Love Thy Neighbour
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Our neighbour’s altar offerings blown by the wind so my bro pick and arranged them back. We have been neighbours for more than 10 years they have always been so respectful to my mom and late dad
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Faith is a conviction of heart that need to be respected while humanity is a shared value that needs to be cherished
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#zahidzin #ustazceo
Source: Zahid Zin
Netizen Dzahir Syirain shared screenshots of an insensitive lady Candice Hong who took photos of a woman dressed in a burqa and made inflammatory comments about the lady’s dressing. For no apparent reason, Candice commented that there were “so many potential suicide bombers in MBS”.
Contributor Dzahir did not give details on when or where these screenshots were taken but shared that such comments were saddening to see. If these comments are authentic, is this a sign of Islamophobia spreading to our Little Red Dot.
Should Candice Hong be arrested for making such inflammatory uncalled for comments against people’s religious dressing?
Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com
Amongst the most common statements made when one recounts instances of racism in Singapore, or even discusses ethnicity in the first place is, ‘At least minorities here have it better than anywhere else in the world. Can you name me anywhere in the world where racism is less rampant?’
Aside from the condescension in the statement, and the fact that many who make such statements have actually never lived in other countries – lived, not visited for a week and then speak as though one knows everything about a place -, there are more serious questions to be asked about the statement and question.
Firstly, I do not get a vote in Malaysia, or India, or the USA. Nor do I live in those countries. I do get a vote, however, in Singapore. I do live here, as does my family. So i should be bothered about what happens here.
Secondly, how on earth does pointing out worse situations absolve oneself of blame or self-introspection? These people are essentially saying that ‘others have it worse, so do not complain.’ Why does that even make sense?
‘Oh don’t complain or do anything about your stage 1 cancer. Others have stage 4 cancer.’
And most importantly, when a person makes that statement and/or asks that question, he/she is basically devaluing my citizenship. Why should i compare myself to a Rohingya in Myanmar, or a Palestinian, or an Egyptian Copt? I should be comparing myself to other Singaporeans!!!!
Whether people realize it or not, when they make such statements or ask such questions, they are, in actuality, saying that minorities SHOULD NOT expect equal rights in this country. And that is an assumption we should all reject.
For us minorities, when someone asks ‘where else in the world are minorities treated better?’, we should not even legitimize the question by thinking of countries where minorities have it good. We should just point out how bigoted that question is in the first place.
Source: Walid J. Abdullah
There has been much misinformation about Islam. Reports in Western media tend to perpetuate stereotypes that Islam is a violent religion and Muslim women are oppressed. Popular films like “American Sniper” reduce places like Iraq to dusty war zones, devoid of any culture or history. Fears and anxiety manifest themselves in Islamophobic actions such as burning mosques or even attacking people physically.
At the heart of such fear is ignorance. A December 2015 poll found that a majority of Americans (52 percent) do not understand Islam. In this same poll, 36 percent also said that they wanted to know more about the religion. Interestingly, those under 30 years were 46 percent more likely to have a favorable view of Islam.
These statistics highlight an opportunity for educators. As a scholar of Islamic art and architecture, I am aware that for the past 20 years, educators have been trying to improve the teaching of Islam – both in high school and college history courses.
The problem, however, is that the teaching of Islam has been limited to its religious practice. Its impact on the arts and culture, particularly in the United States, is seldom discussed.
In high school history books, there is little mention of the intertwined histories of Europe, Asia and Africa in the middle ages and the Renaissance. There is even less mention of the flowering of art, literature and architecture during this time.
In a world history textbook for New York public high schools, for example, the “Muslim World,” appears in the 10th chapter. In condensing a thousand years of history – from the seventh to the 17th century – it focuses only on “Arab armies” and the rise of early modern Muslim empires.
Palatine Chapel borrowed from the art of the Fatimids.
Al-dabra, CC BY-NC-ND
Such narrow focus misses out on the cultural exchanges during this period. For example, in medieval Spain, the Troubadour poetsborrowed their lyrical beauty from Arabic. Arabic was the courtly language of southern Spain until the 15th century. Similarly, the 12th-century Palatine Chapel in Sicily was painted and gilded in the imperial style of the Fatimids, the rulers of Egypt between the 10th and 12th centuries.
Such exchanges were common, thanks to the mobility of people as well as ideas.
The point is that the story of Islam cannot be told without a deeper understanding of its cultural history: Even for early Muslim rulers, it was the Byzantine empire, the Roman empire and the Sassanian empire (the pre-Islamic Persian empire) that provided models. Such overlaps continued over the centuries, resulting in heterodox and cosmopolitan societies.
The term “Middle East” – coined in the 19th century – fails to describe the complex social and cultural mosaic or religions that have existed in the region most closely associated with Islam – and continue to do so today.
So, what should educators do to improve this literacy?
From my perspective, a fuller picture could be painted if identities were not to be solely defined through religion. That is, educators could focus on the cross-cultural exchanges that occurred across boundaries through poets and artists, musicians and architects. Both in high school and university, the arts – visual, musical and literary – could illustrate the important connections between Islam and other world histories.
For example, a class on the Renaissance could explain how the 15th-century Italian painter Gentile Bellini gained famed at the court of Mehmet II, the conqueror of Istanbul. Mehmet II commissioned Bellini to design an imperial portrait that was sent to rulers throughout Europe. His art presents a wonderful example of the artistic exchanges that took place between early modern cities such as Delhi, Istanbul, Venice and Amsterdam.
It might also help students to know that the Dutch painter Rembrandt collected Mughal miniature paintings. Silks from the Safavid empire (the Iranian dynasty from the 16th to 18th century) were so popular that Polish kings had their coat of arms woven in Isfahan.
This exchange of art continued into the Age of Enlightenment, a time when ideas around politics, philosophy, science and communications were rapidly being reoriented in Europe. A class on the Enlightenment may highlight the fact that writers like Montesquieuturned to the Middle East to structure a critique of their own religious institutions.
A poetry class could similarly show connections between the German author Wolfgang von Goethe’s writings and Islam, as exemplified in his “West-Eastern Diwaan,” a collection of poems. This epitome of world literature was modeled after classical Persian poetry in its style, and inspired by Sufism, the mystical tradition in Islam.
Most students are open to seeing these connections, even if it might require overcoming their own preconceptions about Islam. For example, when I teach my class on medieval architecture, students are surprised to learn that the two oldest continuously run universities in the world are in North Africa (in Fez – a city in Morocco – and Cairo).
Indeed, it is not easy to disentangle contemporary politics from historical fact, to teach more fully the culture and diversity of a religion that is almost 2,000 years old.
Perhaps educators could learn from a recent exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York titled “Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven.” The show illustrates how Abrahamic religions – that is, Christianity, Judaism and Islam – borrowed freely from each other in the realm of art, music and literature. Jerusalem was home to diverse populations and the arts played an important role within its religious and political life.
It’s not in the past alone. We see these connections continue today – here in America, where Islam is an intrinsic part of the culture and has been for centuries.
From the Mississippi delta to the Chicago skyline, Muslims have made contributions, which might not be so obvious: West African slaves in the South were central to the development of the blues. Its complex vocalization and rhythms incorporated the rituals of Islamic devotion many of them had to leave behind.
The same is true of architecture. A quintessential example of modern American architecture is the Sears Tower in Chicago, which was designed by the Bangladeshi-American structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan.
Muslim contributions to art and architecture don’t just reflect the diversity of America, but the diversity of Islam in this country. Muslims in America comprise a rich tapestry of ethnicities, languages and cultures. This knowledge is particularly meaningful for young Muslim Americans, who struggle to claim their place in a country in which they are sometimes made to feel like outsiders.
Educators, especially within the arts and humanities, have an important role to play in this religious literacy, that helps students understand the unity in the diversity. After all, as the most popular poet in America, the 13th-century Muslim mystic Rumi wrote:
All religions, all this singing, one song.
The differences are just illusion and vanity.
Source: huffingtonpost
My own inter-ethnic relationship has been obstacle-free, writes Kane Cunico, but a documentary on mixed marriages has spurred others to share with me the struggles they face in gaining acceptance.
SINGAPORE: Sàam gu ma, sei gu ma, baat gu che, sahp suk – Cantonese words I would have never imagined myself learning by heart, had I not married my ethnically Chinese wife whose dad’s side of the family is from Ipoh, Malaysia.
Respectively, they mean this:
Sàam gu ma: My father-in-law’s third oldest sister.
Sei gu ma: My father-in-law’s fourth oldest sister.
Baat gu je: The eighth sibling in the family and my father-in-law’s younger sister.
Sahp suk: The tenth sibling and my father-in-law’s younger brother.
In my Indian-Eurasian household, which feels neither very Indian nor very Eurasian, we just call them aunty (insert name) and uncle (insert name).
I have always been indifferent to my cultural roots, flippant to a point. I wouldn’t consider myself religious, but I am constantly open and curious about other people’s heritage.
The same goes for my wife, who identifies herself as a third-culture kid.
We both were fortunate to have parents who were willing to break their own cultural and religious traditions for their children, and compromise on a wedding that made everyone happy. Even while dating, race or religion never became an issue. I would call us rather happy-go-lucky.
But the recent On The Red Dot series, Love Is (Colour) Blind, prompted me to reflect on just how lucky perhaps we were. The documentary profiled three mixed-race couples who spoke about the ups and downs of their relationships, from gaining family acceptance to bringing up their mixed-heritage children.
In response, hundreds of netizens have commented on Facebook, eager to share their own experiences in inter-ethnic marriages. I was heartened to see all those different races and religions coming together – it was like those United Colors of Benetton ads I wished the world could be more like.
Watch: The story of Martin and Esther
But on the flip side, friends and not a few commentators on Facebook have asked: “Why is this even a story? Why talk about this? What’s the big deal? Inter-racial marriages have been around for a long time. Why single it out?”
And in a way, they were right. I had never before seen it as a problem.
WE’VE HAD IT EASY
Yet in talking to some of those who wrote on our Facebook page, and re-watching the episodes, it struck me – my wife and I have had it easy, relationship wise.
The same can’t be said of Facebook writer Hui Jing Ong. A Singaporean Chinese who is Buddhist, she married an Indian national who is Sikh. They have two children.
In a telephone interview, she told me: “My parents are divorced, but my father until now cannot accept our marriage or children. He’s kind of a racist. My mum says as long as I’m happy, she’s okay with it.”
Hui Jong Ong with her husband, Gurdev Singh, have two children. (Photo: Hui Jing Ong)
Another Facebook user, Jasmine Jay, had dated her husband-to-be for four years. He is Malaysian, Malay and Muslim, and she is Singaporean, Sikh and Catholic.
Three and a half years ago, when she became pregnant, they decided to tie the knot. For three months, both deliberated on who should convert. They ultimately decided neither should. His family snubbed their wedding.
“Even my mum said no to the wedding. But since the birth of our daughter, his family have accepted us,” said Jasmine in a phone interview.
She added: “Today we have two children. I have a younger son and we both agreed the children will be Catholic.”
Despite the continuing struggles, both have found happiness where their relationship once floundered in a quagmire of disapproval.
Last year, 4,142 marriages in Singapore involved couples of different races, making up 21.5 per cent of all marriages for the year. In 2005, inter-ethnic marriages made up just 14.9 per cent.
So mixed marriages may be becoming normalised; but many couples still face familial and societal obstacles to make it work.
Watch: The story of Simon and Veronica
Friends of ours in inter-racial relationships have had to try hard to win over their culturally traditional in-laws-to-be, who were worried about what others in their community might say or think.
And such cultural conservatism isn’t just confined to our parents’ generation. Some young couples my wife and I meet have no qualms telling us that they wouldn’t want their children dating someone of another race.
A recent survey by Channel NewsAsia, in partnership with the Institute of Policy Studies, reflects some of these response. The survey found that fewer than one in four Chinese respondents were accepting of a non-Chinese marrying into the family; while fewer than half of Indian respondents indicated acceptance of a non-Indian into their family, according to the survey.
WHEN CHILDREN COME INTO THE PICTURE
For newlyweds like my wife and me, who are looking forward to having children, we know we cannot keep taking a laissez-faire approach to our mixed marriage.
At some point, matters of race and religion will come up, and perhaps these may actually turn out to be issues for both sets of parents, as Jasmine learnt.
“Managing families – that is still a challenge,” said the 23-year-old stay-at-home mother and trained nurse.
“So many awkward moments. How you spend your festivities and whose religion you follow. You will argue about what cultural name the child will have. Should it be Indian or Malay in our case? And what religion will the child practice?” she added.
Jasmine Jay with her husband, Abdul Rahim, daughter Raphaela 3, and son Rayden, 6 months. (Photo: Jasmine Jay)
“To be honest, it is tough, but my husband and I, only because we are quite neutral with race and religion, we told our parents to leave the decision to us. So we gave the children neutral names. There is no “daughter of” to follow my Indian heritage, and no “bin or binte” to follow his Malay heritage.
“But the beauty is that they get to be a part of both our cultural and religious practices and festivities,” said Jasmine.
“So just follow your heart and fight for your right, and hopefully, both sides can still remain a strong family.”
Watch: The story of Norsham and Anne
Another Facebook user, Hazre Salim, told me it’s really about planning far ahead.
A Malay Muslim, he married a Chinese Buddhist about two years ago after they dated for a year. Hazre, a secondary school educator, was upfront about how religion was important to him. With her full understanding, they both pre-empted their parents very early on in their relationship.
“I knew first and foremost there were going to be challenges: Parents, friends, religion. But we had supportive parents,” the 35-year-old said.
“There will be instances where we cannot solve the problem straight away. Children will definitely be an issue; we will face it when it comes.
“But we both believe that when two people get together and have faith and trust in each other, it will work out,” said Hazre, adding that when they cannot resolve matters on their own, “we go to our parents and figure it out”.
Hazre Salim and Nur Iviana Tham sought the approval of their parents early on. (Photo: Hazre Salim)
Hazre’s and Jasmine’s advice are timely. My wife and I will soon have to decide which religion our child will be a part of, and what second language they should learn at school.
What race do we categorise our children under, when their ancestral tapestry has Italian, Indian, Chinese and Peranakan heritage woven into it?
These are questions we do not have the answers to yet. But we are fortunate and optimistic.
Fortunate, to be in a place where inter-ethnic marriages are fast becoming normalised, if they aren’t already; and where strangers, who have shared their stories online, are willing to give us the perspective we need.
Optimistic, that our families, made up of a suks, gu mas, aunties, uncles, mums, dads, mamas and grandmas, are around to hopefully be as open as they have always been with two happy-go-lucky and culturally impartial children.
Source: CNA
