In my opinion, wherever we are on this earth, or even on another planet in the distant future, we are supposed to co-exist with other human beings, with other creatures big and small, with the environment, with the universe. We have to learn to respect and tolerate one another even if our opinions differ.
We should observe and we should think for ourselves and not just swallow whatever that is rammed down our throats by others, be that friends, elders, bosses, families, leaders, politicians and religious clerics. More often that not, a large portion of prejudice, bigotry, slanders and even lies are pushed under our noses among other things, under the pretext of "defending" us against something. I have always taken care of myself, I do not need other people defending me for my race or my religion. I am a mongrel by the way. There is intermingling of Ceylonese blood (second generation) on my mum's side and therefore I am not a true Malay as the immigrant blood is inside me. And I am not a moron that I cannot think for myself.
A few years ago, some officers from AR came to to the training centre where I worked to conduct some talk on will-making. I was very interested in that topic because I was about to make a will myself. After all the preliminary introductions about the programme, one of the officers began to state some verses from the Quran concerning making a will in Islam. After a few minutes, he then asked the question "Kat sini tak de orang tak pakai tudung ye?" I do not wear the headscarf, not then not now. Either he didn't see me or he purposely wanted to embarrass me, the only un-scarfed female of the lot. Everybody was quiet, a lot of my colleagues in the meeting felt a little awkward I think, then he continued with the topic. With all due respect to all my lady friends who wear the hijab, if the value of an individual is so much place on how she dresses alone then that religion is a shallow one. I felt a little humiliated in that programme honestly, like I was such a sinner, but because I really wanted to know about will making I stayed on. May be also because I am the reserved type who doesn't like confrontation unless it is necessary. More because I really wanted to know about the topic actually. However my inner dialogue was like"Get lost you jerk, you are not going to defeat me by your holier than thou attitude". If I should have stood up and asked him, what relevance was my not wearing the head scarf to the programme, then perhaps another awkward situation would have followed and my temper would have flared and I would leave the session. Why not be generous, do not snub people but treat everyone courteously, even if you think that person is less religious than you because she doesn't wear the head scarf? Why not present Islam as something friendly, non-judgemental and an endearing and compelling religion? If we cannot be friendly to a fellow Muslim, how can we expand that to the rest of humanities. Later on, I did my will with Maybank actually. The cost was cheaper than AR and nobody said anything about me, going to the bank in jeans and shirt and not wearing a head scarf. This is just a small example and I like to believe that that particular official did not represent the whole of that organisation. Hopefully.
I am at times baffled by statements made by some of our ministers regarding people from different sect of Islam and I am honestly quite alarmed at the arrogance and brashness of some of the religious authorities in dealing with individuals with different opinions or in handling matters under their prerogatives. Religion is creeping into every aspect of public life when it should be a personal matter.
The following is Rumi's quote on his search for God. I intensely love this quote/poem.
I searched for God among the Christians and on the Cross and therein I found Him not.
I went into the ancient temples of idolatry; no trace of Him was there.
I entered the mountain cave of Hira and then went as far as Qandhar but God I found not.
With set purpose I fared to the summit of Mount Caucasus and found there only 'anqa's habitation.
Then I directed my search to the Kaaba, the resort of old and young; God was not there even.
Turning to philosophy I inquired about him from ibn Sina but found Him not within his range.
I fared then to the scene of the Prophet's experience of a great divine manifestation only a "two bow-lengths' distance from him" but God was not there even in that exalted court.
Finally, I looked into my own heart and there I saw Him; He was nowhere else.
Mawlana Jalaludin Rumi
I find the article below very very refreshing, even if some parts of it I do not agree. It is copied from one of the popular blogs which I follow. However I do very much hope the "extremists" meant by the writer covers all ethnicities, religious backgounds, all manner of government supporters, opposition supporters or individuals like me who do not support any political party nor aligned ourselves with any individual.
Malays Must Stand Up To The Extremists (and Malaysians too)
by Ahmad Hafidz Baharom |
June 24, 2014 2:44PM @http://www.malaysiakini.com
First and foremost, I am a third generation constitutional Malaysian Malay Muslim, as far as I can tell from my secondary school history project I did in 1996. That being said, there are those who may have a history of their ancestors and families living in this nation longer than I have.I am partially Chinese, Indian, Indonesian Malay and Malaysian Malay, which we can all say are the four biggest populations in Malaysia currently.
All I can say about this is that my parents must have taken Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s racial genetic co-mingling which he suggested in The Malay Dilemma seriously.As much as I am a Malay, I am not a supporter of UMNO, nor am I a supporter of PAS or any political party. Instead, I align myself to individuals, among them PAS’ Khalid Abdul Samad, and Mujahid Rawa (regardless of his anti-smoking crusade), DAP’s Charles Santiago and Tony Pua, PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar, Elizabeth Wong, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, and Rafizi Ramli, and UMNO’s Saifudin Abdullah, Ahmad Husni Hanadziah and Nur Jazlan Mohamed.As a graduate of UiTM, I am thankful for what UMNO has done in the past, but that doesn’t exclude them from criticism. Nor does it exclude UiTM from criticism. As such, I don’t find an insult to UMNO as an insult to myself as a Malay, nor do I see urging UiTM to be opened up to non-bumiputeras as an insult to myself.
Similarly, I do not find it taboo for a non-Muslim to wish me salam, or to use Islamic phrases. This is because I see it as a positive, as them trying to emulate our culture instead of somehow seeing it as a threat against my religion. In other words, I am not a paranoid. In the past year or so, we have somehow seen that any insult to UMNO, Ikaan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), having Iban language Bibles, urging the reining in of religious authorities, all of this as an insult to Malays.
UMNO is not a representation of all the Malays in Malaysia. The fact that they lost Shah Alam in the last two general elections is solid proof of it. Mind you, we have a more than 90 percent Malay population in this parliamentary district. Isma’s president, contrary to his wife’s belief, is not the representative of all Malays. After all, if he thinks the Chinese are trespassers, then he is equally saying I myself am the product of a trespassing ancestor.
A Penang assemblyperson calling UMNO ‘celaka’ is also not an insult to me, because I have seen students right out of UiTM who just got their first jobs giving out the same expletive remarks when they read news coverage of the Auditor-General’s Report. And by the way, these were former BN Youth Volunteers during the 2013 general election.
I am not a traitor to HRH Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah for thinking that both the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) and the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) are in the wrong and have totally lost the plot by seizing Bibles and having fake ex-Christians hold a talk at UiTM, regardless of what Negri Sembilan Perkasa suggests. And if they think they need to behead me for this, I suggest they check in with the His HRH Sultan of Selangor to use his royal courtyard for the guillotine.
I believe the Malays have to now take a stand against all these extreme views, and voice it out as ardently as possible; that we are no longer represented by extremists. Now is the time for the Malays to take a stand and tell those in charge to either stop it, or face the consequences of misrepresenting us to the entire world.
It is time to take legal action against our extremists to gag them from making unwarranted statements that tarnish the image of the Malay race. If not, then the greatest insult to the Malays would be the insult we do to ourselves by letting the voice of the loud few destroy whatever pride we have left in ourselves as a people, as a community, as a majority in this country.
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