Idiom

    Has a heart of gold             : very kind

    As hard as nails                 : no sympathy for others

    As good as gold                  : helpful

    A cold fish                       : unfriendly

    An awkward customer           : difficult person to deal with

    A pain in the neck               : difficult/nuisance

    Gets on everyone nerves        : irritates everybody

    Quick of the mark               : fast

    A bit slow of the mark          : slow

    A slow coach                     : slow

    An odd-ball                       : strange

    Over the top                     : very exaggerated/over

    Round the bend                  : absolutely crazy/mad

    Middle of the road              : very normal, standard

    Teacher’s pet                    : student’s favourite by the teacher

    Top of class                      :a real know-all

lk 

a  a big-head : arrogant

a  a lazy-bones : lazy person

   as happy as the day is long : extremely content

Agent of Change's Ideology

Agent of change’s ideology

By  : Lina Hidayatus Sholihah

“Red blood is teenager’s blood”, a little bit of Roma Irama’s song.

If we feel more contains of that song deeply, we can conclude that actually teenagers or we can say “agent of change” have high criticism to critic anything around their environment. It has been said biologically that teenager is from 17 until 22 years old. They explore their brain fully in that age. Generally, those ages are student ages especially in student of university.

Nowadays, in developing era, most of student at University have different mind set with them when they are in Senior High School. From their knowledge that they have gotten both academically or non-academically, they have different thought of it. Many thoughts formed in University where we can think that it is true and false though it is actually true or not.

Collage is place where many ideologies cooperate and come along, even from religious ideology until secular ideology. Students are the biggest target who is very easy to be filled by those ideologies because of their thought that disposed clear and simple. In the jargon word “who do faster, you will catch it!” is the best mind set for describing why we have to welcome new students with good ceremonial reception orderly. More we can make amazing reception to them, then will be bigger we can fill specific ideology to their thought.

Student and ideology are two things that can not be separated. The history has written that student ideology can pull down regime that finally it can change line history. Students are intellectual politician. Ideology is forming of thought which can be developed largely by their willingness. 

We never realize that actually our mind set will be changed by that time because of ideology. In the encyclopedia, an ideology is a set of ideas one’s goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things, as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies, or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to all members of this society.

Lately, one of organizations that have strong ideology in religious that is always spoken by almost the whole people in this country even in the world is NII. Many victims of this organization are from the students who study in University. They get forcing from that to follow their actions. Everybody knows that this organization has bad action. Not only NII that has strong thought in their ideology but there are many of them also. Such as:  KAMMI, HTI, IMM, and so on.

In other case, people will get different ideology when they have concentrated in on estate. For example, someone joins in political scope, and then they will doctrine their brain with political ideology. In the same tome, it can be happened in economic, religious, and cultural ideology.

One of familiar scientist, Karl Mark said that an ideology is as a view of life that developed based on community importance or social class in political state or economic social. Simply for the writer’s view that an ideology can be changed when we have no strong belief at all on our soul. We are as a student still there are many things that have to think unless this case. Studying by hard, reaching the future, and enjoying our study are actually our obligations as a student than we will be fooled by that ideology itself that doctrine us.

“Long life Agent of change” ,,, *_*

ISLAM IN AMERICA

Muslim leader seeks larger role for women
Ingrid Mattson's goal is not radical, she says, but rather to limit segregation

By DEBORAH HORAN
Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO - The first female president of the largest Muslim organization in North America believes nothing in Islam prohibits her from issuing religious opinions on issues from dietary restrictions to the proper place for women in mosques.

Ingrid Mattson, a Canadian convert to Islam who was elected in August to lead the Islamic Society of North America, says women should participate fully in Muslim life — whether that means sitting next to men during mosque lectures, but not at prayers, or contributing to the rules that govern religious observance.

"I want to make sure women are fully engaged," Mattson said. "They should sit on boards and in mosques in space equal to men so they can participate in discussions."

Not everyone was pleased with her election. Mattson said she has received a few angry e-mails from people opposed to a woman holding such an office.

But most of her colleagues lauded her victory as a sign that the Muslim community in North America was open to change. They overwhelmingly voted Mattson, who ran unopposed, to the top spot in mail-in balloting.

"Given the situation in the Muslim world, it's progressive," said Dr. Assad Busool, a professor at the American Islamic College in Chicago. "But there's nothing in Islam to ban women from leadership positions."

The organization is an umbrella group founded in 1963 that represents about 300 Muslim students, social and professional groups. Mattson has spent two terms as the society's vice president, where she earned a reputation as an Islamic authority and an adept administrator.

Mattson was born into a Catholic family in Ontario but stopped practicing Catholicism as a teenager, she said. She enrolled as a philosophy major at the University of Waterloo and studied existentialism.

Mattson said she converted to Islam in 1987 after meeting Muslims from West Africa during a university study-abroad program in France. Their friendship changed her life, she said, and she began to read the Quran.

That same year she moved to Pakistan to work with Afghan refugees and met her husband, Amer Aatek, an Egyptian engineer. She has a daughter, Soumayya, 17, and a son, Ubayda, 15.

After Pakistan, she moved to Chicago, where she received a doctorate in Islamic studies at the University of Chicago, focusing on Islamic law and legal theory. She is now a professor of Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. She also heads the Islamic Chaplaincy program there.

She wears a hijab, or headscarf, and long skirt — attire that seems to have attracted unwanted attention from immigration authorities in recent years. Mattson says she has spent "countless hours" stuck in immigration offices in Toronto on her way back to the U.S. after visiting family in Canada.

Mattson said she understands the extra security measures but appears frustrated, in her mild-mannered way, that her hijab is often misinterpreted. Western women, she says, often mistake her mode of dress as a sign of oppression.

"They see the headscarf, and to them, that means subservience," she said. "They have a hard time believing any woman would choose to dress this way — it must be because (she is) forced or brainwashed."

A dress code is not on Mattson's agenda as president of the Islamic society.

She plans to turn her attention to other women's issues, but not in a radical way. She has no intention, for instance, to lead men in prayer. Islamic law is clear on that prohibition, she said.

But she wants to see women sit beside men in mosques during discussions and lectures, rather than segregated from men, or relegated to the back of the room. Otherwise, she said, "many women feel inferior, and it prevents them from fully engaging in discussions."

Such segregation also may affect how women are treated in other areas of life, she added.

While Mattson realizes that some Muslim men and even some women believe a woman should stay at home with the children, she wants to make sure that women who want a role in public life have that chance, she said.

Many of them do: Women have been elected president of the Muslim Students Association, the Muslim Medical Association and the Muslim Youth of North America, among other organizations.

The difference is that those bodies do not include a religious component, whereas the Islamic society is both an umbrella organization and a source for religious interpretations.

But women currently serve on the society's Shura Council, a collaborative decision-making body, and Mattson's colleagues don't appear to have a problem with her lending her voice to statements on religious law.

"If she wants to contribute she is welcome," said Ahmed El-Hattab, the society's acting general secretary. Religious rulings are taken by consensus, in any case, he said. "Islamically, sisters are equal to brothers."

"There is a false perception and a stereotype that women in Islam don't have an equal role to play," El-Hattab said. "(Her election) is sending a very strong message to defeat this image."

Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/4225414.

A.      Terjemahan

Sept. 29, 2006, 9:48PM

ISLAM DI AMERIKA

Pemimpin Muslim mencari peran yang lebih besar bagi perempuan

Tujuan Ingrid Mattson tidaklah radikal melainkan untuk membatasi pemisahan.

Oleh : Deborah Hora

Mimbar Chicago

CHICAGO,  Presiden wanita pertama dari organisasi Muslim terbesar di Amerika Utara percaya bahwa tidak ada dalam Islam yang melarang dirinya untuk mengeluarkan pendapat-pendapat agama mengenai isu-isu dari pembatasan makanan ke tempat yang tepat bagi wanita di Masjid-masjid.

Ingrid Mattson, Orang kanada yang masuk Islam yang pada bulan Agustus dipilih untuk memimpin masyarakat Amerika Utara, Dia mengatakan bahwa perempuan seharusnya  berpartisipasi penuh dalam  kehidupan Islam, apakah itu duduk di sebelah laki-laki di masjid ketika ada kegiatan keagamaan yang ada di masjid namun tidak ketika shalat atau memberikan kontribusi terhadap aturan yang mengatur ketaatan beragama.

“Saya ingin membuat para wanita yakin bahwa mereka benar-benar terlibat”, Kata Mattson : "Mereka seharusnya duduk di lantai dan di masjid berada di ruang yang sama dengan laki-laki sehingga mereka dapat berpartisipasi dalam berdiskusi."

Tidak semua orang bahagia dengan pilihannya, “Mattson mengatakan ia telah menerima beberapa pesan dengan nada marah/tinggi dari orang-orang yang menentang wanita bekerja di kantor. Namun sebagian besar rekan-rekannya memuji kemenangannya bahwa komunitas muslim Amerika Utara terbuka untuk berubah. Mereka sangat mendukung Mattson yang berlari tanpa hambatan untuk menuju tempat teratas dalam kotak pemungutan suara.

“Mengingat situasi di dalam dunia Islam, itu sangat maju,” kata Dr.Assad Bussol, Profesor di Universitas Islam Amerika di Chicago. “Namun dalam Islam tidak ada yang melarang wanita untuk berada dalam posisi menjadi pemimpinan”.

Organisasi ini adalah sekelompok yang dididirikan pada tahun 1963 yang diwakili kira-kira 300 mahasiswa muslim, sosial dan kelompok profesional. Mattson telah mengeluarkan istilah sebagai sifat buruk presiden masyarakat, dimana dia memperoleh nama baik seperti sebuah kewibawaan Islam dan pemimpin yang cakap.

Mattson dilahirkan dalam keluarga Katolik di Ontario namun dia berhenti memeluk agama Katolik semenjak dia remaja, Kata Mattson. Dia mengambil mata kuliah filsafat di Universitas Waterloo dan belajar eksistensialisme.

Mattson mengatakan bahwa dia masuk Islam pada tahun 1987 setelah ada pertemuan dengan para muslim dari  Barat ketika belajar di Universitas Luar Negri program di Prancis. Sebuah Pertemanan telah merubah hidupnya, kata Matttson. Dan dia juga mulai membaca Al-Qur’an.

Di tahun yang sama dia berpindah ke Pakistan untuk bekerja dengan pengungsi orang-orang  Afghanistan dan sekaligus menemui suaminya disana, Amer Aatek, Insinyur orang Mesir. Dia mempunyai anak perempuan, Soumayya berusia 17 tahun dan anak laki-laki, Ubayda berusia 15 tahun.

Setelah dari Pakistan, Dia pindah ke Chicago dimana Dia menerima gelar Doktor Studi Islam di Universitas Chicago, dia konsentrasi  pada Hukum Islam dan Teori Hukum. Dia sekarang menjadi profesor Studi Islam dan hubungan Kristen-Muslim di Seminari di Connecticut. Dia juga memimpin Program Kapelan Islam disana.

Dia memakai Hijab atau penutup kepala, dan rok panjang – berpakaian yang tampaknya menarik perhatian yang tidak diinginkan dari pihak imigrasi dalam beberapa tahun terakhir. Mattson mengatakan bahwa Dia telah menghabiskan“ banyak waktu “ untuk tertahan di kantor imigrasi di Toronto dalam perjalanan kembalinya ke Amerika Serikat setelah mengunjungi keluarganya di Kanada.

Mattson berkata bahwa Dia memahami langkah-langkah keamanan yang extra namun muncul halangan dengan caranya yang ringan/santun yang jilbabnya sering disalahtafsirkan. Wanita

Barat mengatakan bahwa masalah yang sering adalah cara berpakainnya yang di anggap sebagai bentuk penindasan.

“ Mereka memakai jilbab yang menurut mereka berarti sikap tunduk”, katanya. “Mereka memiliki waktu yang sulit untuk mempercayai wanita manapun akan memilih untuk berpakaian dengan cara ini – itu harus karena (Dia) dipaksa atau didoktrin”. Kode etik berpakaian tidak menjadi agenda Mattson sebagai presiden masyarakat Islam.

Mattson berencana untuk mengalihkan perhatiannya kepada persoalan-persoalan muslimah lain, namun tidak dengan cara yang radikal. Dia tidak  memiliki satu tujuan, misalnya; memimpin laki-laki dalam sholat. Hukum Islam adalah bersih dari paksaan, Katanya.

Namun Dia ingin melihat wanita duduk di samping laki-laki di masjid selama berdiskusi dan belajar, daripada memencilkan/memisahkan diri dari laki-laki, atau menurunkan untuk kembali ke ruangan. Sebaliknya, Dia mengatakan “banyak wanita merasa rendah diri dan mereka mencegah sepenuhnya terlibat dalam diskusi”.

Pemisahan seperti itu juga dapat mempengaruhi bagaimana wanita diperlakukan di kehidupan daerah lain, Dia menambahkan.

Ketika Dia menyadari bahwa beberapa pria muslim dan bahkan wanita muslim percaya seorang wanita seharusnya tinggal di rumah dengan anak-anaknya, Dia ingin meyakinkan bahwa wanita yang ingin berperan dalam kehidupan bermasyarakat memiliki kesempatan itu, katanya.

Bukti aksi yang telah mereka lakukan adalah: para wanita telah terpilih sebagai presiden Perkumpulan Mahasiswa Muslim, Perkumpulan Medis Muslim dan Pemuda Muslim Amerika Utara, antara organisasi-organisasi muslim yang lain.

Perbedaannya adalah tubuh mereka tidak termasuk komponen keagamaan, sedangkan masyarakat Islam adalah yang keduanya sebuah organisasi payung dan sumber untuk interpretasi agama.

Namun para wanita sekarang ini mengabdi dalam masyarakat Dewan Shura, sebuah lembaga pembuat keputusan kolaboratif. Dan rekan-rekan Mattson tidak terlihat mempunyai masalah dengan penyampaian suaranya atas laporan hukum islam.

“Jika dia ingin menyumbangkan dia sangat menyambutnya” kata Ahmed El-Hattab, Undang-undang sekretaris umum masyarakat. Keputusan Agama diberikan dan diambil dengan persetujuan umum. Dalam hal apapun, kata Ahmed El-Hattab. Dalam Islam, saudara perempuan dan laki-laki semuanya sama.”

“Ada persepsi yang salah dan meniru-niru bahwa para wanita dalam Islam tidak mempunyai peran yang sama dalam berlaku, kata El-Hattab”. “(pilihannya) adalah mengirimkan pesan yang sangat kuat untuk mengalahkan gambar ini.

Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/4225414.html