Linguistic of islamic ethics

It is similar with stress, the biggest issues in Islamic ethics is lingustic. Is a language. A term in one language might be translated in different term, and there is no exact translation -including idiom that depending on the region, time, culture and perception.

For example, I always thought that Ikhlas (Tulus/sincere) means Rela (willing, ready). Tulus in Indonesia means bersih hati, usually followed by tanpa pamrih. For example “saya siap membantu dengan ikhlas tanpa pamrih = I am ready to help sincerely without strings attached”. Notes: pamrih = imbalan = reward = no strings attached. Ikhlas mean Rela, is correct however when its seing in the bigger context it is wider than that. For example:

Sabar: Patience, accepting situation/fate/God’s plan -usually bad situation
Syukur: Grateful, accepting situation -usually good situation. Humility vs Arrogant
Ikhlas : Sincere, accepting situation, more with action.

Sabar, Syukur, Ikhlas is the way we interpret the situation. Ikhtiar is before that, means persistent, to keep trying. And tawakkal is the later, means submissions.

Islamic ethics is ethics in which the Islamic tenets govern the values of right, wrong, good, and bad. Ethics is one of the three interrelated fundamental constructs of Islam, which are aqidah (faith), shariah (Islamic legal systems), and ahlaq (Islamic ethics).

Imam Al-Ghazali: Syukur atas nikmat lebih utama daripada sabar atas bala atau musibah.

Sabar dan Syukur tidak bisa dipisahkan. Bahwa sabar adalah setengah bagian dari iman, sementara setengah bagian yang lain adalah syukur.

Sabar artinya ketegaran hati terhadap takdir Allah dan hukum-hukum syari’at.
Syukur artinya meyakini bahwa tidak ada yang memberi nikmat kecuali Allah. Syukur artinya menampakan nikmat Allah melalui lisan dengan cara memuji dan mengakui, melalui hati dengan cara meyakini dan mencintai, serta melalui anggota badan dengan ketaatan.

The word ikhlas in Arabic means “sincerity, purity, isolation” and so on. When used in a general sense in Islamic literature, it refers to sincerity and purity of intention and motive in worship of Allah.

Allah says: (They have been ordered no more than this: To worship Allah sincerely, being true (in faith), to establish the prayer, and to give zakah. And that is the worthy religion) (Al-Bayyinah 98: 5). https://quran.com/98/5

(Say: “I am but a man like yourselves but to whom it is revealed that your Lord is only One God. So whoever hopes to meet his Lord let him work righteousness, and let him not associate anyone with Him in worship) (Al-Kahf 18: 110) https://quran.com/18/110

In the Islamic context, sincerity (Ikhlas) means: being free from worldly motives and it is against hypocrisy. In the Qur’an, all acts of worship and human life should be motivated by the pleasure of God, and the prophets of God have called man to sincere servitude in all aspects of life. Sincerity in Islam is divided into sincerity in belief and sincerity in action. Sincerity in belief means monotheism; in other words not associating partners with God, and sincerity in action means performing sincere worship only for God

Beyond the Western culture, sincerity is notably developed as a virtue in Confucian societies (China, Korea, and Japan).

Anthropological perspective of religion

“…Challenged the rationalist notion that religion is simply a primitive and therefore outmoded form of the institutions we now encounter in truer form (law, politics, science) in modern life…”
(Genealogies of Religion Talal Asad 1993)

Interesting, Anthropology point of view always neutral.

Yet this separation of religion from power is a modern Western norm, the product of a unique post-Reformation history. Clifford Geertz’s “Religion as a Cultural System

The perspective of modern anthropology towards religion is the projection idea, a methodological approach which assumes that every religion is created by the human community that worships it, that “creative activity ascribed to God is projected from man

One major problem in the anthropology of religion is the definition of religion itself. At one time anthropologists believed that certain religious practices and beliefs were more or less universal to all cultures at some point in their development, such as a belief in spirits or ghosts, the use of magic as a means of controlling the supernatural, the use of divination as a means of discovering occult knowledge, and the performance of rituals such as prayer and sacrifice as a means of influencing the outcome of various events through a supernatural agency, sometimes taking the form of shamanism or ancestor worship. According to Clifford Geertz, religion is

1. a system of symbols which acts to
2. establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by
3. formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and
4. clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that
5. the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.

Today, religious anthropologists debate, and reject, the cross-cultural validity of these categories (often viewing them as examples of European primitivism). Anthropologists have considered various criteria for defining religion – such as a belief in the supernatural or the reliance on ritual – but few claim that these criteria are universally valid.

Anthony F. C. Wallace proposes four categories of religion, each subsequent category subsuming the previous. These are, however, synthetic categories and do not necessarily encompass all religions.

• Individualistic: most basic; simplest. Example: vision quest.
• Shamanistic: part-time religious practitioner, uses religion to heal, to divine, usually on the behalf of a client. The Tillamook have four categories of shaman. Examples of shamans: spiritualists, faith healers, palm readers. Religious authority acquired through one’s own means.
• Communal: elaborate set of beliefs and practices; group of people arranged in clans by lineage, age group, or some religious societies; people take on roles based on knowledge, and ancestral worship.
• Ecclesiastical: dominant in agricultural societies and states; are centrally organized and hierarchical in structure, paralleling the organization of states. Typically deprecates competing individualistic and shamanistic cults.

Reality: We are poor

We are poor, we hate becoming poor, we do everything to not become poor. Poverty is a trap. Social mobility is almost impossible to be made.

Woke Capitalism

Through woke capitalism, the people who benefit most from inequality are setting the agenda, with serious implications for democracy.

Keyword: political correctness, green washing, social justice warrior

Jakarta vs Everbody (2022)

Menarik, bisa juga selesai nonton film ini. Beberapa hal yang realistis: adegan alasan sholat; adegan mimpi ketemu jokowi. Realistis kalau film ini tentang Indonesia. Dua hal ini tidak bisa dipisahkan dari dialog keseharian orang Indonesia.

There is always light at the end of the tunnel

Welcome to my city, the place where I can be me

Penindasan (oppression)

Violence is more frequent in cultures that are vertical collectivist than in cultures that are horizontal individualist

Five faces of oppression

1. Exploitation: refers to the act of using people’s labors to produce profit, while not compensating them fairly.
2. Marginalization: this is the act of relegating or confining a group of people to a lower social standing or outer limit or edge of society (i.e. exclusion).
3. Powerlessness: This form of oppression refers to how some in a society are relegated to be powerless and are dominated by “the ruling class.” They are situated to take orders and rarely have the right to give them
4. Cultural Imperialism: This is the taking of culture by the “ruling class” and establishing it as the norm, defining other groups as deviant and/or inferior.
5. Violence: This form of oppression looks like when members of some groups live with the knowledge that they must fear random, unprovoked attacks on their persons or property.

Political violence

Once you engage in political violence, it becomes easier to do it again

Political violence includes denial of citizenship or representation, wrongful detention or enslavement, forced eviction, and statelessness.

Economic violence (economic abuse): dikasih uang sedikit

Rent seeking (jatah preman)

States, including the U.S., are predatory (preman)

Rentiers often find taxation unnecessary due to the lucrative nature of rent-seeking

Violence (hukum rimba) is easy, its fast, its bring competitive advantage. Its prey on the weak

When is state predatory: I argue that the impact of development on the distribution of political power in society may create an incentive for a state to become “predatory” and fail to promote economic development. The model shows that inecient underinvestment (predatory behavior) tends to arise in societies where, (1) there are large benets to holding political power, and which are, (2) well endowed which natural resources, (3) badly endowed with factors which are complementary to public investment, such as human capital, and (4) intrinsically unstable. I document the importance of the mechanism I propose in accounting for the behavior of actual predatory regimes.

most states in the past and present are best viewed as predatory, seeking to maximize the profits of government, rather than seeking to maximize the welfare of their constituents

The first portrays free markets as a cultural myth which is not really believed by its proponents. The second explains the operation of the predator state, where economic inequality is not a side-effect of economic development but a consequence of greedy private interests taking more for themselves. The third has some recommendations for dealing with predators; getting the benefits of private enterprise without giving excessive power to corporate elites

Economists have adopted two broad perspectives on the state: contractual (i.e., provider of public goods and services) and predatory (coercive and extractive). By a predatory state, we mean a state that promotes the private interests of dominant groups within the state (such as politicians, the army and bureaucrats) or influential private groups with strong lobbying powers. Neo-institutional economists support an extended version of the contractual perspective in which the state is not simply a ‘benevolent dictator’ but may itself be composed of predators

Preman (predator) pada dasarnya maksa (coercive) dan meras (extractive). Preman minta jatah (rent seeking)

Any State is inherently predatory, irrespective of the ideological persuasion of those who hold its reins, relentlessly seeking to expand its power and influence at the cost of its citizens. Authoritarianism is the default condition of a holder of State power, which is why in democracies there are institutional checks and balances against this natural propensity of a State towards aggrandisement of power

Big government

Crony Capitalism: By-Product of Big Government

All governments are crony capitalists

Crony capitalism the enemy of free enterprise

Money first belongs to governments ‘not individuals’, and that anything less than a 100 per cent tax rate constitutes a ‘subsidy’.  It is the view of the serf: governments generously allow us to keep some money, which by rights is first theirs

The Noble Crony: Big Business on the Politics of Business

Crony Capitalism: Inefficient, Unjust, and Corrupting

Cronyism is a term describing an economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials. It may be exhibited by favoritism in the distribution of legal permits, government grants, special tax breaks, etc. Cronyism is believed to arise when political cronyism spills over into the business world; self serving friendships and family ties between businessmen and the government influence the economy and society to the extent that it corrupts public-serving economic and political ideals

What’s Bad About Crony Capitalism? crony capitalism generates significant economic rents, which result in a misallocation of resources and lower incentives for wealth creation

One of the greatest dangers to the growth of developing countries is the middle income trap, where crony capitalism creates oligarchies that slow down growth

You Can’t Regulate Crony Capitalism Away

Increasing the scope of government over business accelerates the problem of crony capitalism

Rent-seeking, in this case, is when businesses divert their resources towards capturing a bigger portion of the existing wealth in a market instead of using their resources to create new wealth.

government continues to enjoy considerable discretionary power over the awarding of contracts to build and manage ports, airports, highways, telecom systems, electricity generation and distribution and infrastructure, as well as over land and water resources, all of which can create economic rents

Capitalism Isn’t The Problem. Crony Capitalism Is

Rent seeking is an economic concept that occurs when an entity seeks to gain wealth without any reciprocal contribution of productivity

Rent-seeking is the act of growing one’s existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth

How to handle business: lobby and deal

Interesting on toxic lobby and green deals

In politics, lobbying, persuasion, interest representation, government relations, or government affairs and sometimes legislative relations, legislative affairs, or advocacy, is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, often through payments and mutual financial benefits.

Year 1 is easy. I handle 4 different project, everythings under my control. 75% I handle by myself, 25% only have one reporting line.

Year 1: small multiple project (4 projects); short term project (3-6 months); one reporting line
Year 2: medium multiple (5 projects); long term project (>1 years); multiple reporting line
Year 3: large multiple (8 projects);
Year 4: multi sectors/clusters (G&PS)

The focus should be on clusters. Semester 1 on G&PS clusters; Semester 2 on alliance clusters.