I think I’m Muslim, therefore I’ m Melayu?

“Baca, baca artikel aku pasal Islam Melayu!” Isham Rais, the raw organic talent powerhouse of social and political critiques (laced with black comedies and tongue-in-the-cheek retorts) urged us sleepyheads (It was after 1 am at that time) to read his latest article. It was my first time at Bau Bau and my first reunion with a bunch of close friends since coming back from Scotland.

Isham broke his record for getting 142 comments from readers for this piece. Well, that’s how you get large number of hits on your blog, I guess. Put Islam and Melayu in one sentence. That will definitely give our society a deafening wake up call. (Or...errr...put also "murtad" and/or "dadah" in the same sentence).

Like what happened at Union Guy’s work place months ago. A young guy openly declared to his fellow colleagues that he no longer embraced Islam. He had converted to Christianity. Let’s not delved into the reasons why he thought its fine to declare that to his friends. I am more interested with his friends and employer’s reaction. The obvious happened. They boycotted him and his declaration won him a transfer to another branch with immediate effect. Before he was transferred, a heated debate took place between this “infidel” and his fellow “defenders of Islam”.

Among the issue he raised was he had doubts about some of Islam’s rules, citing polygamy as one example. I thought an interesting debate would ensue on how Muslims approach polygamy but of course, that only happened in my wet dream. His friends, angered by his so called blasphemous arguments, answered back with something like this: “Hoi, kasilah kitaorg *toot* bini ngan anak perempuan ko, kalu ko dah benci sangat dengan poligami!” And that answer which is so close of being the dumbest answer in the history of inter-faith debate, of course failed to help both sides reconciled. The young guy got intimidated by the outburst and withdrew. The others vented out their anguish to Union Guy, “Aku kalau dia ni minum todi, tido dengan perempuan, berjudi takpe lagi, jangan keluar agama, sudah, buat malu org Melayu je.”

Oh, macam itu ke?

To me, the ones who are embarrassing the Muslims are these people. Do they think ALL Muslims do not have questions about what it takes to be a better Muslim? My God, it’s like the Cartesian Duality question, pondered by philosophers for ages, questions about existence of God or religion has always been there. Muslims or not.

I for one, always have these questions wandering in my mind: What does it takes to be a better Muslim every day. Pray? Help each other no matter whom? Less shopping? Less activity of mengumpat? Contrary to how we, Muslims, think, being a Muslim is not straight forward but a very bumpy journey. Iman Al-Ghazali would not have produced Tahaful Al-Falasifa or Ihya’ul Ulumuddin, without first, seeking the answers to his doubts about his existence, about his religion. These outstanding works was produced by a man who struggled so hard in his life, perfecting his conscience and beliefs in his faith, every day. Similarly like the young guy that denounced Islam earlier, he had some doubts about his faith but nobody bothered to listen. Apparently, it is much more important for them to lead him towards a speedy repentance and save Melayu some face.

Touché Islam Melayu!

Coming back to Isham’s article, the only reservation I have was his agreement for mosques to be built for Chinese Muslims. My problem with this is not because I wanted all mosques in Malaysia to project Melayu-ness + Arab-risqué quality only. But for this one particular reason.

Our country had tremendously suffered as a polarized society and our political, economic and social historical landscape has witnessed great racial divide. Hence the fear, that by setting up separate institutions such as this, it will only encourage further divide. We are so comfortable with our pre-determined place (re: NEP, Federal Constitution) in the society that should we allow for separate mosques to be built; we might agree that Islam could also be a tool for social divide. It’s the existing mosques that actually need to be reformed. It’s the Muslims that need to be more compassionate and spread the love.

Don’t simply buy new cloths just because you can’t fit in the old ones. Lose your weight.