(Tulisan 1)

Rabu, 24 Februari 2016 barangkali menjadi salah satu hari yang sangat bersejarah bagi UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang. Pasalnya, pada hari tersebut Imam Besar Al-Azhar, seorang intelektual dan ulama besar, bahkan menurut sebuah survei merupakan salah seorang dari 500 orang terpenting dan berpengaruh di dunia saat ini, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad Ath Thayyeb, berkunjung ke UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang setelah dua hari sebelumnya menghadiri serangkaian pertemuan di Jakarta, yakni diterima Presiden Joko Widodo di istana negara, memberi kuliah umum dan bertemu alumni Al-Azhar di UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, meresmikan nama Pusat Studi Al Qur’an, di Pondok Cabe, Tangerang Selatan pimpinan Prof. Dr. HM. Quraish Sihab, MA, dan bertemu dengan pimpinan Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) Pusat.

The year 2015 has left us and  will never return back forever. For those who were successful in their business or career, 2015  was the year full of golden memories, and  on the other hand for those who failed  it was  considered as a dark year. However, whatever is the memory in it, 2015 has gone and there is no need to discuss it further, except for those who will take the lesson learnt from it.  When 2015 has left, a new year, that is 2016 has come. For Asean nations, 2016  is noted as the beginning year of Asean Economic Community, where the free market system among ten Asean countries is started. Through this system, people in all Asean countries will freely come and go to work or do business. Whether we like it or not, we cannot deny the fact that MEA will run because it is already approved as a commitment of all 10 Asean country leaders.

Hari itu, Senin, 6/12/2015, sekitar pukul  19. 30 WIB usai pulang dari masjid untuk  menunaikan sholat isya’, saya membuka Hand Phone (HP) yang saya tinggal di meja ruang tamu. Di HP saya ada tanda beberapa kali panggilan (miss call) dari beberapa teman kantor. Saya menduga pasti ada kabar penting, sehingga segera menghubungi balik semua kawan yang kontak saya itu. Anehnya tak ada satupun yang mengangkat telpon. Saya semakin penasaran ada apa gerangan. Sesaat kemudian ada nada dering kiriman berita melalui pesan singkat (SMS) dan WA. Betapa terkejutnya karena di berita itu tertulis “inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rojiuun. Telah berpulang ke rahmatullah sahabat, guru dan senior kita Prof. Dr. H. Muhaimin, MA, di RSI Malang”. Secara spontan, saya agak marah dan menulis respons balik “Kalau ngajak guyon jangan begitu lah. Kok seperti gak ada yang lain saja”, begitu bunyi kalimat balasan yang saya tulis.

On the 23rd till 25th November, 2015, there was a very big and prestigious event held at UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, namely an international conference of scholars in cooperation with four institutions (an International Conference of Islamic Scholars or ICIS, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jatman  or Jam’iyyah Ahlit Thoriqoh wa Muktabaroh wa Nahdliyah, a group of suffism who devotes themselves to Allah God Almighty using moderate ways as the main approach, and UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang as the host. Attended by almost 600 distinguished guests and speakers from 34 representatives of scholars, ulama, state prominent figures of all over the world, this conference is supposed to be the biggest UIN Malang has ever had since it was founded in the early 1961.