The experience that i had only reinforces my thoughts on the importance of possessing knowledge and not belittling anyone.
We were in this chapter on dealing with the different cultures and beliefs of the races in S'pore. So there were examples of things that the Chinese hate when it comes to gifts and they loved auspicious colours(red) and numbers(8,9), and they believed that if you don't tie a red string round your little finger when you attend a funeral and the spirits will follow you home. And then when it comes to the section on Malays, there is no doubt that generally most Malays are Muslims and they don't take pork and they think that pigs and dogs are unclean. So when the speaker finished with that sentence, a participant(non-malay) asked him why the dog is unclean.
Did you know what he answered? "How would i know?? I didn't write the Quran!" (Subhanallah!!!)
I don't know what he meant by that answer and i shouldn't be interpreting. So i gave him the benefit of the doubt that he may feel that this is not an environment to explain things like these issues.
And i want to highlight another thing about him which is worthy of mention. Because of the limitedness of this 'government' building, there was no designated space for Muslims to pray. Even though the mosque is nearby, it can be quite inconvenient when the lunch time doesn't coincide within the prayer times. This Malay speaker prayed his asar right in the room itself. Masya allah!(but of course, it was during the times we were doing our group work). Well, my husband too agreed that not many would do this.
On a last note, my teacher, Ust Zhul once told his students;" Muslims have a great product (Islam) but we are poor salesmen."
This post has no ill intentions of judging anyone nor belittling anyone. It just serves as an enlightenment and a reminder to myself.
8 comments:
Sister,
U judged pple too quickly. Indirectly, you've belittled him thru your writing. Whenever we see something, it's a reminder from Allah to ourselves. He (SWT) did not ask you to judge His Servant. Perhaps, there's some quality in this man that Allah present to you so that you may learn.
Wallahu'alam
Dear writer
so can you advise why is dog unclean?
thanks
Observer says:
Dear Syafiqa,
I've 2 agree wth wat de 'first Anonymous' said. U seem 2 judge ppl too fast.Regardless of whether or not u intend to. I'm sure u meant well, but i tink u better be careful and not let it seem like u purposely intend to misjudge ppl.
I once wrote a comment on one of ur previous posts. Long way back. But i deleted that comment. Dono if ws techincal fault or u really purposely deleted it.
It's gd u're trying ur best 2 be as gd a muslim convert as possible. But fr reading ur entries, sometimes i get de vibes that u're not tinkin as well as u tink u're tinkin.
Observer says:
Sometimes i wish i can mit u in person, just so i can frankly tell u my opinion which i find a bit complex to write here (cos sometimes i cant express myself well in writing. Plus u may end up deleting my comments anyway).
But i'm aware meeting u may make things worse cos u may just end up ending de conversation and excusing urself.
In addition, i dont want to look like some evil person trying to influence a convert who's very enthusiastic abt her new religion.
Dear Anonymous-es,
Thank you for your comments...
I have wrote earlier, that i have no intention to belittle or judge anyone.It serves as some food for thought for myself.
If it had been perceived this way, I seek Allah's forgiveness.
Dear Anonymous observer,
You said in your comments that 'you deleted the comment' in one of my post long way back. And then you went on to say that u dono if it's technical fault or i really purposely deleted that.
And you went on to deduce that i actually will continue to delete your comments.
I will not argue further if you wish to 'judge' me by what i write or do by thinking that i am deleting what others write.
Allah knows best. And i seek refuge from Allah swt from any kind of mischief this post has caused.
Assalamualaikum wr wb..
Observer says:
I understand ur concern/pity/ etc for some fellow muslims (converts or bornmuslims) when they supposedly show behaviours which are not in accordance to islamic rules.
But have u ever seriously tink WHY they behave how they behave? It's not necessarily because of ignorance or misguidance. It's not necessarily because they purposely refuse to follow the rules. Some of them probably know more than u do. Well are u aware that just because a person is of a certain religion, it doesnt necessarily mean that he/she LIKES de religion.
That explains y some ppl pray 5 times per day but still drink beer, why some muslim gals wear tudung but do not pray, why some ppl go Hajj numerous times but still take bribes, etc etc, de list is very long.
SOME of dis people simply doesnt like some parts/rules of Islam but yet they still stick to Islam. Reason being, for some of them, deep in their hearts they luv islam & will nvr b murtad but they just nid more time to adhere properly to most rules. I know all dis for sure as i mix a lot wth such muslims, some of whom, coincidentally, happened to have 'confessed' to me.
In addition, i tink i'm like one of them; i know i'll stay a muslim to my death, but i cant deny there're some rules in islam which i hate but will try to adhere to.
It ws much to my surprised, when, in one of ur prev entries long ago, u wrote of how surprirsed (or ws it shock)u were when u came across tudungclad gals in the office who do not pray. That's actually a very common scenario so i ws tinkin, OH DEAR, SHAFIQA, WHERE HAVE U BEEN ALL DIS WHILE?
Observer says:
Then there ws de post abt de time when u helpd out at some event, and then u told a few other helpers that they can have their turn to pray cos u've prayed and u can take over their duties. U were worried that they may missd their prayers since de solat time ws almost up or sumtin.
But they got annoyed at u and said certain things which sumwat offended u. Have u really really figured out ty they reacted the way they did? It wasnt necessarily abt religion, u know? Have u ever thot it might simply (and really SIMPLY) be a case of communication skills? But just cos in their remakrs they mentiond u being a convert, u started to 'religify' everyting.
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