Mar 11, 2012

666 And Six Hundred Threescore and Six

I must confess that my passion for the paranormal is as equal as my passion towards history, religion, science and spiritualism. This passion eventually led me to being a spiritualist and a ghost hunter a few years back. The lessons, guidance and help from my mother and ancestors has made my career as a spiritualist an awesome journey and experience.

However, it became much better when on a fateful night while having coffee at Bestari Maju Restaurant, the respected Malaysian journalist Mazidul Akmal Sidik, Razali Harun, and Mohd Farid Hamzah  actually came up with the idea to set up a Malaysian paranormal team. Everyone agreed and a week afterwards we started conducting investigations in the Klang Valley and Kuala Lumpur areas in Malaysia.

With the addition of Rahmat Mokhtar and Mohd Zaki the team made their first paranormal investigation at an old British colonial residence in Bukit Tunku, Kuala Lumpur. The team was later named EXPAR (Extreme Paranormal Researcher) by Mazidul as a test name for the time being. This name however was too long and exaggerated. Hence, the team was renamed and re-branded as Fact Finders 666 or 666 in short after positive feedbacks from friends and mostly, the public.


Paranormal Investigators 666

With a new name, the team had also new members added to the team such as Ashraff Zainon and Boy who were seasoned veterans in matters of paranormal investigations and also Vijhay Vick, a sports journalist for the Malaysian newspaper, the Malay Mail. It also saw the paranormal team PAG (Pengembaraan Alam Ghaib) being added to the new line up. 

The new lineup

666 had one and one objective only: to seek out the truth and cold hard facts. For countless decades, humans have been fed with ghost stories with the motive and intention to make them fear the 'unknown'. Without any clear explanations and evidence, humans cower in fear from the world of spirits and the unknown. As a student in Psychology, i have learned and concluded that 'humans will always fear things which they do not know of'.

But alas, with the creation of new technologies we can now scientifically explain and deduce the nature of these spirits and the world of unknown. Although the old scriptures the Bhagavad Gita, Torah, Bible and Quran have explained the nature of these spirits and unknown world, basic human nature is that they would always want MORE EXPLANATION. Gone were the days when someone would say something and people would believe, nowadays humans want solid proof and concrete evidence.

For each and every member of 666, we are driven and united by our passion to gain more knowledge of the paranormal world. the otherside. We do not tell and write ghost stories to be told before bedtime or around campfires. 666 goes to a location which is reported to have paranormal activities and we investigate. As the end result, we present cold hard facts. The equipments that we use during each and every investigations are also the same as every paranormal investigators all around the world. Some of the equipments we use include:

Parabolic Recorder
IR Thermometer
Motion Sensor Camera
Night Vision Camera
Each and every equipments have proven their worth and usefulness in the investigations. The results were astounding and the feedback from the general public were more than we expected. Within two months since 666 was established, the hits on the 666 blog has reached up to 90,000 hits. It seems that the people in Malaysia and the Southeast Region were bored of the old 'scare the audience' method: they wanted facts and explanations.

Although the ratings were up and 666 was slowly making its name in Malaysia, Rahmat Mokhtar left 666 due to his own personal reasons and continued on where EXPAR was left off. A few months afterwards three members of PAG left the team to continue on and pursue their own path and ambitions, leaving the only single PAG member, Atoi with 666. However, 666 is on good terms with PAG and we would like to wish both EXPAR and PAG the best of luck in their work in the paranormal field.

With the departure of the old members, applications kept coming in from the fans and readers to become a permanent member of the 666 family. The two new members are Shaiful Talib , Suhaimi Mohd and the only female member of the 666 team who is a senior lecturer at UiTM (Universiti Teknologi Mara Malaysia), Ezza Rafedziawati. The new additions made the 666 family stronger and more humorous than ever. With the new lineup, the 666 family have made two successful Paranormal Tours in areas around Malaysia (which can be read here and here) and hundreds other investigations at numerous sites.

Although with the new name, lineup and success the team was also the target from numerous 'Islamic extremists' proclaiming that 666 is the Number of the Beast. This accusation that 666 is the number of the beast only exist within the Bible. Here is an excerpt from the Bible regarding the 666 issue:

Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. Rev. 13:18 

The excerpt above was taken from the Book of Revelations of the Bible. Christians believe that 666 is the number of the beast and its existence because that is what was written in the Bible. As a Muslim, i highly respect each and every religion and its scriptures, be it Christians, Hindu, Jewish, Islam, Buddhism and many others in this world. Each of us are taught to read, understand and follow our respective Book and religion. 

Please allow me to quote a few verses from the Quran here regarding this issue:

Everyone's God-given human dignity must be respected, regardless of their religion, race, ethnic origin, gender, or social status (17:70)

Islam teaches that it is by Divine Will that God's human creation has followed different religions, or no religion at all ("no religion" is also a belief system, or faith) (11:118), (10:99), (18:29). 

But God Almighty is not pleased when some of His servants (all humans are servants of the Creator in one way or another) choose not to believe (39:7).

There is only one thing which me, as a Muslim would want to point out to these so called 'Islamic extremists' everywhere in the world:  There is absolutely no mention of the Number of the Beast 666 in the Quran at all. I dare any of these 'Islamic extremist' to come out and tell me that there is a passage in the Quran that says 666 is the number of the Devil. Just a passage from the Quran, that is all.

As a Muslim and follower of the Book of Quran, we should not be believing in the number of the beast as what was said in the Bible. We should respect each other's belief and follow our own. Or does the Islam community been influenced by the media about the Number of the Beast 666 too much and has forgotten what is written in the Quran?

The song Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden. Actually, one of my favorite songs from the band

I personally believe that we all come from the same One True God and everything in this world came from Him as well. All religions in this world teaches its followers almost the same thing: love, respect, acknowledge the One True God, so on and so forth. Even there are similarities between the Quran and the Bible:

Creation
The Quran: "Praise be to God, who created the heavens and the earth, and made the darkness and the light." Sura 6:1  

The Bible: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Gen.1:1  
 
The One God
The Quran: "Your god is one god; there is no god but He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful." Sura 2:163  
"Say, 'O followers of the scripture, let us come to a logical agreement between us and you: that we shall not worship except God; that we never set up any idols besides Him, nor set up any human beings as lords beside God.'" Sura 3:64  
 
The Bible: "Jesus answered: 'The most important one is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one'." Mark 12:29  
Jesus said: "Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only." Matth.4:10   
 
The world would be a much more wonderful place if we all actually read and understood our respective Books and Scriptures instead of blatantly believing what people say and hate each other in the name of Religion.
 
For now, i think i shall stick to paranormal and Iron Maiden.

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