Thursday, January 6, 2011

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?

3 comments:

  1. "Why do i keep the dolls then? As decorations. Is that wrong? Logically, it's not wrong."

    Yes logically its not wrong. But when you are talking about some topic, you must also know deeply about the matter , and if you do not you simply have to refer to those who are.

    While you are refering this matter coming about from "Some very conservative Muslims" , what you really should have done was finding out where such claims are from. In this matter , it actually is from our beloved prophet Muhammad S.A.W. not "some very conservative muslims".

    Abu Hurairah radiallaahu ‘anhu reported Allaah’s Messenger sallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam as saying, “Angels do not enter a house (or any other place) where there are statues (tamatheel) or pictures (Tasaweer).”
    (Muslim 3/1162, no.5276)

    However , there are more explanation to this by the ulamas, such as what pictures and what statues are forbidden and to discuss that alone would take more than a simple comment like this. And by the way, dolls which are playthings for CHILD, are allowed and does not belong to the forbidden ones (yay!) .

    My point is, logic cannot explain everything with regard to faith and religion ( at leaset with the level of logic and knowledge we human have). Can you explain the logic of praying 5 times a day??? why not just 3 or 4 ? no. We do this because our God told us so, and our Prophet does it. That is what faith is all about.

    My advice is, when you would like to argue with people about Islam, you first must know what The Prophet think about it. What Allah says about it. Only then you can be sure you are talking about the right thing. Not about what 'you think' is the right way. I'm not saying you cannot have your own opinion, but your opinion must be based on KNOWLEDGE, and not just pure logic.

    Allah don't create us human on earth to figure out everything on our own. Thats why He give us 'manuals' to how we should live the right way, and send us messengers to explain these manuals and guide us practically. Can Allah skip these steps and enlighten all humans without the scriptures and messengers ? yes. But Allah does not. Why ? He is God, He can do whatever He wants, without any consequences.

    Again, I really hope that you consider making some research before writing your own opinion about some topics regarding this you're not well conversed about. Well, i did. This is what I did few minutes ago .

    1 - www.google.com.my
    2 - search for "fatwa wish merry christmas"

    I bet you can try this simple thing, can't you ?

    and wow, I found this nice youtube video from those search result. I bet, if you somehow know Ahmad Deedat, you should somehow know who Dzakir Naik is. Checkout the video pleasee...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMO3JvBUHJE

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh wow. This should be better explanation

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHl_APIb2_Y

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1. firstly, thank you for the extra info.

    2. yes, i admit i'm not super well versed in these religious matters and that's why i'm just expressing a point of view. I'm not some important person whose blog will influence people in case i said something wrong or misleading. My blogs are just my thoughts.

    3. There are those who just rely on Al Quran alone because some hadis are not reliable. And there was a verse in the Quran which mentions that you don't need to rely on other things because the Quran is a complete book. I quote the verse in my previous blog so i can't remember. Not that i'm saying all hadis are fake but when a person comes to me and EXPLAINED to me why he just rely on Quran, i find his justification somehow reasonable. And yes, when he said that, i referred back to the Quran in case he might be making up that verse.

    3. Quoting what you quote, Abu Hurairah radiallaahu ‘anhu reported Allaah’s Messenger sallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam as saying, “Angels do not enter a house (or any other place) where there are statues (tamatheel) or pictures (Tasaweer).”
    (Muslim 3/1162, no.5276). this hadis was ages ago, where praying to idols in the form of statues and pictures is VERY COMMON back then. Now a days it's not common, of coz if you are a MUSLIM, you won't do it. Again, the word statues and pictures used here are VERY GENERAL. It's open to interpretation. like i said, if the statues and pics are mere decorations, no harm. It's the intention.

    4. WHY we PRAY 5 TIMES A DAY? We pray in the morning, afternoon, evening and night. It's to remember God in whatever we are doing. That's your logic. Behind every knowledge there is LOGIC.

    ReplyDelete