Habiburrahman El Shirazy: An Indonesian Multi Talented

السلام عليكم ورحمة  الله وبركاته

I hope you’re always blessed, ameen!

Still, is talking about “Talent.” Here, I’ll share a story of a great man, who has many talents and he can improve all his talents well.  Masha’Allah. Who is this man?

His name is Habiburrahman El Shirazy. He graduated from Al-Azhar University, Cairo Egypt. The people call him Kang Abik. He also gets the other nice calling as The first of Indonesian Novelist and The Golden Hand, because his fans always wait his novels as well.

I have a few reasons why I tell you about him. My dear friends, he is  multi talents  phenomena. He is an ustadz, a da’i (a man who call to Allah’s way), a novelist, a great writer, a great poet, a cultural observer, and a film director.

He has been invited to give speech in many forums (National and International), such as in Singapore, Malaysia, China Taipei, Taiwan, Saudi, Egypt, German, Holland, and France.

This time he is a chief at Rabithah Al-Adab Al-Islamiyah or The International League of Islamic Literature, at Riyadh, Saudi.

 Habiburrahman El Shirazy
Photo credit:http://www.jpnn.com/berita.detail-69740

His Awards:

1. Pena Award 2005, Novel Terpuji Nasional 2005 from Forum Lingkar Pena.
2. The Most Favorite Book, 2005, Muslimah Magazine version.
3. Adab Award 2008 as The First Indonesian Novelist, given by Insan Undip, 2008.
4. Adab Award 2008 in Islamic Novel, given by Adab Faculty UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta.
5. Paramadina Award 2009 for Outstanding Contribution to the Advancement of Literatures and Arts in Indonesia.

His novels:

 Kang Abik’s novels
Photo credit: saadatulawalin.blogspot.com

1. Di Atas Sajadah Cinta.
2. Ayat-ayat Cinta.

Kang Abik wrote this novel, after he read and learned the verse of Surah Zukhruf :67 “Close friends, that Day, will be enemies to each other, except for the righteous.” This novel tell us about “True love according to Islam rules.” He made Fahri as a character in novel. He wanted send message through Fahri, to love others only for Allah. Fahri always keeps his love base on Islamic rule. He loves his friends for Allah’s sake, he loves Aisha also for the sake of Allah, then he marries her. He keeps his loves to his non-muslim friends also for Allah’s pleasure.

The writer wanted to say that, the believers should love their brothers and other human for Allah’s pleasure. The novel was tremendously successful became Asia Mega bestseller, then MD picture bought its copyright, and made its film. In Indonesia, its spectators were 3.8 billion.

3. Ketika Cinta Bertasbih.

He wrote this novel base on surah At-Tauba: 105, And say, “Do [as you will], for Allah will see your deeds, and [so, will] His Messenger and the believers. And you will be returned to the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, and He will inform you of what you used to do.”

He made “Khairul Azzam” as a character in this novel who has good spirit to face his life. Azzam is a student at Al-Azhar, Cairo. His father had passed away, and he has big responsibility to help his family. While studying, he makes a business (making and selling tempe and also making bakso). He finished his studies after 8 years. Nice novel! Indeed!

Ketika Cinta Bertasbih 1 full.

Ketika Cinta Bertasbih 2 full.

4. Bumi Cinta.

Ustadz Habiburrahman El Shirazy wrote it base on surah Al-Anfal : 45-47, O you who have believed, when you encounter a company [from the enemy forces], stand firm and remember Allah much that you may be successful. (45) And obey Allah and His Messenger, and do not dispute and [thus] lose courage and [then] your strength would depart; and be patient. Indeed, Allah is with the patient.(46) And do not be like those who came forth from their homes insolently and to be seen by people and avert [them] from the way of Allah. And Allah is encompassing of what they do. (47)

He has the opinion about Muslims challenge today. The believers will face the hard challenge, such as slander, free sex, pornography, liberalism, and so on. In his novel, he told an Indonesian Muslim who learn in Moscow. Muhammad Ayyas the name of character of this novel faces many hardships. He struggles to keep his faith. His struggle is not easy, as a human, sometimes his faith increased and decreased.

Very nice novel, I would say. I have this book and I have read his other novels too.

Trailer Film of Bumi Cinta.

5. The romance.
6. Cinta Suci Zahrana.
7. Dalam Mihrab Cinta.

His Struggle

Ustadz Habiburrahman El Shirazy is a great novelist, indeed! He started his great achievement from zero. He is an ustadz, and teaches in Islamic Boarding School. One day, He got a street accident. He had to take a rest about several months for treatment. He couldn’t work to recover his life and his family. He felt sad with his life. Luckily, he has a strong faith to face his hardship.  Alhamdulillah. He used his times to master his writing skill. In that time, he was not a famous writer. I knew his name from Republika newspaper, when his story “Ayat-ayat Cinta” was published in that local newspaper. Time by time, with a great motivation for da’wah, with great duas, he became a famous writer and the first Indonesian Novelist. Masha’Allah.

I’m sure, he needed much times to reach his success.

We can take many lessons from him, as a Muslim writer, and a Muslim Novelist , he writes his novels base on Qur’an. He uses his novels to send messages about Islam to all over the world. Three of his novels (Ayat-ayat Cinta, Ketika Cinta Bertasbih and Bumi Cinta) took Egypt, the middle east, Moscow and Indonesia as the location for film making. Awesome!

That’s a story about a great Indonesian Muslim Multi Talents.

 Jazakumullah khoir for reading! 🙂