By Atiqah Ismail
That evening had brought me to the small room that resembled a museum and I could feel the historical value in each corner of the room. Talking to him was like talking to my late grandfather. He looked very much like any other typical European in white beard and grey hair to match. He loves dressing himself like a Medieval European as in the British drama, “Adventure of Merlin”.
Those who really love history would know this man well and adore him. He is a kind-hearted person and is friendly with everyone including his friends and even his students. Furthermore, his office is occupied with several historical items that show how deeply in love he has fallen for history.
“I always joke with my wife that history is my first wife,” he used to tell students in his lecture that made them laughed. Moreover, he always used these words as an opening remarks before he started to share his knowledge further on history.
Professor Dr. Ataullah Bogdan Kopanski, 67, was born in Poland and he is a citizen of the European Union and the United States. Currently, he is a history lecturer at the International Islamic University Malaysia and has also been recognised as a historian.
His love for history has brought him to several countries before this, until he decided to migrate to Malaysia in 1993 because for him, where Islam is, that is his homeland, as long as he can worship Allah SWT and listen to the azan.
He is so happy to live in Malaysia because majority of the community are Muslims. Besides, while he was young, he rejected all religions in his life but he never attacked and insulted Islam because he was always fascinated with how Islam was presented such as the way Muslims dressed and covered their dignity. Praise to Allah SWT, when he tried to understand Islam more, Allah gave him guidance to accept Islam as a way of life when he was 23.
Because of his love for Islam that had flourished inside him, not only that he treated human beings well, but had also shown kindness towards animals. During his childhood days, he had a close relationship with animals as he was living with dogs, cats, horses and they were all domesticated.
“As a creature, you have to behave in a similar way even to the animals,” he told me elaborating our role as a creature.
This man who is more familiar with a name, Dr. Kopanski, believes he developed a love for history when he was 5 to 6 years old.
He explained that “historicity means when you realised that you have your own past, future and today.”
When he was a child, he did not even know what history meant. Sometimes, he was taught by his grandfather to do what he was supposed to do and what not to do. He enjoyed listening for his grandfather’s stories. He started to know history during his primary school days because at that time he realised that history taught him more about the lesson of life.
There was one day in class, his teacher shared about the past country, mankind, culture and many more that had really fascinated him to know more and more about history. It made him fond of history. In primary school, he started to fall in love with history while his curiosity drove him to become a more critical person. This is how he felt in love with history and at the same time, history had shaped his thinking and belief.
There are groups of people saying that history is a boring subject because you need to read a lot. Dr. Kopanski related this statement with the concept of trash and treasure.
“The difference between trash and treasure depends on the eyes of the beholder. Somebody will trash it away but I will take it because it is a pleasure for me. In other words, it is just like a beauty of woman in the eyes of a man. What is ugly for one may be the most beautiful for others,” he explained.
Thus, it is not easy for us to question and criticise on the declaration between beauty and ugliness. Somebody loves brown eyes but others don’t. So, the same goes to history which is a huge field to be discussed.
He was explaining on how people will give perspective on history. Some people think that history is a boring subject because it is a trash but some think it is beneficial, so it is a treasure.
Furthermore, he did not deny that there are some history teachers who fail to attract their students to become more interested in history probably because of the way they teach.
Dr. Kopanski also experienced this kind of thing. He had a bad mathematic teacher when actually mathematic is the most abstractive science. Mathematic will also prove to us whether it is possible or not but not a method for us to seek for the truth. It is just a manipulation of numbers. So, because of the implication of having a bad mathematic teacher, he simply did not give attention in his mathematic classes.
Nowadays, we could see that we have been equipped with colour in movies to understand history better. During his time, he did not have that, so he had to refer and read books as main references.
Having a deep love for history makes this 67-year old man feel young and alive. For him, history gives him a long life. The more he thinks about the past and people before him, the more he feels that all those people are just like him. He is just a continuation of the past people either by blood or by ideology. For instance, if somebody accepted Islam as his or her religion, automatically he or she becomes a continuation of Makkah and Madinah history.
So, his age is not sixty-seven but can be more than that and even a thousand hundreds of years. Thus, someone can suddenly become a very old man by knowing history. If he knows about the history of Sumeria and Akkad he will be so old right now!
The Greek politician, Marcus Tullius Cicero, was a dictator that some people liked but some did not. Cicero in his speech in Latin mentioned that Historia est Magistra Vitae (history is a teacher of life). Dr. Kopanski always starts his class by quoting Cicero but he changed it into Vitaa Historia Magistra est (life is a teacher of history) which life teaches a lesson that we are not supposed to repeat the same mistakes in future. Thus, history teaches human beings what to do and what to not to do.
Furthermore, he also believes that history’s function is not just describing or explaining particular events but it gives a lesson to our history. By knowing history, someone can know that this system will collapse because history gives us evidences that this empire will be destroyed. Look back on the tribe of Ad, Thamud, Persia and many more. Where were they now? They are gone. Same as today, America will collapse. Russia will collapse. Even Malaysia will collapse. Because history gives someone an evidence, this is the power of history.
“Sometimes historians do not talk. If they say that this country and government will collapse totally I will be arrested. Politicians do not understand the power of historians. The historian records the society and future. How can we know about King of Sharmain, King of England and King of Spain? Because historians wrote about it, and people know the past events. What would happen if historians do not record it? The society may be nothing and zero,” he bravely said.
For example, let’s look at the history of Cambodia. We did not have any record on what was going on two hundred years ago in the country. There was no record of it. So we did not know anything. In this situation, the disease of brainlessness may occur. If we fail to identify our history, others will easily replace your position and even worst, your country.
Dr. Kopanski also believes that when society loses its identity, it will probably try to imitate others. Those who come from the village and they preserve their tradition, for him it is more respectful. As we know, Britain is conservative country. They are proud of what they have. So, how about ourselves? Are we really proud to be Malaysians?
He also criticised some Chinese people who go out with short pants, is it their dress, tradition and culture?
Once upon a time, he went out to repair his car at a mechanical shop. The Chinese man who was fixing his car, did not know about the history of China. He is so poor of knowledge. Dr. Kopanski did not feel jealous with someone who has a big house and an expensive car but is jealous of a person who is rich in heritage and history.
Dr. Kopanski really puts his concern on the importance of a particular society to keep their tradition and history.
Instead of that, Dr. Kopanski is also fascinated by books. He is a book lover and he can even recognise books by smell. It is not because of his instinct but his passion and love towards history made him well trained to identify the books by recognition of smell.
Dr. Kopanski is well known as an outspoken person. What is Dr. Kopanski’s principle? Be courageous. This is the first sentence that came out from his mouth when people asked him about his principles. Be courageous and be brave. He will not allow somebody to insult him in what he believes. He would not allow people to put him down.
“If you don’t mind to be insulted it means that you like to be a slave. If somebody insults Prophet SAW, I will absolutely get angry on that matter,” Dr. Kopanski stressed on this issue.
“Cowards will tell you to not fight, they do not like to fight because they are full of fear.”
As a person who believes in truth, he does not feel scared even if there are people who will pay a price of lying and even death. If something were to hit you every day, the principle for not being insulted must come first, he added.***