Recently Microsoft released Sharepoint 2010 beta and quite a few other pieces of software: Visual Studio 2010 beta, 2008 R2 RTM, and Windows 7 RTM which made it possible to deploy an SP2010 farm and do some development against it with the latest server and application technology. So the time is right to setup Sharepoint 2010 and see what it’s got. My plan was to setup a Sharepoint 2010 farm so I could get down into the details of a farm deployment and see what was new there and I wanted to do some development against the farm with the new Visual Studio and Win7 to see what changed or had been introduced there.

 In order to setup this farm and development workstation, I figured I’d setup a hyper-v lab. In order to do this, I knew I’d need two machines: a hyper-v server and a Vista workstation which I would use to continue the project work I am tasked with at my company. I had a Dell Precision workstation with a decent amount of memory, disk space, and CPU horsepower so I decided use it as my hyper-v server, and I had a Vista laptop for my daily project work. 

2008 R2 Core Or Full?

My first question was: should I install the core or the full installation of 2008 R2 for my hyper-v host? At first I chose core because I didn’t want to waste any of the resources on my Precision workstation which could be used for the farm or for development so I went ahead and installed core and setup my vista laptop to manage the core hyper-v installation. This all went fairly straightforward until I got the bright idea to use the System Center Virtual Machine Manager to help me manage my virtual lab. I wanted to give the SCVMM a spin because in the past I had used Virtual Server 2005 and SCVMM’s predecessor: Virtual Machine Manager and so I wanted to see what was new in virtual machine management in hyper-v.

I figured I could run the SCVMM management console on my Vista workstation and use it from there, but after downloading the SCVMM and attempting install it on my Vista workstation, I found that I could not. I found out that the management console has to be installed on server 2008 which meant that I could either deploy a guest VM for the SCVMM or I could re-install my hyper-v server as a full installation and use it for the SCVMM. I chose to re-install my hyper-v server as a full installation since that seemed like less of a waste of my Precision workstation’s physical resources.

How To Back It All Up?

 The next item I wanted to address was how to backup my guest VMs. I knew that since I would be installing beta software and working through some hotfixes and what not, that I’d need a good backp strategy. After all, the only way I knew of to learn something really well was to break it and then have to fix it and restoring from a backup made fixing things that much easier. There are 2basic ways in which a hyper-v guest VM can be backed up:

1. Windows Server Backup (WSB)
2. Data Protection Manager (DPM)

Checkpoints

Checkpoints are kind of a light weight backup solution so I didn’t see checkpoints as a long term backup solution, I seen them as a way to make a quick save of the VM before attempting something which may break it. In addition, my experience with VS2005 checkpoints left me with two bad experiences: you couldn’t restore a checkpoint without losing all checkpoints after the restored one and constantly checkpointing/restoring a domain member server would inevitably result in that member server’s domain association getting corrupted.

However, when using the new SCVMM checkpoints, I realized that I could not only restore to a checkpoint without losing all checkpoints later in time but that I could also fork the checkpoints. I could create child checkpoints and sibling checkpoints as well:

SCVMM CheckpointsSo checkpoints for me became a good and quick backup tool but still didn't satisfy my need for a full backup. Windows Server Backup (WSB)WSB is the successor of NTBackup and can do what you'd expect of it: it backs up and restores folders and files. But it can also operate at a higher level and use an application's Volume Snapshot Service (VSS) to backup/restore at the application level. Hyper-v has a VSS which through a registry edit, can be used by WSB.I had an external 500GB drive laying around that I was using as the SCVMM library for my ISO and other installation images so I figured I would also use it for my backup media. After I got WSB configured with the hyper-v VSS writer and I got to the place in the WSB backup wizard to select the backup desitination, it didn't show my external drive:WSB Backup Wizard

I went hunting online to see what I could do and found some articles about backing up to an external drive with WSB  but it seemed I had to reformat the disk first. Since this external drive also hosted the VM library of ISOs and other binaries I needed for my hyper-v lab, formatting it was out of the question and so this ended my backup effort with WSB.

Data Protection Manager (DPM)

The next backup method was DPM which is a more enterprise level backup solution from Microsoft. I downloaded and installed DPM 2007 service pack 1 which meant that I had to also install SQL 2005 along with it’s necessary service packs to get it running on 2008 R2.

I didn’t have too much trouble getting DPM installed and configured, it was all pretty much what I would expect of a backup solution. However, when I got to the point where I was adding disks to the storage pool to be used for the backup destination, I got a pleasant surprise: DPM did not show me my external drive so I could add it to the storage pool:

DPM Disk Selection

At this point, I went back to the Internet to see what was going on and found out that DPM does not support backing up to external USB drives.

So at that point, I had no backup solution for my hyper-v installation. I do have plans to find another external drive and use WSB to backup to it.

Clones, Templates, and Virtual Machines In the SCVMM

My virtual Sharepoint lab will eventually consist of 7 guest VMs:

1. Domain Controller
2. SQL Server
3. Index Server
4. Web Server
5. Web Server
6. Development workstation
7. Development workstation

Guest VMs

Cloning

When I began to create my guest VMs, I wanted the ability to store a base 2008 R2 server in my SCVMM library that was fully patched and ready to deploy. I envisioned being able to deploy multiple guest VMs from this one copy in the library. After installing and patching my first server guest VM, I didn’t store it directly to my library. Instead I used the ‘clone’ option on the context menu to create 4 additional servers: IDX1, SQL1, WEB1, and WEB2. I knew that this probably wasn’t right, that it couldn’t be that easy but I did it anyway and I was correct, it wasn’t right. Each of my 5 guest VM servers had the same SID which I verified by using the psgetsid utility. I think clones are useful only for backing up the machine and storing it in the SCVMM library.

Storing a VM in the SCVMM library

1. I couldn’t rename the machine. I had it named something like ‘Base 2008 R2  x64′  so I couldn’t rename it SQL1, WEB1, etc.
2. When deploying the VM from the library, it was not copied out of the library, it was moved. So this was a one time operation and it pretty much defeated storing a single copy in my library so I didn’t have to install and patch 5 seperate servers.

 Creating a template in the SCVMM library

My 3rd and last attempt at accomplishing my vision turned out to be the charm. I took that first server which was fully patched and would serve as my base server and told SCVMM to create a template from it. Before creating the template, I figured I needed to run sysprep on it since that seemed correct but while watching the SCVMM jobs to create the template, I noticed that one of the steps was to sysprep the machine:

Just last week, I got a package from Alex over at Dance Party Massacre. I didn’t know what tee I would be receiving, and I was extremely excited to open the mailer up as quickly as my little fingers could go. Inside this envelope were goodies and a tee that I had been eyeing on the DPM site for quite some time! “Fresh 2 Death” is one of my favorite tees from DPM’s second season, and I’m very excited to get the chance to review it!

As you can see, this design includes metallic ink. I’ve never had a tee with shimmery ink before, and I think that it was a perfect addition to this particular design. It would have been boring to see the coins and the “bling” be a plain bronze color without the glitter-effect. Instead, we get to see something that’s more true-to-life on this piece.

This tee came with a custom hangtag. I love it when companies take the extra step to do this because it makes their products look even more professional. This hangtag is nice and simple, which is a good thing because it’s not tacky!

“Fresh 2 Death” also features a custom tag on the left sleeve, as well as a custom printed tag on the inside of the shirt. Again, these are excellent additions to show just how professional this company is.

In terms of print quality, this tee looks beautiful before and after wash. The only difference is that some of the glitter specks in the bronze ink have migrated to other areas of the print after washing, giving them some sparkle. It’s not too big of a deal and you won’t even really notice unless you’re staring at the print (something that I do just for reviewing purposes!).

The details on this print are spectacular and are well-defined on the tee. The print job is terrific, and you can see all of the little details clearly. The artist made sure to illustrate this piece without having the lines be too thin to show up in the print. All in all, I give this design an A+ for translating well from computer image to t-shirt print! I love everything that goes into this composition, and I think that the tee itself is fresh!

Another thing that I love about this design is that it wraps around the torso a little bit. In my opinion, the placement is very unique. While it could have just been smacked right in the center of the tee, making sure that the print ended along the two edges of the shirt, DPM went with a more original route.

I give this t-shirt from Dance Party Massacre two thumbs up for everything–from presentation to print quality. Although I think that $27.95 is quite steep for t-shirts in general, you can be sure that you’ll get a high-quality shirt in return when you order “Fresh 2 Death.” For those living in the U.S., you’ll also be happy to know that shipping is free!

Microsoft’s Data Protection Manager (DPM) is soon to arrive in it’s 2010 incarnation (first half 2010) so this week’s TechEd Conference is revealing a host of new features.

DPM is currently a Windows focused product which, while not surprising, is quite limiting in many corporate IT environments these days. So with 2010, Microsoft have joined together with Seagate and OEM’d their i365 software to extend protection to heterogeneous environments including:

• Linux
• Unix
• Netware
• IBM iSeries
• Oracle
• VMWare

A great list…but you’ll notice no Mac support

This will instantly remove one of the main barriers to DPM adoption in enterprises,as many places have at least a few Linux/Unix servers running in their datacenters.

Microsoft will also be offering online backups via Seagate’s EVault service and datacenters. It includes data compression and data de-duplication to reduce bandwidth hit and has:

“a network of SAS 70 Type II certified, Tier 3 and 4 hosting facilities, WAN optimised backup and recovery, disaster recovery experts and processes, and a 12-year track record protecting data for over 22,000 customers across the globe”

according to Seagate.

What I find strange is that this doesn’t utilise any of Microsoft’s online services…in particular Microsoft Azure. With BPOS offering an online hosted archive, it seems strange that this technology can’t be extended to store other, non email, data too.

Is using eVault just a temporary measure until Azure is fully up and running? I don’t know but I would expect that it’s in the long term plan to fold all this inside Azure…maybe some kind of Seagate purchase will happen?!

I’m also keen to find out if the data compression and de-duplication are offered to customers who choose to back up on-site to local tape, NAS, SAN etc. De-Dupe is one of the big features Symantec are touting for the next release of Backup Exec (14 I guess to keep with superstition); if MS are including that too then it will really steal some thunder!

Thanks to The Register for this…

SCDPM 2010 (DPM V3) est disponible en version Bêta.

Voici quelques nouveautés:

• Il est désormais possible d’installer le serveur DPM sur un contrôleur de domaine.
• Prise en compte des CSV  d’Hyper-V 2.0 avec Live Migration
• Protection des machines clientes XP, Vista et Seven
• Protection de SAP pour SQL Serveur
• Protection d’Exchange 2010 et MOSS 2010
• …

DPM 2010 supportera également le Bare Metal recovery nativement pour Windows 2008.

Il s’agit d’un billet temporaire qui n’a pas été supprimé. Supprimez-le manuellement. (56974262-3b23-4337-b0fa-0e15733e9e05 – 3bfe001a-32de-4114-a6b4-4005b770f6d7)

Beim Versuch den System State eines Windows Server 2008 64bit per DPM2007 zu sichern tritt folgender Fehler auf:

DPM-Fehler beim Erstellen der Systemstatussicherung. Wenn Sie versuchen, den Systemstatus eines Windows 2008 Server-Betriebssystems zu erstellen, überprüfen Sie, ob WSB (Windows Server Backup) installiert ist und ob ausreichend freier Speicherplatz auf dem geschützten Server vorhanden ist, um den Systemstatus zu speichern. (ID 30214 Details: Interner Fehlercode: 0×809909FB)

Eine mögliche Ursache ist im Ereignisprotokoll des zu schützenden Servers zu finden:

Protokollname: Application
Quelle:        Microsoft-Windows-CAPI2
Datum:         05.11.2009 15:54:42
Ereignis-ID:   513
Aufgabenkategorie:Keine
Ebene:         Fehler
Schlüsselwörter:Klassisch
Benutzer:      Nicht zutreffend
Computer:      xxx.xxxxx.xxx
Beschreibung:
Der Kryptografiedienst ist während der Verarbeitung des "OnIdentity()"-Aufrufobjekts "System Writer" fehlgeschlagen.

Details:
AddCoreCsiFiles : BeginFileEnumeration() failed.

System Error:
Zugriff verweigert

Hier die Lösung für dieses Problem:

Auf dem zu schützenden Server sind die NTFS-Berechtigungen in                             %windir%\winsxs\FileMaps fehlerhaft.

Abhilfe: Auf dem Server folgende Befehle ausführen:

Takeown /f %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\* /a
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(RX)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant "NT Service\trustedinstaller:(F)"
icacls %windir%\winsxs\filemaps\*.* /grant BUILTIN\Users:(RX)

Quelle: DPM 2007 Server 2008 System State Backup System Writer missing

Visit us online today for information and foot care tips!

We have adopted yoga as our Daily Practice Movement this term, as a group daily practice. Even after a week and a half the difference in me is notable. I am able to identify parts of my body that are stiff, sore and holding tension that would otherwise go over-looked. i notice differences ona day-to-day as well as being able to note gradual changes.

I can already notice the centering and calming effects it has on me. Though i am still, at this point finding it difficult to switch off my thoughts. I struggle with this until the end where, once we are back in our starting positions I can finally let go. I have wondered about doing yoga at the end of the day as well as a means to bookmark my day with this process of letting go.

We have already begun to explore physically demanding material in the process and I am starting to think about developing DMP to include a rigorous physical warm-up which is then followed by yoga (I remember finding yoga particularly effective as a cool down during our process with Georg)

My toe is currently chipped and i am unable to put weight on it which is of course putting strain on the opposite leg. For the meantime i need to be careful and make sure i dont lose strength in either leg. When my toe has healed I will begin developing a more rigorous DPM, coming in early then joining the group for yoga.

Hi all, here is a list of DPM 2007 known issues:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb795594.aspx

This is a known issue, Exchange writer must be turned on for the Volume Shadow Copy service in Windows Small Business Server 2003
By default, the Setup program for Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 turns off the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 writer for the Volume Shadow Copy service. To protect data using DPM 2007, the Exchange 2003 writer must be turned on.

To turn on the Exchange writer
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

Locate and then double-click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSystem

Double-click the Disable Exchange Writer value.

In the Value data text box, change the value from 1 to 0, and then click OK.

Quit Registry Editor.

Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

Stop and then restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service.

As I’m all Hyper-V R2 for my demo environment I figure I may as well have a look at DPM 2010 Beta 1 than deploy the excellent DPM 2007 SP1 (there’s no Hyper-V R2 support in the current version).

I’ve created a new Server 2008 R2 x64 VM and downloaded the DPM beta.

I have also created a new LUN on my excellent Qnap TS-119 called “Backup”.

The iSCSI initiator on the new DMP VM connects to this:

Disk administrator wants me to initialize the disk:

Now I’m ready to give this disk to DPM. I don’t need to format it, DPM will manage that.

DPM’s setup routine is very attractive!

Oops, I’m not logged on with domain credentials. Also the Single Instance Storage engine isn’t installed. DPM setup will handle this, but it’ll need a reboot.

I’ve been lazily using the built in Administrator account to date, Windows has a minor irritation of thinking you want to log on locally when you type in “Administrator” and switches the logon context as you type, consequently you have to enter DOMAIN\Administrator every time. Perhaps it’s best if I create a new account, this also gives me chance to try out Windows Server 2008 R2 “Active Directory Administrative Center”

I don’t do a lot of support, but I can see that this thing would be a boon for account management types. No more multiple-dialogue-tab hell, just everything in a nice neat expandable list. You can remove the sections that you don’t use and get everything relevant in a great, easy to use view:

What’s not to like, this is great. The search is really quick and doesn’t suffer from the terrible user interface horrors of AD U&C.

Anyway, back to the DPM install…

Logged on with my new domain credentials I’m good to go!

This being an R2 server I already have PowerShell and Installer 4.5, so the SIS goes in.

DPM comes with its own copy of SQL 2008, unlike the rest of the System Center Suite… Quite why this is I have no idea, but if you wish you can let it do its own thing with SQL…

And we’re done.

I then pushed out an agent to a test SQL box from the Management node. On this server I’d created a dummy database with a single table. I added two dummy records to this table, then created a DPM Protection Group to protect this database.

One of the new features is illustrated above, I can now protect a SQL Instance (HYPERV-VMM above) the bonus being that whenever I add a new database it’s automatically protected.

I left this running for a while and now I can recover back to any point in time:

I delete some records from my demo database, pick a time from just before I did that and as if by magic, the data reappears…

With DPM I can elect to recover my data in a few different ways. One cool feature with SQL restore is I can take a SQL 2005 backup and recover to SQL 2008.

Having selected my recovery option I see a summary of the items to be recovered, then we’re done.

When this completes, the restore is complete. The DPM interface is very polished, I reckon it’s hard to get excited about backup, but there’s some really good stuff here and with the integration of online services (DPM to cloud backup) things get very interesting…

This week Microsoft released two new beta product from the System Center product suite:

System Center Essentials 2010

Read more about the new features

Download the beta version

System Center Data Protection Manager

Read more about the new features

Download the beta version

Well…  After testing with DPM 2007 for a good few hours, I had issue with restoring individual Exchange mailboxes…  I can restore it, but it restore the entire mailbox store. 

That’s odd…  everywhere I read on the internet say you can restore individual mailboxes…  I even spend a few hours looking at a few Microsoft DPM whitepapers.  Still no answer.

Keep thinking I done something wrong, I went back to test it again…  A few more days went by and I finally found my answer (in a whitepaper some where from Microsoft)…

DPM2007 does not support individual exchange mailbox restore on Exchanged 2003!!!!  Why will Microsoft don’t just openly tell me??  I found the answer hidden a few hundreds pages of whitepaper (one line hiden in a few hundreds of pages…). 

Siapakah yang lebih baik perkataannya daripada orang yang menyeru kepada Allah, mengerjakan amal yang shalih dan berkata:”Sesungguhnya aku termasuk orang-orang yang berserah diri.” Dan tidaklah sama kebaikan dan kejahatan. Tolaklah (kejahatan itu) dengan cara yang lebih baik, maka tiba-tiba orang yang antaramu dan antara dia ada permusuhan seolah-olah telah menjadi teman yang sangat setia. Sifat-sifat yang baik itu tidak dianugerahkan melainkan kepada orang-orang yang sabar dan tidak dianugerahkan melainkan kepada orang-orang yang mempunyai keberuntungan yang besar. (Fushshilat: 33-35).

Ayat di atas merupakan bekal utama bagi para aktivis dakwah di jalan Allah (dai), agar selalu semangat dan istiqamah, tidak pernah gentar dan getir, senantiasa menjalankan tugasnya dengan tenang, tidak emosional dan seterusnya. Ayat tersebut diletakkan setelah sebelumnya di awal surat Fushshilat Allah menggambarkan sikap orang-orang yang tidak mau menerima ajaran Allah. “Mereka mengatakan: hati kami tertutup, (maka kami tidak bisa menerima) apa yang kamu serukan kepadanya, pun telinga kami tersumbat, lebih dari itu di antara kami dan kamu ada dinding pemisah.” (Fushshilat: 5). Bisa dibayangkan bagaimana beratnya tugas dakwah jika yang dihadapi adalah orang-orang yang tidak mau menerima kebenaran, tidak mau diajak kepada kebaikan, lebih dari itu ia menyerang, memusuhi dan melemparkan ancaman. Setiap disampaikan kepada mereka ajaran Allah, mereka menolaknya dengan segala cara, entah dengan menutup telinga, menutup mata, atau dengan mencari-cari alasan dan lain sebagainya.

Dakwah di jalan Allah adalah kebutuhan pokok manusia. Tanpa dakwah manusia akan tersesat jalan, jauh dari tujuan yang diinginkan Allah swt. Para rasul dan nabi yang Allah pilih dalam setiap fase adalah dalam rangka menegakkan risalah dakwah ini. Di dalam Al-Qur’an, Allah swt tidak pernah bosan mengulang-ulang seruan untuk bertakwa dan menjauhi jalan-jalan setan. Tetapi manusia tetap saja terlena dengan panggilan hawa nafsu. Terpedaya dengan indahnya dunia sehingga lupa kepada akhirat. Dalam surat Al-Infithaar ayat 6 Allah berfirman: yaa ayyuhal insaan maa gharraka birabbikal kariim? (wahai manusia apa yang membuat kamu terpedaya, sehingga kamu lupa terhadap Tuhanmu Yang Maha Pemurah?)

Dalam ayat lain: kallaa bal tuhibbuunal aajilah watadzaruunal aakhirah (sekali-kali tidak, sungguh kamu masih mencintai dunia dan meninggalkan akhirat) (Al-Qiyaamah: 20-21). Perhatikan bagaimana pahit getir yang harus ditempuh para pejalan dakwah. Sampai kapan manusia harus terus terombang-ambing dalam gemerlap dunia yang menipu kalau tidak ada seorang pun yang bergerak untuk melakukan dakwah? Di sini tampak bahwa tugas dakwah pada hakikatnya bukan hanya tugas para dai, melainkan tugas semua manusia yang mengaku dirinya sebagai hamba Allah –tak perduli apa profesinya– lebih-lebih mereka yang telah meletakkan dirinya sebagai aktivis dakwah.

Karenanya, persoalan dakwah bukan persoalan nomor dua, melainkan persoalan pertama dan harus diutamakan di atas segala kepentingan. Bila kita mengaku mencintai Rasulullah saw., maka juga harus mengaku bahwa berjuang di jalan dakwah adalah segala-galanya. Karena Rasulullah dan sahabat-sahabatnya tidak saja mengorbankan segala waktu dan hartanya bahkan jiwa raganya untuk dakwah kepada Allah. Bagi mereka rumah dan harta yang telah mereka bangun sekian lama di kota Makkah memang merupakan bagian dari kehidupan yang sangat mahal dan berharga. Tetapi mempertahankan iman dan menegakkan ajaran Allah di bumi adalah di atas semua itu. Karenanya mereka tidak pikir-pikir lagi untuk berhijrah dengan meninggalkan segala apa yang mereka miliki. Mereka benar-benar paham bahwa iman dan dakwah pasti menuntut pengorbanan. Karenanya dalam berbagai pertempuran para sahabat berlomba untuk melibatkan dirinya. Mereka merasa berdosa jika tidak ikut terlibat aktif. Tidak sedikit dari mereka yang telah gugur di medan tempur. Semua ini menggambarkan kesungguhan dan kejujuran mereka dalam menegakkan risalah dakwah yang taruhannya bukan hanya harta benda melainkan juga nyawa.

Dakwah Adalah Tugas Yang Sangat Mulia

Ayat di atas dibuka dengan pernyataan: waman ahsanu qawlan. Ustadz Sayyid Quthub ketika menfasirkan ayat ini berkata: “Kalimat-kalimat dakwah yang diucapkan sang dai adalah paling baiknya kalimat, ia berada pada barisan pertama di antara kalimat-kalimat yang baik yang mendaki ke langit.” (lihat fii dzilaalil qur’an, oleh Sayyid Quthub, vol.5, h. 3121). Kata waman ahsanu Allah ulang di beberapa tempat dalam Al-Qur’an untuk menegaskan tingginya kualitas beberapa hal: Pada surat An-Nisa ayat 125 Allah berfirman: waman ahsanu diinan mim man aslama wajhahahuu lillaah (siapakah yang lebih bagus agamanya dari pada orang yang menyerahkan diri kepada Allah). Dalam Al Maidah ayat 50: waman ahsanu minallahi hukman (siapa yang lebih bagus ajarannya dari pada ajaran Allah). Dan pada ayat di atas: Siapakah yang lebih bagus perkataannya dari pada perkataan para dai di jalan Allah? Perhatikan semua ayat-ayat tersebut secara seksama, betapa tugas dakwah sangat Allah muliakan. Peringkatnya sangat tinggi, setara dengan kualitas hukum Allah dan penyerahan diri kepadaNya secara total.

Adalah suatu keharusan seorang dai, menyerahkan hidupnya kepada Allah swt. Ia tidak kenal lelah menjalani tugas-tugas dakwah. Pun ia tidak mengharapkan keuntungan duniawi di baliknya, kecuali hanyalah ridhaNya. Dalam Surat Yasiin ayat 21 Allah berfirman: “Ikutilah orang yang tiada minta balasan kepadamu; dan mereka adalah orang-orang yang mendapat petunjuk.” Toh kalaupun Allah membuka jalan rezeki baginya melalui jalan-jalan tak terduga “fadzaalika khairun ‘alaa khair“. Yang penting jangan sampai seorang dai orientasinya dunia. Sebab, bila seorang dai juga berorientasi dunia, kepada apa dia mau berdakwah, bukankah tema utama dakwah adalah ajakan untuk mempersiapkan diri menuju akhirat?

Berdakwah Dengan Amal

Ayat selanjutnya menegaskan pentingnya amal shalih: wa amila shaalihaa. Mengapa? Apa hubungannya dengan dakwah? Bahwa seorang dai jangan hanya ngomong saja, sementara perbuatannya jauh atau bahkan bertentangan dengan apa yang disampaikannya. Benar, bahwa perkataan dakwah adalah paling baiknya perkataan, tetapi itu kalau diikuti dengan amal shalih. Jika tidak, maka perkataan itu akan menjadi bumerang yang akan menyerang sang dai itu sendiri. Dalam Ash Shaf ayat 3 Allah berfirman: “Amat besar kebencian Allah, bila kamu hanya mengatakan tanpa mengerjakannya.”

Karenanya Rasulullah saw. tidak hanya berbicara, melainkan lebih dari itu seluruh perbuatannya merupakan contoh amal shalih. Allah swt. memberikan rekomendasi yang luar biasa dalam surat Al-Qalam ayat 4: “Dan sesungguhnya kamu (Mumhammad) benar-benar berbudi pekerti yang agung.” Imam Ibn Katsir ketika menafsirkan ayat ini menyebutkan riwayat dari Aisyah ra.: bahwa akhlak Rasulullah saw. adalah Al-Qur’an (lihat Tafsir Ibn Katsir, vol.4, h.629). Dalam hadits-hadits yang diriwayatkan para ulama tidak semua berupa ucapan Rasulullah saw., melainkan banyak sekali yang berupa cerita para sahabat mengenai perilaku dan sikap Rasulullah saw. Banyak sekali hadits-hadits yang berupa ucapan pendek, to the point, tidak bertele-tele, mudah dihafalkan. Suatu gambaran betapa keberhasilan dakwah Rasulullah saw. adalah karena setiap yang diucapkannya langsung ada contohnya dalam bentuk amal nyata dari sikap dan akhlaknya yang sangat mulia.

Menampilkan Diri Sebagai Seorang Muslim Adalah Dakwah

Di antara ciri utama berdakwah kepada Allah, tidak saja mengamalkan ajaranNya dan menjauhi segala yang dilarang melainkan lebih dari itu menampilkan diri sebagai seorang Muslim di manapun ia berada, Allah berfirman pada ayat berikutnya: wa qaala innanii minal muslimiin. Dengan kata lain tidak cukup seorang mengamalkan Islam hanya dengan shalat, membayar zakat dan menjalankan haji, sementara dalam hidup sehari-harinya tidak mencerminkan Islam, misalnya ia tidak merasa berdosa dengan mempertontonkan auratnya di mana-mana, bergandengan tangan dengan wanita bukan istrinya di depan banyak orang, melakukan kemaksiatan, kezhaliman, korupsi, judi, perzinaan dengan terang-terangan. Anehnya, dia merasa malu untuk menampilkan Islam dengan sebenar-benarnya. Ia tidak merasa bangga sebagai seorang muslim. Bahkan Islam yang dipeluk digerogoti ajarannya sedikit demi sedikit, dengan sikap memperdebatkan prinsip-prinsipnya yang sudah baku, mencari-cari dalil untuk membangun keraguan terhadap kebenaran Islam.

Seorang aktivis dakwah sejati selalu bangga dengan identitasnya sebagai seorang muslim. Ia tidak takut menampilkan Islam sebagai pribadinya. Sungguh krisis umat Islam di mana-mana kini adalah krisis keberanian untuk menampilkan wajah Islam yang sebenarnya. Islam mengajarkan kedisiplinan, kebersihan, dan akhlak mulia, tetapi umat Islam di mana-mana selalu terkesan jorok, kotor dan beringas. Islam mengajarkan kejujuran, dan ketegasan dalam menegakkan hukum, tetapi penipuan dan korupsi justru merebak di tengah masyarakat yang mayoritasnya umat Islam. Mengapa ini semua terjadi? Bukankah orang-orang non-muslim sudah sedemikian jauh menampilkan dirinya sebagai bangsa yang bersih, disiplin dan lain sebagainya?

Benar, jika kemudian saya mendengar penyataan salah seorang muallaf : “Saya masuk Islam bukan karena umat Islam, melainkan karena kebenaran Islam. Seandainya umat Islam mampu menampilkan Islam dengan sebenar-benarnya, niscaya mereka akan berbondong-bondong masuk Islam.” Bahkan ada ungkapan yang sangat terkenal dan diulang-ulang hampir dalam setiap seminar di dalam di luar negeri: al-Islam mahjuubun bil muslimiin (kebenaran Islam terhalang oleh orang-orang-orang Islam sendiri). Perhatikan realitasnya, apa yang sedang berlangsung dalam diri umat Islam di mana-mana. Ya, kalau tidak berperang di antara mereka sendiri, mereka dizhalimi oleh pemimpinnya sendiri yang mengaku muslim.

Karenanya menampilkan Islam secara jujur dalam diri sebagai pribadi, dalam rumah tangga, dalam bermasyarakat dan dalam berbangsa dan bernegara adalah sebuah keniscayaan, dan menurut ayat di atas termasuk perbuatan yang sangat baik dan mulia. Oleh sebab itu pada ayat berikutnya Allah mengajarkan agar seorang dai selalu menyadari posisinya yang sangat mulia. Jangan sampai –karena suatu saat kelak menghadapi cobaan berupa munculnya orang-orang yang menolak dakwahnya dan lain sebagainya– ia kemudian emosional. Sehingga perkataannya lepas kontrol, lalu membalas cercaan mereka dengan cercaan. Atau lebih dari itu ia kemudian putus asa, lalu menjadi lesu dan patah arang. Akibatnya dakwah yang sangat Allah muliakan, ia lalaikan begitu saja.

Tidak, tidak demikian pribadi seorang aktivis dakwah. Seorang aktivis dakwah selalu menjiwai ayat ini: walaa tastawil hasanatu walas sayyi’ah. Benar, tidak akan pernah sama antara kebaikan dan keburukan. Kata-kata dakwah tetap lebih mulia dari kata-kata pencerca. Pertahankan kata-kata yang baik itu untuk terus menghiasi lidah sang dai. Jangan sampai terpengaruh emosi para pencerca lalu ditukar menjadi cercaan pula. Karenanya Allah ajarkan konsep: idfa’ billatii hiya ahsan, balaslah dengan ucapan yang lebih baik dan dengan cara yang lebih baik. Kata ahsan juga diulang pada ayat lain: wajadilhum billatii hiya ahsan, suatu sikap yang harus selalu menghiasi pribadi seorang dai setiap saat dan di manapun ia berada, lebih-lebih saat menghadapi penolakan, cercaan dan makian. Di saat seperti itu seorang dai, harus benar-benar tampil sempurna, bijak dan tenang. Mengapa? Sebab ia membawa misi Allah Yang Maha Perkasa. Maka ia harus selalu yakin dan percaya diri dengan posisinya. Tidak usah minder apalagi rendah diri.

Bahkan pada ayat selanjutnya Allah mengajarkan agar ia selalu tampil dengan penuh persahabatan, sekalipun mereka mencerca dengan penuh permusuhan. Perhatikan bagaimana Allah mengajarkan cara berdakwah yang efektif, di mana kemudian cara ini menjadi salah satu pilar utama dalam ilmu komunikasi modern. Setelah itu Allah menegaskan bahwa untuk itu semua seorang dai tidak cukup hanya dengan bermodal semangat, melainkan lebih dari itu harus mempunyai sifat sabar dan selalu memohon kepada Allah agar mendapatkan nasib yang baik, di dunia dan di akhirat. Tanpa sifat sabar dan doa untuk memperoleh nasib yang baik, segala proses akan menjadi sia-sia. Sebab segala kemenangan tidak akan pernah dicapai tanpa pertolonganNya.

Oleh: DR. Amir Faishol Fath
28/5/2007 | 13 Jumadil Awal 1428 H
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Governing a country like Malaysia needs lots of Good Politicians with the Right Qualities because Malaysia have many States and that comprised of many Wakil Rakyat or Member of Parliaments plus many Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUNs’)
Each MP and ADUN are entrusted by the Rakyat to give them the mandate to govern their Parliamentary and State Constituency for a period of 4 years or so before the next general elections comes along.Being in the “hot seat” as MP or ADUN and being the “person with power” anything can happen ie.good results and bad results but maybe some chose a a combination of both type of results!
A Good to Great Politician will at the end of his/her term be elected again in office if the Party HQ wants him/her back because the Rakyat knows his great contributions to them.Sometimes many MPs and ADUNs will be dropped and new faces are introduced as a result of their mistakes,poor performances,no leadership “wow” factor,getting old or just not in favour anymore by the Party’s bosses.
Why in Malaysia people love to become Politicians?
Why not become Business Persons!
Or some even think of becoming Politicians cum Business Persons?
Who makes more money in Malaysia?A Politician or a Business Person?
Of course a Business Person will make more money than any other professions in Malaysia because a Business Person is in a position to undertake projects,supply of goods and services plus a whole lot of other business activities that generate income and profits for their companies especially.
Politicians earn their monthly salary or allowances that have been decided by the Government in Power as well as those allocated for all MPs and ADUNs alike.
So,do Politicians in Malaysia are Very RICH PEOPLE?Are they Millionaires or Billionaires?
The answer is NO!Politicians cannot be Billionaires like Robert Kuok,Ananda Krishnan or Mokhtar Bukhairi BUT they can be Billionaires if they become Business Persons and leave their jobs as Politicians (because they have learn a lot of things of management and business to become RICH when they were politicians)
However the real story is where a Rich Businessman turns out to be a Politician and be a Member of the Cabinet or even the Prime Minister or President like what Thailand have produced once and also some other countries in this world.
So,now the conflict of careers are now with the person ie.does he/she wants to be a Politician or Business Person?If the mission in life is national service then a Political position is best to choose BUT if the mission in life is to be a Rich Person then a Business position is much recommended instead.
You cannot be a Very RICH person if you are in Politics thats a fact because you earn a salary of say RM 100,000 a month nett as the No.1 Person in the Govt and thats equal to RM 1.2 Million a year excluding bonuses and all perks allocated for you as No.1
However a Business Person like in Malaysia’s Top Earners Listing a CEO can earn almost RM100 Million a Year in terms of salaries,allowances and perks offered to him/her.
If there are Very Rich Politicians then the money they possessed must come from other than their monthly or yearly salaries,allowances and perks…thats a fact…ask the Independant Auditors or Financial Experts.
Why not become a Good Politician that is honest,trustworthiness,sincere,not greedy,service above self,fight for Rakyat Rights,live reasonably well,no accesses or wastefullness,frugal and so many other good traits or good values of humanity.
Becoming a Bad Politician is more of a person that have lots of greed,corruption a way of life,show off with all their assets derived illegally,poor leader,think of themselves more than their rakyat,dishonest,and so many other bad traits or qualities.
For young aspirants in the Gen Y(18~25 years old) and Gen X (25 to 40 years old)Groups they must seriously view their lifes mission on these above factors.If they want to be the next PM or DPM then be a Politician but a Good Politician and if they want to be Billionaires than be a Business Person and create businesses with lots of projects,innovations and generate great profits!Also be a Good Business Person.
In summary,what Ramli wants to highlight in this short article is the need for us to have Good People that make the World a Better Place,Safer Place,Happier Place and Lots of Hope for ALL.
Bad People create Bad Actions,Poor Values,Immoral Actions and more bad people that join the rat race of greed,cheating,bluffing and all those bad things one can imagine or have seen in their lifetime.
Allah SWT have created man/woman from the same mold it is man/woman that have transformed themselves to become good or bad people..so lets choose to be GOOD,because thats the choice that Allah SWT wants and pleased about…its also our ticket to heaven (Jannah)
All Good Things(writings) from Allah SWT and any bad things(writings) are Ramli’s weakness as far as this article is concerned.
Wassallam.
Ramli
shah alam