Method Not Right

 

http://my.news.yahoo.com/mixed-reaction-staging-play-070600042.html

I quote a paragraph from the link above :

"The musical 'Asmara Songsang' portrays the lives of three LGBT friends who like to party, take drugs and have casual sex and are subsequently asked to repent by their religious neighbours, who try to reintroduce Islam to them.

Those who repent are spared and those who do not are struck by lightning and killed."

 

Never watch the play but the description of it is enough to turned me off. I am against LBGT (lesbian, bisexual, gay & transexual) but this play is not one of the methods to overcome the homosexuality problem in Malaysia that is becoming more rampant and open in Malaysia.

Plays like this will provoke the gay rights activist even more and paint a bad picture on religion. It's so wrong to associate homosexuality with party, drugs and casual sex. Hell, a lot of straight people party, do drugs and casual sex.

And seriously strike by lightning? If you want people to take your message seriously, don't be over dramatic. There are a lot of gays and lesbians out there (muslims) yet you don't see them get strike by lightning.

When educating someone on something that is deem "wrong" or "immoral", we got to explain why it's wrong. Not put them in fear thinking that's the only way they will get to the right path.

My opinion is based on the fact that I do not support gay and lesbian marriage. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We can't always get what we want in life. 

Bible knowledge can now be taught to Christian students in schools: Dompok

Bible knowledge can now be taught to Christian students in schools: Dompok


In school, the Muslims will take the "Agama" class while the non Muslims will take "Moral" class. I always thought that this was UNFAIR since moral class was much much easier than agama class. There's a lot to cover for agama class especially if you are weak in writing and understanding JAWI (luckily my time there's no jawi writing). Then there's the memorizing of Surahs. Which sometimes can be pretty tough if you don't get the easier surahs. But there are some parts of the agama exams that are easier, like the "Aqidah" section because it uses a lot of Common Sense and some memorizing. During SPM i was aiming for an A in agama since i usually get As but i only end up getting a B3. Damn i was disappointed. Either Allah must be angry at me or my paper was being sent to a Terengganu/Kelantan marker.

With the moral classes, they teach you general moral things. Nothing religious at all. It would be more challenging if they have to memorize some of their own religious teachings or history/stories. But it always made me wonder why the non Muslims don't have their very own religious classes like the Muslims such as Christian, Hindu and Buddhism.

1. Not practical?

If such classes were introduced, would the exam be compulsory or non compulsory or will it just be an extra curricular activity? Then they would need to come up with the syllabuses and exam questions which may not be that easy. If this becomes compulsory, what will happen to those who are not Christian, Hindu or Buddhist?

The way i see it, such classes can either be non compulsory or an extra curricular activity. But it can't be an extra curricular since you already have such Clubs. And such clubs don't really give you exam tests on the religion. Hence, non compulsory?

And it should be introduced into government schools and government should support it. 1 Malaysia rite?

2. Are such classes necessary?

Why not? You are learning your own religion anyway right? It teaches you moral values and the stories of your religion, so what's wrong with that? This is even more important now since moral values have been declining in society.

3. No need to have it in government school, you can do it at your religious centers.

Some may say that, but there must be a reason why religious classes are still being held in government schools for the Muslims despite the fact that they have their own religious centers and tuition outside of schools. Double dosage of religious classes perhaps? Besides, the "outside" religious classes are non compulsory and you can choose whether to send your child there or not. Regardless of that, your child will still get religious teachings at school even if you don't send them to such centers or tuition.

4. Every ideas must have NEGATIVE FEED BACKS

Some may argue why use government money to pay for such classes? Hey, aren't you being selfish? Others do pay taxes too you know.

Afraid the Muslim children might be influenced by other religion? Why do i think of this? Well, when i was in college, the Christian club would be very active in their activities and they will be giving out pamphlets to invite people to their activities. But there will be a disclaimer in the pamphlets stating Muslims are not allowed. Not that i'm interested with their activities but i was more interested with the disclaimer. What are you so afraid of? You think by showing a movie about Christianity the Muslims will be influenced by it? It simply shows how you have no faith in the strength of faith among your kind. As a protection? Well, i can understand that but if a person is in doubt, he would be asking around for answers and if you truly believe that what you believe in is right, you can answer those questions of doubts. This will even make you understand your religion better instead of following something blindly.

So i asked a friend what's with the disclaimer and she told me it's government policy. I guess she's right because you don't have non muslim religious channels on the tv and radio. That my dear friends, is what you call Christiano phobia. And you think the non muslims simply come up with such word to be over dramatic?

All these overly protection but yet you still hear many stories Muslims converting to other religion. Why does it still happen then?


Kindly don't think that i'm a hypocrite to my religion because i'm not. The facts present before me shows unfairness and i don't like it. If it's a strict policy that other religions can't practice their religion that freely, just be honest and say so instead of accusing them of wanting to convert the Muslims or having some other evil hidden agenda (because most of the time i hear this). There are instances where i do think some non muslim MIGHT have hidden agenda, like the use of "Allah". This i find more dangerous than having a a non Islamic religious channels on tv, radio or at schools.

Besides, the school's classes are far cheaper than the outside ones.

Celebrating Something Which you don't Celebrate

So there was this site which made the following statement : " Ada org cakap, org islam tak fikir guna akal logic bila mengungkit pemimpin yg sambut krismas. Mereka kata, malaysia negara majmuk, sambut krismas perkara biasa. bukan tukar agama. - ketua admin".

English translation as simple as possible : some says that Muslims don't use logic when they condemn rulers who celebrate Christmas. They say that Malaysia is a multi cultural country so celebrating Christmas is a norm. It has nothing to do with religion conversion".

Honestly, i do come across a lot of Muslims who don't use LOGIC when they talk about Islam. For some of them, if it's WRONG, it's WRONG. You can't question why it's wrong because if you question, means you are not a Muslim. Believe me, i do come across several Muslims who got angry just because i QUESTION CERTAIN THINGS. Hell, i'm still a Muslim. I don't question the existence of Allah. What i'm questioning is the things that some Muslims do which at times doesn't seem to be that RATIONAL.

And a lot of Malay Muslims are like that. Maybe i make such statement because i'm staying in Malaysia, so i don't know how are the mindset of other Muslims. Then again, i do come across some Muslims who debate about Islam in a logically manner. Like Ahmed Deedat. I love hearing his debates because he ACTUALLY USE HIS BRAIN TO ARGUE OUT ABOUT ISLAM AGAINST THOSE WHO QUESTION ISLAM.

Okay, let's get back to the issue. I'll be talking about Christmas because it seems that this issue arise from the recent incident of some Muslim rulers celebrating Christmas.

Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus.

What amounts to a celebration? That's very SUBJECTIVE. If i, a Muslim, just merely visit a non Muslim's house during Christmas celebration because i was invited for Christmas lunch or dinner, is that wrong? If i was invited to a Christmas event, is that wrong? Why is it wrong? All that i'm doing at the Christmas event is watching people doing Christmas performances and then eat something later.

I've read some of the comments by Muslims who are against Muslims celebrating Xmas. Even just wishing someone MERRY CHRISTMAS is WRONG because according to that person, it's admitting the birth of Jesus. That's so stupid. Obviously Jesus do exist but we Muslims don't admit he's a God. So tell me, is it wrong to wish a person Merry Xmas?

From my point of view, it's all about INTENTION. I wish my friends Merry Xmas because they celebrate it. It's a happy occasion for them. it's not my intention to convert to that religion or believe in it's teachings or whatever is it. Is it wrong for me to attend a Christmas event? I'm not doing anything religious there. I'm not going there to be converted. I'm not even participating in any of their religious activities.

Some very conservative Muslims say Muslims can't keep dolls in the house because they are like IDOLS and plus the house won't get blessings from Angels a.k.a angels won't enter the house. That's rubbish. I don't keep dolls in the house as idols. i don't pray to them to seek blessings. Why do i keep the dolls then? As decorations. Is that wrong? Logically, it's not wrong.

The same applies to celebrations of other religion in Malaysia like Deepavali, Chinese New Year etc. No harm in celebrating them as Muslims if we are invited for open house. We go to their houses just to wish them and to eat and talk. not participating in their religious activities. So by just doing that, how can our faith in Islam be wavered?

Lacked of Sensitivity?

Above is a video titled "Iklan Deepavali 2010 FINAS". Some think this is a controversial video while others think otherwise. For me, when i first view it i find nothing controversial although i was irritated at how dramatic this whole ad is to the extend that she's giving birth at the end of the ad. I saw some comments on the vid and majority don't see the problem with this vid. Of course you don't see the problem because you are a Malay and you are a Muslim and this video is "siding" the Malay Muslims.

It's not my intention to create issues but i just want to point out what i think. Look at it from a Hindu perspective. What makes you think they enjoy watching their people being converted out from their religion? Especially since the conversion is because the child is going to marry another person of another religion. But for the need to get married, the child wouldn't need to convert to that religion. Ask yourself this, as a Muslim. Wouldn't you be very pissed off when your family member says he/she wants to convert out of Islam because he/she wants to marry a non Muslim? But we are aware that in Islam, you are not allowed to convert out of the religion, therefore when it comes to marriage, the non Muslims have to convert into Islam. There's no compromise to that. Non Muslims will see this as a very strict and non compromising rule. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons why Islamophobia happens among some non Muslims. It won't happen actually if they try to understand Islam and the reasoning for such rules.

Like the movie "Sepet". It's about a Malay girl and Chinese boy who fell in love. I didn't watch it but i know in the end the Chinese boy died. Good too so that the director don't have to touch on the sensitive part in deciding who have to convert to who's religion if they plan to get married. But this being Malaysia, we all know that the Chinese guy MUST convert to Islam. Some Chinese might not be very happy with such ending while some may be COOL about it.

It's understandable if a family with very strong religious beliefs choose to disown the child or becomes very angry if the child choose to convert to another religion.

The problem with this advertisement is that it lacks sensitivity. What happens if this ad was made the other way round? The girl actually converted to Hindu and comes back during Hari Raya with her Hindu husband. What an outrageous scenario! It will never be shown on tv because the Malay Muslims will be so damn angry and claim it's an insult to Islam. Of course it's an insult to Islam.

And don't you think some sensitive Hindu will be insulted by such video? "Oh you can do that, but if we want to do that we can't". This whole conversion thing is a sensitive matter. Yes, it's happening in reality but why do we need to touch about it? It's ok when a non Muslim convert to Islam but if a Muslim convert into another religion we have to keep in hush hush? Apostasy is UNACCEPTABLE in Islam and you shouldn't go around telling people it's ok to convert out because it's not. Yes, if you don't want to be a Muslim, don't practice as a Muslim then but don't declare to the whole world that you converted out of Islam because that will amount to putting ideas into people's head. And you can get killed for that.

What i'm really trying to say is that you don't go around telling people how a non Muslim can convert into Islam and his/her family members should learn to accept it while if the same thing were to happen with a Muslim convert into another religion you will create chaos. Be more sensitive, taking into account the perspective of a Non Muslim. Festival Celebration ads used to be so simply and straightforward. Just because our society has become so complicated, doesn't mean we have to make our ads so complicated and to remind people of this whole complication.

Remember the controversial Hari Raya advertisement where it seems elements of Buddhism and Christianity are being injected into the ad and many Malays were very pissed off about it? I think the ad was improper, but hey, the creators of the ads were probably into the mood of 1 MALAYSIA, where you "rojak" all the religions into one. Seriously, if it's Deepavali, just stick wholly to Deepavali. If it's Hari Raya, just stick wholly to Hari Raya. Same goes to other celebrations. If you want to involve other races in your celebration ads, just show one race visiting another for open house.

Culture v Religion

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101017/wl_afp/germanymuslimreligionimmigration

This blog entry is in reference to the link above.

I quote these following passages that got my attention :


1. "This approach has failed, totally," she said, adding that immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany's culture and values.

"We feel tied to Christian values. Those who don't accept them don't have a place here," said the chancellor.

2. Turkish President Abdullah Gul, in a weekend interview, also urged the Turkish community living in Germany to master the language of their adopted country.

"When one doesn't speak the language of the country in which one lives that doesn't serve anyone, neither the person concerned, the country, nor the society," the Turkish president told the Suedeutsche Zeitung.

"That is why I tell them at every opportunity that they should learn German, and speak it fluently and without an accent. That should start at nurseries."


3. The integration of Muslims has been a hot button issue since August when a member of Germany's central bank sparked outrage by saying the country was being made "more stupid" by poorly educated and unproductive Muslim migrants with headscarves.


Truth to be told, this article has some relevance to Malaysia since Malaysia is a Multicultural country.

What i can say about Germany's approach to multicultural society is that it's very strict, as you can see from the above passages. They demand for MIGRANTS to speak fluent German and to adopt it's culture. We are talking about MIGRANTS here, not IMMIGRANTS. the difference?

Migrants : Also called migrant worker. a person who moves from place to place to get work, esp. a farm laborer who harvests crops seasonally.

Immigrants : a person who migrates to another country, usually for permanent residence.

So logically speaking, if you were going to make a foreign country as a permanent residence, you should be able to talk FLUENTLY in that country's language right as oppose to just wanting to work in a foreign country and later go back to your own country? But taking Malaysia as an example, you still can find a lot of non malays who can't speak Bahasa Malaysia (BM) fluently despite the fact that they were born here. What i'm trying to point out here is that how lenient and flexible Malaysia is towards the non malays and yet there are some non malays who have the decency to be very critical about Malaysia being very bias and not respecting them. Look at Germany, it seems like they demand that you follow their culture. Again, i quote from the article :

"That is why I tell them at every opportunity that they should learn German, and speak it fluently and without an accent. That should start at nurseries".

How many non Malays can speak BM without an accent? But believe me, i've come across a few non Malays who can speak BM without an accent and i'm very proud of them.

Another thing that i wanted to point out is that it's f*cking unfair when u say "country was being made "more stupid" by poorly educated and unproductive Muslim migrants with headscarves." This is simply another attempt at attacking Islam. Why do pin point a person's religion as the source of his flaw and not his culture? Do you want to humiliate Islam and that's why you think because he's a Muslim, he's lazy and stupid? Because the religion doesn't make the followers advance in life?

Look at Japan for example. We know the people there are hardworking. But we don't say Buddhists are hardworking, instead we say the Japanese are hardworking. When we say Japanese are hardworking it means we are saying something about their culture.

So why the "poorly educated" and "unproductive" migrants have to be MUSLIMS? Why don't you attack that person's nationality? Imagine if those migrants are Christians, i'm pretty sure the Germans won't dare say the same thing but instead will attack that person's nationality.

"abandoning practices such as forced marriages." This is another passage i get from the article. Why do you associate force marriage with Islam. I don't know whether it means arrange marriage too but forced/arranged marriage is not an Islam thing. It's a culture thing that is common in Asian countries and even the Arab countries.

So what i'm trying to conclude from all of this is that

1. Be grateful to live in Malaysia where you are not forced to speak BM fluently or to follow and adapt the Malay culture. Up until now, i still remembered when a non Malay friend of mine said to her friend that she's lucky to be living in Singapore and not in Malaysia. I know she can't wait to get out of Malaysia and that's why she can say such thing. I think some people find the Malay culture to be stupid and uncool and that's why they don't follow it compare to following the Western culture where it's sooooooo cool and open.

2. Culture and religion can sometimes be closely connected to a person's character. But culture and upbringing actually influence more on a person's character since we all know that these days people don't really follow religion. Example, if a person works as a prostitute or drinks alcohol or take drugs and the person is a Muslim, is it fair to say "Oooh Muslims are like that? They are soo into drugs!". Look at America. It has become a norm there for people to have children out of wedlock and these people are Christians. Do we say Christians are bad? No. We blame the culture and not the religion because the Christians in Asian countries still find that having children out of wedlock is a taboo, embarrassing, humiliating and a disgrace to the family.

We don't follow and do things blindly... unless you are a dumb zombie...

Some of us like to question a lot. We question to seek the truth and reason behind every fact. If you tell a person to do or not to something, there must be a reason to it. Religion wise, if we question a lot, we will be accused of not believing in the religion and it seems to be a fundamental rule that when it comes to religion, we must just accept everything the religion tells you WITHOUT QUESTIONING. That's BS. God gave us a brain to THINK and when we think we QUESTION.

You see, just because i don't look or sound Islamic, when i question something about Islam and the person couldn't answer me, he will get agitated and will start attacking me instead. Once i remembered a guy told me "why are you questioning if you aren't doing anything the religion tells you?". That's like a slap to my face but nevertheless, you still didn't answer my question and i don't see any reason for you to become upset just because you couldn't answer me.

I believe in Islam, my faith have always been with Islam but is it wrong for me to question certain things in Islam? I never question the Quran because it's the perfect book but what's wrong if i questioned a particular hadith? It's a fact that there are some real and fake hadiths. So you can't simply follow blindly whatever a hadith tells you.

"A hadith is a saying of Muhammad or a report about something he did. Over time, during the first few centuries of Islam, it became obvious that many so-called hadith were in fact spurious sayings that had been fabricated for various motives, at best to encourage believers to act righteously and at worse to corrupt believers' understanding of Islam and to lead them astray."

I got that from some website. Not that you can't question the Quran but whatever the Quran tells you to do, it makes sense and it's reasonable. Examples :

1. Why do we pray 5 times a day. Reason : so that whatever we do, we always remember Allah.

2. Why do we fast. Reason : to remember and feel those who don't have enough food to eat.

3. Why can't we eat pork and touch dogs? Reason : both of these animals are dirty and disease carriers. I mean there are scientific research done on how unhealthy pork can be. As for dogs, we can't touch them when they are wet. Dogs are also known for rabies. Of course you can get injection to prevent that. I love dogs coz some can be very cute.




Look at the above. It's a ban on a particular fashion of a head cover. The ban comes from a hadith. For those who don't understand Malay, sorry that i can't translate it for you because it's quite difficult to translate it to English. But what i can say is that the statement says you can't wear a head cover where it shapes like the back of a camel (okay, that sounds a lil stupid when you translate it literally) but what i'm staying is that you can't wear a head cover like as shown in the pictures.

Since i don't wear a head cover, i don't know what kind of fashion is that where they try to make the back of your head look like a mountain or something. First i thought it must be a hair bun but i doubt it can be that high. I've seen some girls with that kind of fashion and i don't see it as a problem?

So my question is why are you not allowed to wear such kind of head cover? It's not like your hair can be seen, your chest is covered, your neck is covered. Obviously that mountain like thing on the back of your head isn't the real shape of your real head.

The only possible reason i can think of is that it turns MEN ON? That's why it's wrong? God only knows why do men think that alien kind fashion of a head cover is sexy. But this is not a strong reason either. If men find your eyes is mesmerizing and sexy, does the woman have to close her eyes then?

http://www.derafsh-kaviyani.com/english/hadith.pdf

Above is an interesting site that i came across discussing about hadiths.

Is it wrong for me to use my common sense? I have a friend who only followed the Quran and he gave me sensible reasons why he didn't follow any hadiths although majority in Malaysia will find him totally at wrong. As for me, i don't totally discard hadiths but if a hadith says something, i expect it to be for a reason and a sensible one.

If you can't explain something with a reason, how are you suppose to explain to a non Muslim if they were to ask something like this? Are we suppose to answer "Oh, it's just like that". "Oh, coz it's stated like that".

Suppression and Oppression of the Minority Religion...

This blog entry is written in response to an article which can be found at

http://english.cpiasia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1978:enforcing-nep-on-minority-religions-&catid=198:helen-ang&Itemid=156

It's about the oppression and suppression in religion faced by the minority in Malaysia. As we are well aware of, Islam is the majority's religion. The author wrote an interesting piece but i would say i disagree with her in many aspects.

1. MALAYSIAN MUSLIMS' ATTITUDE

Headlines and blogs now a days seems to show Muslims are always associated with terrorism, intolerance and supporting harsh punishments. That, it is not a religion of love and forgiving. That Muslim emphasized on harsh punishments way too much. Like yesterday, i was reading a blog where the author condemned Sharizat for supporting the death punishment for those who dump babies resulting in the baby's death. The author questions why are the Muslims sooooo keen on the death penalty. As if they are thirsty for blood. Below i copy and paste a portion of that blog entry :

"I am not surprised that Shahrizat could say something like this because Shahrizat is a Muslim. Muslims around the world are well known for suggesting and carrying out terrible punishments against their fellow human beings. In Iran they are now on the verge of stoning a woman to death. In Saudi Arabia they behead people in public on Fridays. Also in Iran they have thrown liwat fellows out of helicopters in the air. In Taliban Afghanistan they used a tank to push a wall over some liwat fellows. In Malaysia our khalwat goons have caused the death of many young people who jumped off balconies and windows while trying to escape from them. Only Muslims are capable of doing things like this and then defend it too". The full version is at

http://syedsoutsidethebox.blogspot.com/2010/08/shahrizat-says-kill-them.html

I don't know whether the Quran did state such punishments or the Muslims made up this punishments. But to throw people of the helicopter for liwat is too much. I would say stoning for adultry is too much too but if the Quran clearly says that's the punishment, i have no say then. It's God's law. It will override human law.

But i support death penalty for baby dumping is not because i'm a Muslim and i have a thirst for blood but i believe in the principle an eye for an eye when it comes to MURDER. The Westerns have come up with the idea that death penalty is inhuman, it's against Human Rights and thus death penalty should be banned and replaced with other punishments like life imprisonment. For them (most of them anyway), countries who carry out death penalty are "bad countries". I say MIND YOUR BUSINESS. Promoting freedom and being compassionate the whole time is not always a good thing.


In Malaysia, there are all kinds of Muslims, hardcore, moderate and liberal. the hardcore ones can be difficult to handle with because they can be insensitive to other religions. I've met these kind of people before and they are not pleasant. i know you love your religion but you have no right to insult other people's religion.

Islam and other Muslims get bad image because of these kind of people. Look at that stupid Osama bin Laden. He shouldn't have organised that September 11 attack because that is soooo not jihad. You killed innocent lives. In addition to that, he made Islam well known internationally as a religion of terrorism that supports the killing of non Muslims. This is what happens when you use violence.


2. THE RIGHT TO BUILD A PLACE OF WORSHIP

Some non Muslims in Malaysia claimed that they are being oppressed by not being allowed to built place of worship as much as the amount of mosque being built. This was one of the issues being brought up in the article mentioned above.

This involved politics. I'm not sure what are the requirements you need to comply with in order for the relevant authorities to allow you to build a place of worship. Do the government really just give permission without consideration if it INVOLVED building of a mosque and will give deep consideration and be more reluctant instead if it involved building other place of worship?

Logically, there would be more mosques because there are more Muslims. And you need to build a lot "suraus" and mosques because Muslims pray 5 times a day and the availability of suraus make it easier for Muslims to pray whenever they are traveling. Muslims need to be on time to catch their daily prayers and that's why you need to have these many convenient suraus and mosques.

A place of worship should be allowed to be built, regardless whether it's a mosque, church or temple if there's empty land available and it's a necessity due to the fact there are a number of people professing to that religion and the next place of worship is too far to travel to. You don't built place of worship to compete with other religion as to the amount of place of worships that you manage to built. That's utterly childish and stupid. You built one out of necessity. Sometimes i find the religions in Malaysia are in conflict with one another because they want to compete who are the best in everything and they want to compete who have the most followers. That's CRAP.

I'm pretty sure countries like France, US and UK don't have that many mosques and suraus either since the majority religion isn't Islam.

3. BANNING NON MUSLIM RELIGIOUS SOCIETY

Do you really have that problem in Malaysia? My former college have a few non Muslim religious societies. Of course when they give out pamphlets to promote their activities there will be disclaimer that it's NOT FOR MUSLIMS. What's with the disclaimer? The objective is to protect the Muslim community. Personally for me it's unnecessary because if you understand your religion well and your faith is strong, you won't fear going to other religion's activities. The disclaimer is to prevent Muslims from being converted. Don't tell me just by watching something or witnessing other religion's rituals and activities you can be converted? If you can be converted because of this, your faith is really weak. I mean you can convert, it's your freedom but people convert because they THINK and QUESTION the essence of their religion and other religion and not convert just because some kind of miracle happened to them. For all you know that can be the devil's work.

That's why the best conversion is one where you don't have to persuade other people as to the greatness of your religion and the miracles that happened but a meaningful conversion is one where a person takes the initiative to learn about another religion and ask around about the religion to get a better idea of it and in the end it is for him to decide whether he wants to remain in his religion or convert after considering many things.


3. NATIONAL SCHOOLS

The author also pointed this out :

"In some schools, doa (Muslim prayer) is recited weekly during assembly. However, if a Christian, Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist prayer were ever recited in a gathering where Malay pupils are present, there will be uproar."

During my primary school days, i went to a CONVENT school. There would be a lot of Christian activities since the majority are Christians while the Muslims would remain in class. There was no issue with this this and i don't have a problem with it. Then when i entered secondary school, it was vice versa because majority are Malays and Muslim so you have to participate in Muslim activities while the non Muslims can do their own stuff.

If majority are of a certain religion, then let they do their thing while the minority to their thing. I remembered once where majority are Malays and then we have to pray for a student dead relative. The Muslims and Non Muslims were told to take a moment of silence and to pray for the deceased.

There are some national schools that may be overly Islamic to the extend that they ban the wearing of cross. Some national school even make and force you to wear head covers. I had a problem with this because the last time i checked, i didn't register in a ISLAMIC SCHOOL. I was studying in matriculation before. I read the regulations and it says the wearing of head covers are ENCOURAGED, not compulsory. But on my first day of orientation, the senior asked me why i'm not wearing a head cover and she starts to blah blah blah religiously.I know this kind of people meant well but things shouldn't be forced. A person can still be wearing a head cover and work part time as a prostitute. That's what happened when you forced people to do something. You know, sometimes things are not compulsory but some idiots have the urge to make it compulsory. In situation like this, a formal complaint should be lodged against the school itself and not to make an attack on the race or religion of that person.

4. OTHERS

A portion of the article states this :


"On the other hand, other religions are suppressed. One infamous incident occurred in 2004 at Christmas where the Selangor Sultan and assorted cabinet ministers were invited guests. At this official function, hymns mentioning Jesus could not be sung."

That Christmas incident is not tolerable. That's the problem with some Muslims, sometimes we simply give others reason to attack us over such a SMALL MATTER. What's wrong if the Christians want to sing about their God? It's a Christian event after all. Might as well you don't attend if they are not allowed to do their very own religious activity at their own special event. Do Muslims think they will be converted the moment they hear these hymns on Jesus? Seriously? Why are you afraid of these hymns? I'm being sarcastic here because i don't see any reasonable reason why you prevent the singing of the hymns mentioning Jesus on a Christmas event?


5. CONCLUSION

I don't think the minority religion are being suppressed that much except for some incidents. I've explained about the building of places of worships. There is no ban on non Muslim religious society in Malaysia. Schools that confiscate things that symbolises other religion are isolated incidents, lodged a complaint against that school itself instead of making it sound as if majority of the schools in Malaysia do that.

Then there was a big issue with the use of "Allah", even with that incident people want to attack the Muslims. How can you not blame the Muslims for being offended and suspicious? All of a sudden you want to use the term Allah? In English religious publications you can use the term Allah but you didn't. In Malay version too you very seldom used Allah. I said seldom because when i was 13, i came across a Malay version of a bible that uses the term Allah. This was in Sabah. I never heard my Christian friends use the term Allah. Why can't you just use the term "Tuhan"?

We could settle this diplomatically with reasonable explanation. Why can't you tolerate with the use of "Tuhan" instead? I wonder if you were to hymn in Malay you would use the word Allah? If majority of the Malay version of bibles used the word Tuhan since before, then it's only reasonable to stick to Tuhan.

I'm not biased when it comes to religion. I admit, certain decisions made by Muslims are unacceptable and illogical, like the Christmas incident not allowing hymn on Jesus. I wasn't even aware of the incident, perhaps because i was young and don't care about current events. i condemned the act of butchering the cow's head and throwing it at the Temple and torching of the churches. These offenders should get severe punishment because these acts create racial tension.

Is it always about INTENTION?

This is an issue on RELIGION...

I know this person who is a Muslim. Actually she claims she's an atheist, a.k.a "a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings" (courtesy of dictionary.com).But i don't believe she's an atheist. She gives a lot of examples from bible in her conversations and she wears a "cross" as a necklace. If you were an atheist, your examples shouldn't just revolved around Christianity but it should involve other religions. Atheist shouldn't practice any favoritism towards any religion. You know, had she not talk about a SPECIFIC religion, i would have believed she's an atheist despite she's wearing a cross as necklace. Why? Perhaps the wearing of the cross is just a fashion statement. Nothing to do with religion. They just wear it because it looks nice and fashionable.

So it made me think, if your intention of wearing a cross is just for fashion purposes and you don't believe in that religion, will it amount to backstabbing your own religion?

Besides the issue of wearing a cross as necklace, religious authorities in Malaysia recently decide to ban MU's football jersey because it has the pic of the DEVIL.. (HA, serves you right you MU loser fans.. I'm a CHELSEA FAN ;-p).. But i'm not gonna be bias just because i'm a Chelsea lover... I think the decision to ban the jersey is kindda irrational.

I quote a phrase from an article which i read : "This is very dangerous. As a Muslim, we should not worship the symbols of other religions or the devils," said Nooh Gadot, a top Islamic leader from southern Johor state.

So we shouldn't worship symbols of other religions and devils right? The keyword here is WORSHIP. If you don't have the INTENTION to worship, how can it be worshiping? I could be wearing a picture of a devil for a shirt but that doesn't mean i worship the devil. It could mean that i just love how the devil looks or whatever it is. If i buy a doll that looks like a devil because i think it looks cute, is that considered worship? Definitely NOT.

This goes back to the issue where people say as a Muslims you shouldn't keep dolls or dolls that look like humans because then you wouldn't have the blessings of the angels, as in the angels won't enter your house. Besides that, keeping dolls is like worshiping idols.

I like to collect dolls, especially cats. I have a lot of cat figurines. I just admire the beauty and cuteness of cats but never once in my life did i have the intention to pray to cats or idolized cats by worshiping them. So keeping dolls can't be considered as SINFUL or two timing your God if you DON'T use them as tools of worshiping.

This also makes me want to bring up an old issue in Malaysia where there was a ban of Yoga because it has Hindu elements. I never do Yoga or bother to practice it so i don't really understand the essence of it. I only know it's suppose to keep you healthy and peaceful. Even though Yoga may contain elements of Hinduism but if it doesn't praise the Hindu Gods, what's the problem with it? Besides, when i see people do Yoga on tv, they seem to be focused just on the body movements, there's no recital of religious phrases.

Logically, there's no harm in doing or wearing something which you are not worshiping since you don't have the INTENTION to worship. But i think from a practical point of view, perhaps public will think it's inappropriate due to their conservativeness.

Before you can be guilty of MURDER, you must have the MENS REUS (intention to kill) and the ACTUS REUS (the act of killing). If you just committed an act of killing but you didn't have the intention to kill someone, you will only be guilty of MANSLAUGHTER. If i remembered my law correctly, murder is when you have intention to kill and manslaughter is when you don't have the intention to kill. See what big difference it is when you have and don't have the INTENTION? Murder have result in you facing a death sentence while manslaughter probably will lend you many years in imprisonment.

So, to be accused of worshiping something is a SERIOUS ALLEGATION. It may seem like you committed an act of worship like wearing a cross necklace, doing yoga, wearing jerseys with controversial symbols, keeping many dolls at home but it doesn't mean you have the intention or worshiping. So without intention, can you still be accused of worshiping?

Reality wise, people these days do things without thinking, thus making satanic symbol gestures without even knowing the meaning of the gestures because they think it's cool. In this era, something that symbolizes religion have been made into something of a fashion or a cool trend. It's nothing religious at all. It's funny how some people USED to think that only a Muslim can say ASSALAMUALAIKUM. But if you know what it means, it's just a friendly greeting in Arabic which can be used by any person from other religions. It's the same thing with "Allah". It refers to God in Arabic. Of course any person can use it. But of course it will give rise to suspicion when all of a sudden, you decide to use when you never use it before. But if your intention in using the word is GENUINE, then i don't see the harm. But if you have ill intention, then you shouldn't be allowed to use it.

Islam doesn't support terrorism

Okay my last few blog posts have been kindda religious. Not that i have received some "light" or whatsoever but one thing leads to another, resulting me wanting to defend Islam and how Islam's image have been tarnished with images of terrorism, not thanks to those fanatic jerks who misused Islam for their personal purposes. Some jihads are justified, some aren't.

Enemies of Islam, who are they? Those who want to see the religion disappear, those who bitch bout Islam - saying nasty and untrue stuff about Islam, those who want to see Muslim fight among each other etc. There are some people in this world who love to make fun of religion because he himself doesn't believe in religion. If you don't believe in religion, why do you need to bitched about religion? Either these people have no religion or they are from other religion who simply hate Islam. If you are from another religion, I'm sure your religion didn't tell you to bitch about another religion right?

When people draw degrading pictures of Prophet Muhammad, create videos insulting religion, make comments hurtful about the religion, for me it's unacceptable. If someone bitched about your parent, won't you get upset and you definitely want to punch that person's face right? Someone murder your family member, are you just gonna remain silent? Someone defame you to the extend of destroying your reputation, are you gonna keep quiet and say God will punish them instead of taking defamation action (in court) against them?

People say don't fight fire with fire. If people bitch about you, don't bitch back about them, don't stood to the same level as them. Perhaps if it's a small matter, you don't really have to retaliate but are you gonna keep quiet if it's a big matter?

Some people say Islam support violence and terrorism based on the verses in the Quran. Words, they are powerful and influential tool, thus you need to use them carefully. What people think is violent can be misunderstood for protection. All Allah want is for the religion of Islam to be protected from enemies who have ill intention to the religion. Is it wrong to protect your religion? Punishment is necessary, especially to those who are stubborn.

Example, if your child did something wrong, mere words aren't enough to teach the child a lesson. Sometimes you need to cane him (of course, it must be reasonable caning). You are not equal with your child, you are superior to your child, your child needs to respect you.

Punishment have many purposes, most obvious is to strike fear in you so that you won't repeat it again. Besides that, it's also to tell you what you did is wrong and unacceptable.

For those who bitched about religions, what you do is unacceptable. The drawings and all, it's unacceptable and it's uncivilised and disrespectful. Freedom of speech you say? That's bullshit. Such freedom shouldn't be given 100%. Look at what happened when you give freedom 100% without limitation, people abused it. Make degrading drawings, make stupid and degrading jokes on religion and races and other sensitive matter. You think everything can be made fun of? No.

A verse from the Quran that i like to quote (taken from the English translation) :


47:4 - so when you meet (Jihad in Allah's cause) those who disbelieve, smite (their) necks til when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly (on them - take them as captives). Thereafter (is the time) either for generosity (free them without ransom) or random (according to what benefits Islam) until the war lays down its burden. Thus [you are ordered by Allah to continue in carrying out jihad against the disbelievers till they EMBRACE Islam and are saved from punishment in hell fire or at leaast come under your protection], but if it had been Allah's will, He Himself could certainly have punished them (without you) But (He lets you fight) in order to test some of you with others. But those who are killed in the way of Allah, he will never let their deeds be lost.

I've seen enemies of Islam who just quote the part on killing the enemies of Islam to show how Islam support terrorist without quoting the whole passage. Words are open to interpretation, that's the dangerous part of it. Like here, it mention until they EMBRACE ISLAM - this doesn't mean the non muslim have to convert to Islam. It means they have to accept Islam as a religion and not find faults with it. Islam never force someone to convert to Islam.

Another verse :

8:56 : they are those with whom you made a covenant but they BREAK their covenant every time and they don't fear Allah.

8:57 : so if you gain MASTERY over them in WAR, PUNISH them SEVERELY in order to disperse those who are behind them so they may LEARN A LESSON.

8:58 - if you (O Muhammad)fear TREACHERY from any people throw back (their convenant) to them (so as to be) on equal terms (that there will be no more covenant between you and them). Certainly Allah likes not the treacherous.

8:60 - and make ready against them all you can of power, including steeds of war (tanks, plans, missiles, artillery) to threaten the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others besides whom, you may not know but whom Allah does know. And whatever you shall spend in the cause of Allah shall be repaid unto you and you shall not be treated unjustly.

8:61 - but if they incline to peace, you also incline to it, and (put your) trust in Allah verily, He is the All Hearer, the All Knower.

i quote exactly from the quran translation (of course i didn't quote each and every verses if not my blog will be too long). Basically, the to sum it up, this verse justify why jihad is allowed against the non believers. It is only allowed when the non believers become TREACHEROUS, go back on their promise. Purpose? To TEACH THEM A LESSON and they shall be punished SEVERELY (all these are stated in the verses, i didn't make it up).

You see, if this godforsaken world actually practice respect among each other, the Muslims need not have to declare jihad against the non believers. Remember that asshole Theo Van Goh guy? He had it coming for him. We Muslims don't tolerate insults to our religion - end of story. Our action of what you may think of as terrorism is justified. Either the government take action against their people for not respecting religion or Muslims will be glad to it for them.