Due to a few loudmouths who tend to use Islam for their political glory in Malaysia, the problem is that there are just too many 'experts on Islam' from Muslims and non-Muslims crawling out of the woodwork and into the media, with labels of extremism, liberalism, conservatism, orientalism, feudalism, and all the ...isms.
While non Muslims use Muslims as the benchmark for Islam, many Muslims dig out what they want from Islam and use it to defend themselves. Both end up insulting Islam.
Many of these also try to reason that Islam only came 1,400 years ago.
Islam, in the form we know it now, came 1,400 years ago, but one forgets that the Quran states that we came from Adam and Eve, which was not 1,400 years ago. That happened since the Earth was created, whenever that was. So, to just confine Islam to 1,400 years ago is plain wrong if one were to talk about Islam.
But I believe that Islam was beautified and perfected 1,400 years ago. For example, initially, Muslims were to pray 50 prayers a day, but now we only have five obligatory prayers.
As
a plain Muslim, and I believe for most Malaysian Muslims who do not get
the front pages of the media, Islam for us is a way of life and our
belief in one God and his messengers and the goodness of mankind. That
is the Islam I believe, no ..isms there.I am one of those people Ben Affleck talked about - it is sad that in this Internet world, we had to have Ben Affleck to point out that we exist and that the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) is only accepted by a dismissible percentage of Muslims.
And as a plain Muslim, I believe that there is a group of people who have spent the better part of their life poring over the sacred texts and translations and commentaries and that they are better equipped to issue the explanations to the flexing questions we simple people have.
For the majority of Muslims, we do not have the time nor the ability to go through the sacred texts and find out the logic answer, so people like me will leave this to the ulamas, which literally means the learned.
With knowledge comes humility
And ulamas mean 'ulamas' - people who have vast knowledge and ability to explain to laymen. With knowledge, comes humility and respect for mankind - all kinds, not just Muslims.
I remember how in Cairo there are many old sheikhs who open their doors for all and sundry to go to them and sit and ask questions. One does not have to be a Muslim or fully covered to sit in front of them. They will answer your questions and will look at you in the eye when they speak.
I remember how my friends and I went to this sheikh and one of my friends actually asked him about why women cannot pray when they have their menses.
He
explained in detail but it was done without any sexual connotations, it
was almost a biology lesson and we were not embarrassed.The fact that in Malaysia, children are taught sexism and racism in religion in Islamic studies in national schools just runs smack of that scene I gave in Cairo.
In Malaysia, unfortunately, Muslims do not have that many learned people for us to go to and we end up Googling to find out the whys and hows of simple daily things.
Those learned people here, not all, but most, would only give lectures and not entertain questions. And to get people to listen, many would try to spice up their lectures with sex and funny anecdotes that insult the intelligence.
Too many people wear the ulama badge, even those who have merely finished the tahfiz secondary school.
(Having learnt the Quran by heart does not make you learned, speaking a smattering of Arabic does not make you learned. Just covering your face and putting on a robe, does not make you learned. But then again, I digress and that is another issue I will leave for another article.)
Yet, even then, while I give authority to those learned people, I have come to know from learned people themselves that if the authority in question goes against the logic of humanity, then as a Muslim, I have a right to choose to believe or follow or not. But first I must have a valid argument to oppose. If I am going to oppose for the sake of opposing, then it is best for me to bite my tongue and let it burn.
I believe in women’s rights, but...
For example, I believe in women's rights, but I must understand there is a reason women cannot lead the prayers.
My father used to tell this story again and again.
"If a woman leads a prayer, then the men behind would forget to follow. For, a man and a woman are of different attractions. A man bending is not much of a distraction to women but a woman bending would pose much distraction to men."
Simple logic, to me.
Yet, the Prophet Muhammad on his deathbed put women on top of his agenda and told men to protect them. (What the men did later to women in the name of Islam is another story.)
This
is why I believe Islam is a religion that has many moulds and yet the
same batter. One just have to visit Mecca and see how millions will rise
and bow at the same instant, in various positions, similar fashion yet
not the same, to that one call "Allah-u Akbar" (God is Great).Probably why the Prophet Muhammad himself said that at the end of time, Muslims will be in tens of sects - one Hadith says 73.
This is why I will accept it your right, if you are an adult in your right mind and claim you are a Muslim, to practise Islam within the basic framework.
I also accept that it is your right to cover your face, your head or your body, as long as it does not transgress my right or my children's rights, for whom I have complete authority, until they too become adults in their right minds.
It is your right if you want to drink alcohol, smoke, eat pork or screw yourselves silly, as long as it does not involve me or my personal space.
Some Muslims may say, "Hey, then you are a liberal".
No, I am just being a Muslim and I believe in the fundamentals. Am I a fundamentalist then?
I will defend Islam using all the fatwas that are logical to me. Does that mean I am an extremist?
I will defend Islam to the last of my breath. Does that mean I am a jihadist?
No, I am just a plain Muslim. A person of peace, as the Prophet Muhammad said. But if you make fun of Islam and do stupid things in the name of Islam and embarrass the religion, I will defend myself and my religion.
That, to me, is my right, as an adult in my right mind.
ZAKIAH KOYA is a member of the Malaysiakini Team.
No comments:
Post a Comment