Category: Agama

Malaysian Muslims Seem To Have Very Weak Faith

I have been fasting in full every Ramadan for many years now and I admit, I do feel hungry and thirsty during the day and it isn’t totally comfortable all of the time.

But of course, like anything you do, if you put your mind to it and persevere, it eventually stops being a problem.

You get used to fasting and it actually makes your body feel good. But I won’t be talking here about the benefits of fasting on your health and well being.

What I do want to talk about is the fact that there are so many weak Muslims in Malaysia who can’t take fasting. I’m usually not one to judge, but well, this time I am going to!

We have a teacher in a school who asks his non-Muslim students to go to the toilet to drink during Ramadan, just so Muslim students won’t see them drinking.

It is ridiculous how some school canteens are instructed to close during the fasting month because it would mean non-Muslim students eating in view of Muslim students.

This issue of non-Muslims having to go out of their way, in the name of being respectful to those who are fasting, crops up every time Ramadan comes around.

I don’t understand how this is respect. All I can conclude from this is that some Malaysian Muslims are just too weak, and when they see someone drink water, their will to fast disappears.

I have many non-Muslim friends and I accompany them for lunch or even just for a drink at the mamak, even when I’m fasting, just so we can hang out and have a chat.

I see them eat and drink but I don’t get tempted. Sometimes, they tease me too and pretend to order for me a glass of teh ais and we all have a good laugh. But I still fast. No problems.

This fasting month, although only a week has gone by, I’ve even been accompanying my wife for lunch at restaurants whenever we are out and about.

She is in the final trimester of her second pregnancy and she needs the food and nutrition. So she doesn’t fast. We sit and chat as she has her meal and I still fast. No problems.

I’m not trying to say that I’m a perfect Muslim here. No way. I am far from that. What I am trying to say is that some Malaysian Muslims need to take a step back and look at their faith.

Fasting is an‘ibadah’and it is suppose to be challenging (although not torture!). And aren’t challenges suppose to make your faith and fast count for even more?

So technically, Malaysian Muslims should welcome people to eat and drink in front of them, and then resist, so they can collect more‘pahala’, right? Funny, isn’t it?

But no. Malaysian Muslims are just too weak. They fast but they can’t take it when they catch a glimpse of someone eating or drinking. Their faith starts to waver.

They can’t even take it when when non-Muslims use the word ‘Allah’ because they start getting confused and all with their own faith. Malaysian Muslims. What a weak bunch they are.

Source: http://english.astroawani.com

June 27, 2015
Singapore Malays Taking Eid To The Next Level

With all the hustle and bustle of Eid or commonly known as Hari Raya in Singapore– buying kuihs(cookies), new furniture, Eid clothes & prepping for the joyous occasion, it can be easy to forget that not everyone has family members or close friends to celebrate Eid with. Fortunately, Elegance – a Muslim e-magazine focused on empowering women by Juzaila, Hanisah & Indah together with Noor Mastura, founder of Interfaith Youth Circle – is running a pilot project: SG Muslims for Eid.

SG Muslims for Eid is a spin-off from HONY for the Holidays. The goal is to ensure as few Muslims as possible are alone this Eid. Or better yet – none.

“My Eid last year switched from being lonely to being the best example of sisterly love just by experiencing the welcome at my friend’s home with her family’ wrote Meryem Chin, a newly converted sister. “It really means a lot to us- especially new converts celebrating their first Eid without having anyone to celebrate it with.”

Indeed, all that one has to do to participate is to click on this link www.bit.ly/SGMuslimsForEid. You will then fill up a short form indicating your interest to participate as a HOST or a GUEST. Hosts can also indicate the number of guests they can accommodate. Both parties will need to write a little about themselves (age,interests etc). The team then screens the forms carefully and matches the guests and hosts with each other.

“Our job is to screen the forms thoroughly and make sure that everyone is well acquainted before they meet so there will be no surprises on the actual day,”says Hanisah from Elegance.

Since the call to participate, SG Muslims for Eid has already received a steady flow of participants. The team is confident it will kick off and snowball in size each year.

According to Noor Mastura, “We are definitely looking at this long term. This year, we are particularly focused on converts who spend Eid alone, but there are many other Muslims who live in Singapore who are not necessarily converts but are either working or studying here and end up spending Eid alone and away from their loved ones. We definitely want to include them as well. Being an Interfaith activist, I am looking forward to the day we invite Singaporeans of other faiths and beliefs to share this blessed day together.”

As beautifully summed up by Juzaila from Elegance, “Every Eid, my parents invite Muslim foreign workers at our place for breakfast. I am really excited to host an additional convert or 2 this year. Most Muslims are so used to our routine and culture forgetting the actual meaning of celebrating Eid in Islam. I feel this project is a brilliant start to the right direction. Opening our hearts and spreading good cheer and happiness to people is the foundation of Islam- what more for the most joyous day of the year?”

This effort is a reminder that although Eid can be a lonely one for many Singaporean Muslims, it certainly doesn’t have to be.

So please, if you can spare an extra spot(or more) where you are celebrating Eid or if you are looking for a place to go this Eid – click on the link already!!!

Besides, as Juzaila said, opening our homes and hearts sure seems like the epitome of Eid’Al Fitri.

Source: https://fyndingnoor.wordpress.com

June 26, 2015
Chinese Embrace Islam But Fight To Keep Names

KUALA LUMPUR – Chinese Muslims converts are baulking at taking Malay or Arabic names upon embracing Islam, claiming the discriminatory practice forces them to abandon their culture and traditions.

Several Chinese Muslims in Malaysia are fighting for the right to keep their original names, in defiance of the convention of replacing their surname with ‘Abdullah’, in a bid to keep their culture alive.

“I will not change my ethnicity. I was born Chinese and I will die Chinese, I will not become Malay.

“I did not want to change my name to show that Islam is a universal religion for all nations, not just for the Arabs or Malays only,” the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (MACMA) Malacca official Lim Jooi Soon told the BBC in a recent interview.

Like Lim, several other Chinese Muslims view changing their names to include Arabic or Malay names to be unnecessary as they were adopting a new faith, not a new race.

“My name may change but my face remains the same. Here, Malaysians say that if someone converts to Islam it means they’re becoming Malay. If I did not change my name, then I remain Chinese,” Ting Swee Keong said, also having kept his Chinese name after converting to Islam.

Even the practice of celebrating Chinese festivals are at risk, Muslim convert Nur Caren Chung Yock Lan said, despite celebrations like Chinese New Year or Mooncake Festival not being rooted in faith.

“This cultural celebration does not go against Islamic law; the Mooncake Festival, the Dumpling Festival, the Chinese New Year celebrations, these are more cultural than religious.

“Judging from history when Saad Ibn Waqas preached in China, he easily accepted the culture since Islam did not kill the culture; the faith changed, not the culture,” she said.

Although the convention of changing an individual’s name when converting into Islam is not in Malaysian legislature, it is commonly practised by all Islamic authorities, the BBC reports.

Lim was the first Chinese Muslim in Malaysia allowed to keep his original name, a right he earned after battling Islamic authorities for five years.

“Five years to talk, debate and discussion, as well as showing strong evidence in favour of me keeping my Chinese name. After that, it made it easy for many people to embrace Islam,” he said.

“If he gets rid of his surname, it’s as if there is no contact with his family. My second name indicates which generation I belong to and my last name, which is my own, means headed for greatness,” he explained.

Although MACMA president Professor Dr Hj Taufiq Yap Yun Hin opted for a Muslim name while maintaining his surname and Chinese name upon entering Islam, he urged Islamic authorities to do away with this practice so that those choosing to embrace Islam can still keep their cultural identity.

“I have also asked the parties related to the registration of the religion that this practice be changed so that the ethnic Chinese are still able to maintain their personal name and their surname if they convert to Islam,” he said.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

June 26, 2015
Former Malaysian Minister Zaid Ibrahim: Can’t Wait for Malaysian Malays To Become Like Singapore Malays

KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 ― Calling it “absolute nonsense”, former minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim rubbished claims that Malays in Malaysia were marginalised, saying the race formed the biggest demographic group in the country and have “full control” of the government and its machinery.

The lawyer-turned-politician compared Malaysia’s treatment of Malays to those in Singapore and said those in the island republic did not receive any “special treatment” but seemed to enjoy a better qualify of life because their leaders practised transparency and meritocracy.

“In Malaysia, Malays are happy to let their leaders make all the money as long as they promise to ‘defend’ bahasa, bangsa and agama,” he said in a blog post yesterday, using the Bahasa Malaysia words for “language, race and religion” respectively.

“I can’t wait for Malays here to be like Singaporean Malays,” he added.

Zaid’s latest post was in response to a report by a news portal which he said had incorrectly interpreted his tweet last week suggesting that he did not mind Malays here being marginalised like in Singapore, as long as they do not become extremists like the Taliban.

He clarified that he meant Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is making Malays to be like the Taliban, but if Malays here grew to become like Malays in Singapore, then Zaid said he would be happy to support the embattled prime minister.

Zaid also said that Malays here are “first-class citizens at least on paper” but many have not been able to reap the benefits of first-class treatment because they do not have a good government with honest leaders.

“Our leaders are free to sell government assets cheaply or expensively depending on how they have arranged the ‘take out’.

“If discovered, they can say it was for the party, for elections or even fisabilillah (“for the sake of Allah”),” he said.

He conceded that in some ways Singaporean Malays are “worse off than” their counterparts in Malaysia as they are not accorded “special treatment.

However, he said their leaders are clean and the transparent system of government there means it is a lot more difficult to siphon off public money for private use.

“That’s what Malays here need. Good government with good, clean and honest leaders,” he said.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

June 26, 2015
Malaysian Bar Council Chief: Non-Muslims Do Not Have To Hide When They Eat During Ramadan

The Malaysian Bar Council has called on the education authorities to uphold and put in practice the principles of harmony and unity in schools when it came to issues like the rights of non-Muslim students during the fasting month.

Malaysian Bar Council president Steven Thiru said the recent statement by deputy Education Minister Datuk Mary Yap Kain Ching to avoid avoid eating or drinking in front of Muslim students does not inspire mutual respect and understanding among Malaysians.

He said it instead emboldens those who are misguided in their belief that only their rights matter and further result in resentment among those whose rights are ignored or marginalised.

“This is a recipe for disharmony and disunity that we can ill afford. The purpose of fasting is not to inconvenience others who are not fasting.

“Indeed, to impose any such inconvenience would appear to be contrary to the spirit of the fasting month and devalue the qualities that it seeks to honour,” he said in a press statement.

He said Yap’s statement was disturbing as it casts the everyday eating and drinking of those who are not fasting as acts of disrespect, and it encourages the curtailment of the rights of those who are not fasting.

“This is inimical to the principles of mutual respect and understanding that underline our constitution.”

He said there were often attempts to compel or impose respect and understanding in schools in a divisive manner.

“This serves to poison the minds of our children, and sows in them the seeds of prejudice, distrust and suspicion.

“Our future as a nation will be in jeopardy if this worrying trend is not arrested and reversed.”

Source: www.therakyatpost.com

June 25, 2015