Zad's Cavern of Random Works

Many years ago, I was watching a documentary about boxing legend Muhammad Ali with my family, which included clips of Ali repeating the teachings of his Muslim organisation, called the Nation of Islam (NOI). My family and I wondered if this was a form of ‘ajaran sesat’ , i.e. deviated teachings of Islam. After the movie, we still held the same impression of the NOI as previously mentioned. Some nights ago, I watched the 1992 biographical film Malcolm X with my wife. It’s known that Malcolm X was also part of the same organisation, the NOI, and became a mentor to Ali until Malcolm’s departure from the organisation to form his own. Immediately after the film, we still held the same impression of the NOI as before. So, I did some reading. Prior to the movie, my wife had already done some basic research out of interest. She found out that when Malcolm X first visited Mecca for Hajj after his separation from the NOI, he was initially refused entry into the Holy City. One reason was that...

I made what is probably the most complete digital recreation of a pre-1899 flag of the Sulu Sultanate. There are two versions, one without the flowers on the left edge, and the other with the flowers. This flag is based on the version found in the Museo Naval de Madrid (Naval Museum of Madrid) as mentioned in ULR #3 in the URL reference list below. I made this in Adobe Illustrator. All the curves of okir, okil or ukkil " (probably from the Malay word ukir , which refers to carved out decorations) section of the emblem, the floral pattern motifs, are made out of parts different sizes circles. Customed curve lines are only present in the box section in the centre of the emblem. This box section is said to represent the doors of Mecca. My point of references are a collection of sulu flags by a researcher and vexillologist who identify him/herself only by his/her email address, paddpao@gmail.com, on who of his/her websites, http://www.royalpanji.net and http://www.webalice.i...

One of many often repeated arguments made by Zionists is that there has never was a sovereign country. Another way Zionists put it is to say that there has never been any historical records of an ancient Palestine country or Kingdom. This is to indirectly imly that either that there is no such thing as Palestinians, or that Palestinians have no rights towards freedom. This is my rant against this argument: Dear Zionists who are capable of reading history but unable to comprehend it, and whom often repeat the known fact that there was no such thing as a historical sovereign Palestinian state. News flash: The same is true with almost every nation state that emerged as a result of European colonialism. The Malayan and hence Malaysian identity didn’t exist prior to British colonialism in Southeast Asia. The Indonesian identity didn't exist prior to Dutch colonialism in Southeast Asia. The Filipino identity didn’t exist prior to Spanish colonialism in Southeast Asia. This does...

Disclaimer I’ve always been interested in history, and the idea of diving deep into some areas of history up to even conducting our own readings and research on a specific area, and, perhaps, finding something new to public knowledge. I have never done so. But realised that I should do so for where I opportunity to where other’s may not. There are two areas of history for where I’m fortunate to be brought up with basic understanding and background knowledge. One is Karate, and the other is Sulu Sultanate and the North Borneo Dispute. Regarding to Sulu Sultanate history, the history has been part of a long line of oral history passed down from Sultans to Sultans, Sultans to children, down to my generation in my family. We have also retrieved documentation from the Bruneian Archives allowing us to trace our ancestry all the way back to 1400s. Regarding the North Borneo Dispute, I carry out my research from an unbiased view. However I do feel obligated to state the biased that I was ...