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Tag: Arabisation

  • Malaysia Attorney-General: Non-Muslims Rattled By Increasing Islamisation

    Malaysia Attorney-General: Non-Muslims Rattled By Increasing Islamisation

    NON-MUSLIMS are against Islamic criminal law amendments as they perceive them as another step towards the Islamisation of Malaysia, Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali candidly told The Malaysian Insight yesterday.

    It does not help either that the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (or better known by its Bahasa Malaysia acronym, RUU 355) Bill was mooted by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, the propagator of hudud laws in Kelantan in the 1990s, with Terengganu following suit later.

    Wading into the issue after Barisan Nasional decided not to table Hadi’s private member’s bill in line with the principle of consensus, Apandi said this issue was always going to be a problem.

    “When Hadi introduced this bill and tried to incorporate the 100 lashes and other severe punishment, the perception of non-Muslims was that hudud is coming, in the guise of the private member’s bill.”

    In fact, Apandi said, RUU 355 was simply to amend the existing Syariah Criminal Law Act to enhance punishments.

    It was also to give Muslims a sense of “feeling good”, as the shariah court currently is even lower than the powers of the magistrate’s court. RUU 355 was to have increased the power of the shariah court  to the position of a Sessions Court.

    “They (non-Muslims), however, read it as the beginning of an Islamic state government like the ones in Iran, Iraq and Syria, despite being told it was not applicable to non-Muslims. That is why the strong resistance.”

    On a personal note, Apandi is relieved that the ruling federal coalition had made a U-turn on RUU 355, as that meant he would not have to draft the amendments to Hadi’s bill, which he felt would have been opposed anyway.

    “When we draft, we have to show that it is a government bill, so in the first place, my office will have to make sure that it is different from Hadi’s draft.

    “So maybe, just maybe, we may exclude Sabah (and Sarawak), to make it different, and even reduce the sentences.

    “On the number of strokes, and even the sentences, I would have probably reduced them.

    “The difference from the current laws which the Syariah Court Criminal Jurisdiction covers, imprisonment is only up to three years. They want to change it to 30 years, such a big disparity.

    “As for fines, currently it is RM1,000, they want to increase it to RM100,000. The disparity is so big. People are going to start questioning the logic behind this.

    “So that is why the perception by the people outside will be ‘Oh, this is definitely going to be hudud’.”

    Apandi also said he had mentioned the matter to BN politicians and they have indicated their concerns to him.

    Many had said it would be difficult for them to explain to their supporters if the government had adopted Hadi’s bill.

    They had also warned that BN could lose seats, especially in Sarawak and Sabah, if the government did not make that RUU 355 U-turn.

    Apandi also feels RUU 355 was more political than legal.

    “The purpose and intention of this is to reap political mileage. Have you heard anybody from the public clamouring for increase of powers of the shariah court? No, nobody asking is asking for it, isn’t it?

    “To my reading, it is mainly political. He (Hadi) has to satisfy the states that have already established hudud laws.

    “People in those states are beginning to question him: ‘Hey, we have the law, why can’t we enforce them? What’s happened?’ He needs to say something to these states. And that is why he is trying to get federal support.

    “So, yes… it’s political!”

     

    Source: www.themalaysianinsight.com

  • Libya’s Ambassador To UAE: Southeast Asian Muslims Should Embrace Own Unique Cultural Traditions, Resist Arabisation And Still Be Good Muslims

    Libya’s Ambassador To UAE: Southeast Asian Muslims Should Embrace Own Unique Cultural Traditions, Resist Arabisation And Still Be Good Muslims

    Muslims in Southeast Asia should embrace their unique cultural traditions instead of adopting Arabic customs, according to Libya’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Dr Aref Ali Nayed.

    “I think that it’s high time that Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei actually appreciated the traditions that have been taught in small schools and villages for several centuries now,” said Dr Nayed, who is also the founder and director of think-tank Kalam Research and Media.

    “Why should a Malay give up his way of dressing, or his way of talking or his language in order to somehow prove that he’s more Islamic by borrowing some Arabic words?” he said during an interview with Channel NewsAsia’s Conversation With that aired on Mar 28.

    Dr Nayed was in Singapore to deliver a seminar at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute on defeating Islamic State.

    Dr Nayed, who has been ranked as one of the top 50 most influential Muslims in the world by Jordanian think-tank The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, made his remarks as the “Arabisation” of Islam and cultural practices in Southeast Asia stir controversy.

    In similar comments made recently in an interview with Malaysia’s The Star, the Sultan of Johor last week warned Malays to stick to their own culture instead of imitating Arab trends. The ruler was responding to the tendency for some Malaysian Malays to lean towards Arab culture amid growing conservatism.

    NO NEED TO BE ARAB TO BE A GOOD MUSLIM

    Dr Nayed – an Islamic studies scholar who has lectured on Islamic theology, logic, and spirituality at universities around the world – also warned against mindlessly accepting religious teachings from Arabic theologians.

    He encouraged religious scholars in Southeast Asia to “not only appreciate what they have but to actually foster it and grow it with their own future generations”.

    “There is no need to send off kids to some Arab countries. (They) actually teach a flattened version of Islam that is quite foreign to what Islam is actually about,” Dr Nayed added.

    While Islamic studies scholars like Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah are doing good work in the UAE, according to Dr Nayed, the ambassador added: “Much of the literature coming off Arabic presses unfortunately has been highly politicised and the theologies have been reduced to a number of principles that are actually quite dangerous.”

    When asked if local cultures are standing in the way of achieving the belief of a universality of Islam, Dr Nayed dismissed the idea.

    To be a good Muslim, he said: “One has to first be a good Singaporean Muslim or a Malay Muslim or a good Indonesian Muslim.

    “Only then can you be a representative of the universal Islam. So respecting your locality does not mean giving up on the universality.”

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Syed Farid Alatas: Against The Grain – Arabisation And The Malay Identity

    Syed Farid Alatas: Against The Grain – Arabisation And The Malay Identity

    *This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on October 24 – 30, 2016.

    There has been much resentment expressed recently towards what is perceived as the Arabisation of Malays. This Arabisation is said to be manifested in a number of ways, the most common being the adoption by Malays of Arabic words in their vocabulary and the donning of Arabic dress such as the thobe, an ankle-length garment similar to a robe.

    In the past, for example, Muslims in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia would use the term “buka puasa” for the breaking of the fast during the month of Ramadan. These days, however, the Arabic word, iftar, is often heard.

    After the end of the fasting month, the common greeting among Muslims was Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, but this has increasingly given way to the Arabic eid mubarak.

    More and more male Muslims in the region are using the Arab thobe rather than the sarong or kain pelikat. In fact, a variety of thobes originating from the United Arab Emirates, Oman and other countries in the Arab world can be seen in our mosques and at religious functions.

    Many have lamented the fact that things Malay have been substituted by things Arab and fear that this is the beginning of a trend of the Arabisation of the Malay identity and culture. Indeed, this phenomenon of Arabisation must be properly understood and distinguished from an earlier process of the Islamisation of the Malays, when Islam arrived in the Malay world of Southeast Asia.

    When a religion spreads from one region to another, it is quite normal that elements of the culture of the society of origin of that religion would be adopted by its new adherents. This can be said to have happened with the spread of Islam to the Malay world.

    When the Malays adopted Islam as a religion and way of life, the Malay language was influenced in significant ways. Not only was the Arabic script in a modified form adopted by the Malays, but many Arabic words also found their way into the Malay language. This was the case not only with religious vocabulary but also with words used in other areas of social, cultural and political life.

    Some words in Malay are obviously of Arabic origin. Examples are tadbir (administer), had (limit) and mustahil (impossible). Other words, however, are less obviously of Arabic origin. Examples are kuat (strong), derived from the Arabic quwwah, and pasal (paragraph, section), derived from the Arabic fasl.

    This process of acculturation is something normal that takes place whenever there is contact between two different cultural areas. Aspects of the Arabisation of the Malays that had accompanied the Islamisation of the Malays since the early days of the coming of Islam to the Malay world must be distinguished from what is being referred to as Arabisation today.

    What is referred to as Arabisation today is in fact a worrying trend. This is because the adoption by some Malays of certain elements of Arab culture would result in the gradual erosion of Malay culture and practices. If more and more Malay men were to adopt the thobe, this would mean the marginalisation of the kain pelikat and baju Melayu and their possible demise as a cultural artifact. Indeed, it is already the case that there is hardly a Malaysian kain pelikat industry to speak of, as this is dominated by a few Indonesian manufacturers.

    An even greater concern as far as the trend of Arabisation is concerned is the adoption of a way of life that is not only contrary to Malay culture but is also inappropriate for our society. The example I have in mind is the adoption of the niqab, the part of the hijab that covers the face. The niqab is a tradition of many Arab societies but is foreign to Malay culture. Still, it is increasingly seen on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta.

    Arabisation in this sense is really a reflection of the influence of certain understandings of Islam originating from the Arab world. For example, there is the phenomenon of Malaysians and Indonesians going to the Hadhramaut region in Yemen to study and returning home with Hadhrami Arab practices such as the donning of the niqab, gender segregation and so on.

    Those Malays and Indonesians who adopt such ways perhaps imagine that they are practising a more authentic version of Islam. In doing so, they set themselves apart from the larger Malay society, contribute to the erosion of Malay traditions and practices, and could be a party to the infusion of extremist interpretations of Islam.

    When Islam arrived in the Malay world centuries ago, it adapted itself to the culture of the region and did not marginalise the culture of its people. Take the zapin, a musical and dance genre. Zapin (Ar. zafin) was introduced to the region from Hadhramaut centuries ago.

    In each part of the Malay-Indonesian archipelago, zapin was indigenised to suit local conditions. Among the Malays of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, for example, the language of the song-text of zapin became Malay and the dance was not gender-segregated, unlike in Hadhramaut.

    Furthermore, the introduction of zapin throughout the region did not result in the marginalisation of the music and dance genres that were already thriving in the Malay world. This is unlike the situation in Malaysia today in which some Malay music and dance genres, such as wayang kulit (shadow puppetry) and mak yong (dance drama), are said to be unIslamic and proscribed.

    If elements of Arab culture blend in with Malay traditions and practices without eroding or eliminating things Malay, then such “Arabisation” can be said to be a creative process.

    On the other hand, if Arabisation is founded on the idea of the greater Islamic authenticity of Arab culture, it would result in the erosion and marginalisation of Malay culture and the adoption of inappropriate practices.

    It is this sense of Arabisation that has come under attack in Malaysia recently. The same can be said of the influence of any other culture such as Westernisation.

    Syed Farid Alatas teaches at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Sociology

     

    Source: www.theedgemarkets.com

  • Arabisation Of Islam In Asia: A Clash Within Civilisation

    Arabisation Of Islam In Asia: A Clash Within Civilisation

    The spate of terrorist attacks and the attendant violence witnessed in the last couple of months, including the recent attacks in Dhaka, Kishoreganj and Ektarpur in Bangladesh, and Nice in France, brings home the truth that something perverse is happening within Islam and Muslims alone can fight that scourge.

    Analysts attribute the growth of Islamist radicalism to Muslim grievances about their culture and way of life not being given what they consider their rightful place in their own societies; transnational links with organisations like Al-Qaeda and now an even more dangerous phenomenon called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or Daesh; hostility towards the policies of the West, in particular the United States and its support of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians, the occupation of Iraq and now intervention in Syria; and opposition to crackdowns on domestic militancy like in Bangladesh.

    These factors have, undoubtedly, contributed to a sense of growing alienation and feeling of victimisation and oppression among certain Muslim groups, and to an attempt to redress their grievances and frustrations through violence and terror.

    More importantly, a fundamental transformation is taking place within the Muslim community all over the world – an identity formation based on a world view taken from early Quranic precepts and a code of conduct resembling a way of life that was prevalent in the Arab world in the mediaeval period during the formative stage of Islam.

    This form of identity is premised on an understanding and belief that to be a true Muslim, one has to be different from “others” in every aspect of life and that there cannot be a meeting ground between Islam and other religions. Adaptation to other customs, traditions and cultures in its path towards the expansion of the religion had only led to aberration and corruption of original and pristine ideas of Islam. It is only through the practice of mediaeval Arab traditions and way of life that the evil eyes of other religions can be kept at bay.

    A group of Indonesian women with their children offering morning prayers during Eid al-Fitr celebrations in Tangerang, Jakarta, earlier this month. Since the first Muslims were mostly Arab, everything associated with them has been associated with Islam, even though the vast majority of Muslims today are not Arabs. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

     

    Such an exclusivist world view may not be the most predominant among the Muslims of the world yet, but is surely gaining slow and steady ground. The external manifestation is the wearing of Middle Eastern clothes by men and women. Strict observance of fundamentalist Islam is also a means of asserting identification with reform and protesting against upper-class corruption in many societies, which might somewhat explain the fundamentalists’ prescription for an austere way of life free from temptations and pleasures.

    Since the first Muslims were mostly Arab, everything associated with them – their culture, names, and family structures – has been associated with Islam, even though the vast majority of Muslims today are not Arabs. The niqab ( face-veil) was rarely seen outside the Arab world until most recently. Most Muslims see the niqab as a by-product of Arab culture. The practice of wearing veils can be traced from a Quranic prescription given at the time of Rasullulah, who saw Arab women wearing veils – not due to any religious motives but rather due to the harsh and dusty desert climate – but leaving their bosoms wide open. He then urged the women “to wear their veils over their bosoms” for modesty, but this was not necessarily a particular dress code. It is only recently that the veil has been interpreted as religiously authentic, instead of a cultural expression, and therefore a must for all Muslim women.

    Arabisation and Islamisation are inseparable parts of a single cultural ideal that now pervades the Arab world. In their drive towards authentication and uniformisation of Islam, the transmitters (Saudi Arabia and other Arabic countries) and the recipients (non-Arab Islamic societies) are equally emphasising “Arabisation” as the norm of the pure and ideal form of Islam to be followed by Muslims all over the world.

    The Hadith, or records of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad, is the basis for the development of notions of syariah (Islamic law) that are heavily influenced by early and mediaeval Arab cultural norms.

    Arabisation poses a threat to all Muslims who believe in Islam’s divine character and universalism, and can be combated only by them.

    It is not a crisis between civilisations as Samuel Huntington noted, but a crisis within civilisation, and it needs to be fought from within.

    Arabisation’s major appeal emanates from Islam’s millenary expectations and the unfounded utopia of a just and prosperous society under Islamic rule. This is also fed by the silence of the moderates in the face of the more vocal minority trying to hijack Islam for their perverted gain.

    Christianity has passed through this phase and the contradictions between the sacred and the profane were resolved by separating the Church from the State during the period of renaissance and reformation.

    If the powerful, modern ideas of “jihadi” Islamism are not met in the marketplace of ideas with an equally vigorous, contemporary articulation of peaceful, syncretic and inclusive Islam, then “the centre of gravity” of public discourse will inevitably slide towards those ideas that appear most powerful and relevant to the modern world.

    The progressive interpretation of Islam developed by the late Nurcholish Madjid and former president Abdurrahman Wahid in Indonesia, Anwar Ibrahim and Dr Chandra Muzaffar in Malaysia, Dr Surin Pitsuwan, the former secretary-general of Asean, in Thailand, and progressive intellectuals from India and Bangladesh, represent a powerful alternative to “jihadi” Islamism.

    The need of the hour for Muslims in Asia is to de-Arabise Islam from its exclusivist mould and promote a more inclusive Islam based on their own indigenous cultures and traditions blending with the universal message of Islam, as was the case in Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Bangladesh in the period before the inroads made by the Islam of the desert.

    There is also an urgent need for the moderates to break their deafening silence against the tyranny of the small minority who are bringing shame and a bad name to the religion, and shed their inertia and fear of being branded as not “good Muslims” by the perverted radical minority.

    In this project, Indonesia and India, the two largest Muslim countries in the world, can make a positive contribution in projecting their composite culture manifested in Borobudur and Prambanan in the former and Ajmer Dargah Sharif and Fatehpur Sikri in the latter.

    • The writer, Baladas Ghoshal, is secretary-general of the Society for Indian Ocean Studies based in New Delhi, India.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Malaysia, Truly Arab?

    Malaysia, Truly Arab?

    While I had hoped for my first article of the New Year to be filled with positivity and written with a light heart, I made the mistake of turning on the television on New Year’s Eve. The scene televised from Dataran Merdeka made my heart skip a beat.

    There, instead of our usual cultural dance shows and performances by local artistes while we await the countdown to the New Year, were many people dressed in Arab gear chanting and swaying their bodies to recitations exulting the Prophet Muhammad and Allah.

    I only realised that the televised scene was in Kuala Lumpur when I saw the iconic Sultan Abdul Samad building in the background.

    I waited for a few minutes in disbelief, urging the television set to change the scene to one I was more familiar with. I was waiting for the usual jingle of “Malaysia, truly Asia”, for that crowd of dancers in exuberant costumes representing the stereotypical image of a culturally diverse Malaysia that I know to be over-exaggerated, but I have to admit, I now miss.

    That image never came.

    I was secretly glad that I spent New Year’s Eve at a running event in Malacca. As I finished the run before midnight and away from the revelry of the celebrants, I could see Malaysian families coming together at the field either for the run or to usher in the New Year amid fireworks.

    My friends and I even shared a table with strangers at a famous chicken rice ball restaurant — a crowd that consisted of foreigners, locals and out-of-town Malaysians alike — enjoying what we Malaysians are most famous for: the food.

    That is the Malaysia I know, people from different ethnic groups just sitting together at a street-side stall or dingy restaurant, placing our orders in simple Bahasa or Hokkien or Tamil, even. Nearly everyone would be eating similar fare.

    Perhaps this is a grittier, more realist image of the country I love than the usual annual fanfare we put on stage.

    What I experienced on New Year’s Eve was not what was shown on television that night.

    WHAT IT MEANS TO BE MALAYSIAN

    I am sure that every Malaysian has the same wishes as those at Dataran Merdeka — a fresh new start to the year, leaving behind all the heartaches of the past year, hopes for a better Malaysia that we will continue to build together.

    What really bothered me about the televised image was the assumption that Malaysia only belongs to those of a particular religion and, it goes without saying, of a particular race.

    Yes, it was the image of a peace-loving Islam, led by none other than Indonesia-born preacher Habib Syech Abdul Qadir as-Seggaf, who professes to be a direct descendant of Prophet Muhammad himself.

    Under the country’s secular Federal Constitution, every Malaysian is allowed freedom of religion and freedom of expression — thus, the crowd in Dataran Merdeka has every right to chant their love for the Prophet and raise their voices to the high heavens in hope of a better, less arduous year.

    Believe me, I hope and pray for better, too. Yet, I saw an Arab country in that televised scene, not Malaysia.

    I did not see any of the VVIPs in baju Melayu, sampin (accompanying sarong-like cloth worn by men around the waist) and songkok — most, if not all of them, were in flowy, white jubahs (a long garb commonly worn by Muslims) complete with kopiah (traditional cap), sitting on cushions that reminded me of nomads living in the desert, rather than the usual sofas reserved for VVIPs at government-organised events.

    I did not see women during the brief televised set, though from news reports I was informed that the crowd consisted of families. It would have been wonderful if the women were in kebayas and batik sarongs, with their hair in elegant sangguls (bun hairstyle), but I do not think this was the case.

    I understand that the clothes worn there are meant for prayers, as the VVIPs led the crowd for Isya’ prayers beforehand — however, have we not seen our leaders leading prayers in baju Melayu every Raya? Are we now so immersed in Arabic culture that we have completely forgotten our own?

    We surely forgot that Malaysia consists of non-Muslims, too. Would it not have been more meaningful to hold an interfaith session, where every Malaysian can come together, pray for a better nation and a better year, and at the same time learn the nuances of the different faiths, interact with each other side by side and essentially be Malaysians?

    Surely that would have been the best way to organise such an event if it is the spiritual aspect we are aiming for.

    It is sad to think that I am reduced to feeling Malaysian only when I go for overseas conferences, at running events and at roadside stalls.

    In this new year, I urge that we all reassess our own Malaysian identities before adopting another.

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

    Lyana Khairuddin, a columnist at The Malaysian Insider, does research on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Human papillomavirus (HPV) viruses and teaches at a Malaysian public university.o

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com