsystematically. Writing requires us to be ‘neat’ in many ways. We are required to develop sentences using subjects and predicates properly, and we are demanded to look for the most proper words and expressions to represent our ideas. Besides, we have to organise ideas in such a way to make them understandable for readers, and we have to select which ideas need foregrounding, backgrounding, or leaving out. This leads us to be constantly systematic in thinking. As such, routine writing means routine learning to systematically think. Some people utterly say that clear writing is a sign of clear thinking.

Third, by weekly writing, we can be better writers. Does writing need grammar knowledge, theories in writing, and huge number of vocabularies? Yes, it does. In some cases, grammar affects meaning, so without grammar messages cannot be conveyed clearly. Theories in writing guides us how to build cohesion and coherence in our composition without which ideas might be scattered everywhere. Vocabulary items are the small things which verbalize and articulates our mind. They, however, are meaningless unless we utilize them in practice. No need to wait until we are expert in everything; we can use the knowledge at hand, and star writing now. Writing is the best way to fluently write. Writing is the shortcut to be writers. The more frequently we practice in writing, the more fluent we will be. While writing, we can improve all the necessary ‘ingredients’ in writing: grammar, vocabulary, and others.

All in all, we can get a number of benefits form routine writing. Linguistic knowledge is not the only ‘ingredient’ we need to be skilful in writing. The consistency in practice, the courage to publish, and the willingness to keep learning are the other ‘ingredients’ we need to be writers.

Guys, you may agree or disagree with my ideas. Should you have something to share, please do not hesitate to contact me. Have a nice weekend.

Wassalamualaikum Wr. Wb.

 

Malang, November 17, 2022

Sincerely yours,

Nurul Chojimah

UNIQUE

 

UNIQUE

Disclaimer: This writing is not tafsir. This is a short description on the uniqueness of  linguistic facts I find in the Surat Maryam. I do not have any capacity to write the tafsir of Qur'an verses.

Guys, what appears in your mind whenever you hear the term unique? In a simple term, unique means unusual and special. If something is unique, it means that it has special and unusual characteristics.

 I am sure you all are familiar with Surat Maryam (Mary), one of the surats in the Holy Book Al-Qur’an. To my view, this surat is unique. The first uniqueness of is its opening expression. Different from other surats whose opener is either praises to Allah, oaths, information, or commands, this surat is opened with a series of single Arabic letters (muqaththa’ah letters): Kaf-Ha-Ya-‘Ain-Shad. The series of the letters sound unique since the message is not conveyed as clearly as in other opening expressions. The series of those letters do not form a word, so that it looks superficially meaningless.

Regarding the meaninglessness of those letters, some ulamas opine that it is the miracle of the Qur’an and none but Allah alone knows the meaning. Other ulamas, however, are in the opinion that the series of letters is the strategy to attract the attention of mankind. This belief sounds plausible since addressees might easily get tuned in to a new topic if it is introduced in an uncommon way such as silence for a moment. Keeping silent for a while, an addresser might attract his/her addressees’ attention. In the context of this surat, the readers’ and listeners ‘ attention will be easily directed to the surat as it proceeds from a series of letters, rather than words or phrases whose meanings are easily understood.

The second uniqueness of this surat is that it is womanish. The title of the surat is the name of a holy lady, Maryam or Mary. It is unique since out of 114 surats, this is the only surat using a female name. Names other than Maryam perpetuated in the Qur’an are Ali Imran and Lukman, but they are male names. In addition, the surat depicts the holy lady with feminine properties: her way of clothing, her pregnancy, and her relation with her son (the baby Isa). In short, the state of being womanish is traceable from the name of the surat and the description of Maryam. 

The surat gets more unique as it is recited by Syaikh Hicham Lharraz, a Moroccan Qur’an reciter. His recitation is unique. He is never monotonous in reciting Qur’an verses. The same surat might sound differently when he recites it in different prayers on different days. His recitation is zig zag. At one time, his tune is stomping with high pitch, and then he could move to the gentle and soft rhythm with low voice. The movement between high-stomping tune and gentle tune in low voice makes his recitation unique and cool. Awesome. You can enjoy his recitation on the Surat Maryam in the following video, Guys. 

In a nutshell, the opening expression, the name of the surat, and the description of the holy lady Maryam or Mary are the uniqueness of the Surat Maryam. The beauty of the surat incorporated with the beauty of the reciter's voice makes the Qur'an verses more enjoyable. It is nice to listen to them in while working, reading, driving, and others. The Holy Book Al-Qur’an indeed contains countless of supremacies

Malang, November 10, 2022

SBY, JK, Jokowi

 

SBY, JK, Jokowi

Each language has its own uniqueness. One of the apparent uniqueness of Indonesian is the massive use of abbreviations and acronyms. Abbreviation is a simple proses. It is the process of shortening a phrase by taking the initial letter of each word. DPR is the short version of Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPL is taken from Dosen Pembimbing Lapangan, and KPK is formed from the phrase Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi. In short, abbreviation is initialism.

Acronym is a little bit different from abbreviation. It is the process of forming words by taking some parts of each word in a phrase. In general, there is no rules governing the acronymization. Despite it, I can note the most three commonly patterns in Indonesian. First, the acronym is formed by combining the first syllable of each word such as PROKER, taken from Program Kerja.

Second, the formation is by taking the first syllable of each word and added with 1 or 2 letters such as PUSKESMAS (Pu sat Ke-se-hat-an Ma-sya-ra-kat). The first syllable of the first word—Pu—is added with the first letter of the second syllable: -s, forming -pus. This is combined with the first syllable of the second word—Ke—added with one letter of the next syllable—s—forming a new ‘syllable’ –kes, and the third word—Ma—added with the first letter of the next syllable—s—becoming -mas, all of which form PUSKESMAS. 

The similar process is found in KORPRODI (Koordinator Program Studi). The word ‘koordinator’ has 5 syllables: ko-or-di-na-tor; ‘program’ has 2 syllables: pro-gram; ‘studi’ consists of stu-di. To shorten the first word, the first syllable—ko—is added with the second letter of the second syllable—r—becoming -kor. The -kor is combined with the first syllable of the second word—pro—and the last syllable of the third word: -di, all of which form a new word: KORPRODI.

Third, the formation is random, or there are no rules governing the form of acronyms. SAMSAT (Sistem Administrasi Manunggal Satu Atap) is one in point. The acronym is formed by combining the initial letter of the first three words: Sistem Administrasi Manunggal, forming SAM, and the first syllable of the fourth word—sa—added with the second letter of the last word: -t, all of which form SAMSAT.

So what? At least, there are two notes worth discussing. Abbreviation and acronym are never constant, nor fixed. One Indonesian word or may have a number of abbreviations or acronyms, depending on the context. The word perjalanan is abbreviated in -P in SPPD (Surat Perintah Perjalanan Dinas), but it turns into -perja in PERJADIN. The word ‘dosen’ is shortened into -D in DPL (Dosen Pembimbing Lapangan), but it turns into -dos in DOSPEM (Dosen Pembimbing).

The ease of the pronunciation is the main principle in the formation of abbreviations and acronyms. Koordinator Program Studi is shortened into Korprodi instead of KOPROSTU because Korprodi is easier to pronounce and nicer to listen. Dospem is clearer in the ears, and nicer to pronounce than Dopem. Third, there is no any institution having the authority to form abbreviations and acronyms. Any Indonesian speakers may create and spread abbreviations and acronyms. As long as the abbreviations are easy pronouncing and nice listening, they will be widely accepted.

All in all, language is one of the distinguishers between human and other creatures. Through language, we can see the human’s creativity in arranging words to form sentences, and in shortening phrases into abbreviations and acronyms. The massive use of abbreviations and acronyms suggests that Indonesians are linguistically creative. Almost all terms are likely to be shortened, abbreviated, and acronymized, including the symbols of the state: President and vice president. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Jusuf Kala, and Joko Widodo are three figures who were once and is still the symbols of the state whose names are abbreviated and acronymized: SBY, JK, Jokowi.

The use of language can be more efficient through abbreviations and synonyms. The energy to state long phrases can be reduced, and the space for writing them can be saved if we use abbreviations and acronyms. Besides, being shorter, a long term might get more memorable. Easy to memorize. Memorizing short terms is much easier and easier than memorizing the long ones. Short is indeed nice. Do you agree with me, Guys?

Malang, November 4, 2022